The Circuit
La Paloma, 1928: The Room Surf Cinema Came Home To
A single-screen theatre built in a coastal California town before the modern surfboard existed has spent decades as the preferred premiere room for the genre.
The Circuit
Six cities, and a 1928 cinema in Encinitas
The festival circuit — San Diego, Byron Bay, New York, London, Hawaii, Anglet — and the La Paloma Theatre as the genre's most storied room.
8 pieces · Other rooms: The Films · The Camera · The Scene
The Circuit
What the San Diego Festival Has Actually Shown
The festival's programming record, read as a history of what surf cinema has become.
The Circuit
Byron Bay: Where the Circuit Goes Australian
The international surf film circuit has a southern anchor, and it sits not in Sydney or Melbourne but in a small coastal town on New South Wales's far north coast.
The Circuit
London's Surf Film Festival and the Crowd That Fills It
A surf film festival in one of Europe's largest cities makes sense only once you understand what surf cinema has always really been selling.
The Circuit
New York, September, and the East Coast's Film Week
The New York Surf Film Festival runs on cultural distance — from the water, from the industry, and from the beach-town festivals it quietly complements.
The Circuit
Anglet and Hawaii: The Ends of the Circuit
Two festivals that bookend the international calendar by geography, language and the competitions they orbit: Anglet and Hawaii.
The Circuit
When a Brand Funds the Whole Film
Brands like Patagonia and Vans don't just sponsor surf films — they commission them. The arrangement produces serious work, but it shapes what gets made and what doesn't.
The Circuit
After the Festival: How Surf Films Actually Get Distributed
From premiere night to streaming queue, the path is shorter than it looks — and mostly self-managed.