Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection

Screen Shot from Morning of the Earth

Morning of the Earth (1972)

A new 16mm print of this feature documentary is now available on request.

Latest News: There will be a premiere screening of
the new print at Flickerfest, Bondi Pavillion,
Bondi Beach, NSW on 10 January 2004.
http://www.flickerfest.com.au/

National Film and Sound Archive National Collection
Title Number 4478.

Classification: G rating

Synopsis

Screen Shot from Morning of the Earth

Morning of the Earth captures the pure surfing experience including psychedelic shots of waves, country soul surfing, a trip to Indonesia in search of new surf locations and the annual winter contests in Hawaii. Albert Falzon made this cult surfing film in 1972, the film reveals a fantasy of three exotic lands: Bali, Hawaii and Australia where the surfers live in harmony with nature.

The documentary is presented without narration and no titles identifying the surfers or locations, the songs are the statement with a soundtrack from an unlikely combination of commercial and underground musicians including G Wayne Thomas, Brian Cadd and Tamam Shud.

Background

The surfing documentary became the most successful Australian surf movie in its time grossing over $200,000 in its local release.

'Apart from the outstanding quality of its photography and music, what distinguished this film was an ongoing fluidity, constructed in the rhythms of its editing and re-enforced by its music, which was achieved by using an optical printer to repeat frames as many as five times, thus slowing the action by as much as 500% and enabling minute variations in wave-riding to be examined in almost timeless detail.' Albie Thoms, Surfmovies - The History of the Surf Film in Australia, 2000. Shore thing Publishing.

Director: Albert Falzon

Year of Production: 1972

Duration: 79 mins
Format: 16mm Colour
Optical soundtrack: mono

Producer: David Elfick

Director of Photography: Albert Falzon

Editor: Albert Falzon

Music: Award winning soundtrack coordinated by G. Wayne Thomas with Brian Cadd, Terry Hannagan, Peter Howe, John J. Francis and Tamam Shud.

Cast/Surfers: Nat Young, Chris Brock, Baddy Treloar, Michael Peterson, Terry Fitzgerald, Rusty Miller, Gerry Lopez, Barry Kanaiaupuni and Steven Cooney.

For more information on the film visit the website: http://www.morningoftheearth.net/

Note: This film is also part of a National Film and Sound Archive initiative to preserve Australian surf films. With largely independent production, distribution and exhibition, the surf movie tapped into the sentiment of Australian youth culture.