A little less than a year ago filmmaker Nathan Balli was given a $250,000 grant for creating Authenticity is Everything. He took that quarter of a million, booked his crew a trip to Alaska, and hired a guide so they could create a film about exploring one of our sport’s final frontiers. It’s a novel idea, given that other creative minds are showing us the action in the lineup, while Balli chose to share the complete adventures that surround getting out into freezing cold, empty, rarely explored lineups half a world away. Cold water surfing is growing in popularity and exposure through the work of photographers like Chris Burkard and plenty others. Balli was simply inspired to share our intrigue through a unique perspective.
“Throughout my entire life I have had a fascination with surfing and the ocean,” Balli said in a written statement. “…But I felt like there was a bigger story to be told from what actually goes into these trips. It is truly an expedition on the last frontier…I have always loved taking traditional ideas and putting them into an unexpected environment. It really changes the audience’s perspective of what is possible.”
