Exploration came early for Californian Greg Schell.  He began his passion for surfing in the waves of Santa Monica Bay when he turned 12 years old. “Before the El Nino of ’83, Will Rogers State Beach was a fantastic break with plenty of tubes during the winter swells. Back then, a trip up to Oxnard or Ventura was a huge adventure for us kids. Then the following year I went to Baja and Maui. That completely changed my perspective and I’ve been hooked on surf travel ever since. I have been fortunate enough to have surfed in places such as Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, El Salvador, Mexico and all over the US.”

Greg studied film at UC Santa Barbara, splitting his time between film courses and surfing places like Naples, Sands, Driftwoods, Jalama and Campus Point. But it wasn’t until graduate school in San Francisco years later that he decided to make his first film. In 2001, Greg released The Far Shore which chronicles the ten-year journey of Surfer Magazine explorers Kevin Naughton and Craig Peterson, as they discovered surfing spots around the world in the ‘70s.

Keeping with the theme of exploration, Greg’s newest project, Chasing the Lotus, follows underground filmmakers Greg Weaver and Spyder Wills. Weaver and Wills traveled the world for forty years with some of today's most legendary surfers. Their rare Super 8mm images had been lost for almost a half a century... until now.

Corky Carroll surfing Newport Beach in 1965. Acid-soaked Laguna Beach Music Festival in 1970. Gerry Lopez in Maui in the mid '70s. Joey Cabell in Mauritius in '74. Rory Russell and Lopez discovering mid '70s Bali. The Black Trunks of Oahu's Westside, shot in the early '80s, with Sunny Garcia and Black Trunks Hui
member Warren Hoohuli. Never before seen footage of the Z-Boys
with Stacy Peralta. 

These stories and many more can be found in Chasing the Lotus,
narrated by Jeff Bridges,directed by LA local Greg Schell and
produced by Chris Bell. Next screening: X-Dance Filmfest @
Cinespace in Hollywood, Free, 7pm  



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