Words by Robin Pailler | Interview by Yentl Touboul
Right off the back of Defect, FORMER drop another audiovisual masterpiece in the form of The Illusion of Control.
A film by Dav Fox that celebrates Cloudbreak, Fijian surfing, and the unique and rich community and culture that surrounds it. Featuring James Kusitino, Craig Anderson and a list of local names that demand respect and make the wave what it is today.
We reached out to Monsieur Fox to gain a deeper insight into the filmmaking process behind yet another incredible addition to his already stellar filmography.
Yes Dav! Congrats on yet another incredible film. Can you tell us about the genesis of this piece and how it came to be?
I’ve followed James’s surfing and now his career since he was about 14. I’ve spent a bit of time hanging with him and the Fiji boys and I’ve always been super impressed by their passion and dedication to riding Cloudbreak. There’s something really pure about the way they all surf. Like 5 guys who surf together all the time, all with such unique but sick ways of attacking the same wave. It’s really pure and refreshing, I dunno, a really interesting and pretty funny crew.
A piece on James and the crew was something I was thinking about making for a while. Then Craig mentioned that Former were keen to do a clip with James, and I kind of strong-armed him into letting me do my clip for it.
The range that Former had designed for James was called The Illusion of Control. I didn’t even know that until halfway through making the clip, but it was perfectly on theme for the whole exclusive Cloudbreak access theme.
How planned was the shoot? Did you already plan to feature certain people before you got there, or was everything pretty improvised?
It’s strange how organically it all happened, from the point Sujie the big taxi driver picked us up from the airport… I didn’t even have the chance to unpack a mic before he started rapping about James. Then I pretty much just kept iPhone recording everyone’s audio on the sly… I’m not sure if it’s entirely legal, but I like the way the audio feels when people don’t know they are being recorded at the time. I did inform them later haha.
But yeah, the rest of the trip was just spent talking shit with Che and the boys on the boat in between surfs. I was kind of mentally piecing together what he’d said and trying to shoot b-roll that I thought would paint the picture in a fever dream kind of way. Then we had a day on the land at the end. I was trying to tee up the boys to get their dad, Taco, to talk to us… because I knew how dialled in on life he is. Always imparting old-world wisdom that rings more true than ever in the modern world. He didn’t disappoint… his words really tied the whole thing together.
I feel like they’re a pretty interesting crew and I had a lot of good audio and could have made the film an hour long if I had more surf action. But in the end I stripped it back to try and tell the story with simple snapshots that probably bring up more questions than they answer. But I liked it best as a thought-provoking fever dream rather than spoon-feeding any information, opinions or answers. Just feelings.
From a personal perspective, you’re someone who’s travelled to some of the most iconic surf spots in the world. What is it about Cloudbreak that really differentiates it from the rest?
I mean the wave itself is amazing for good surfers. So much power and variety in one stretch of reef. But I think what interested me in terms of this piece is portraying the wave and its history from a different perspective than what I’ve known of it. It’s always been a place of performance, but it’s also been a place of privilege, and any form of serious Fijian surfing was bypassed for various reasons. I feel like Fijians were maybe always under the impression that they couldn’t do it at that level. It’s taken some crazy passion, dedication and some amazing pure talent for this new wave of Fijian surfing to come through. And I think it means a lot to Fijians to have a surfer like James out there ripping so hard — it’s pretty game-changing for local talent and opportunity.
How was shooting from the water there? It seems like a pretty big playing field and a tricky place to figure out?
Yeah, I’ve always found it’s a pretty horrendous wave to shoot water at, haha. If it’s barrelling at all, you’re definitely getting rolled by some rogue waves at some point every swim. And it’s a lottery ticket to be in the spot for a good one, especially with the guy you’re trying to shoot. It’s kind of more about how well it’s lining up on the day and what the current is doing, etc., to even open up the possibility of a decent link-up.
For this clip we didn’t really have the budget for a second filmer. I kind of assumed there would be another filmer in the tower and I would be able to swim for most of the swell and try and trade some clips. But it was miraculously uncrowded swell and I just ended up perched up in the tower for the most part. But I managed to get out there later in the swell when another filmer did rock up.
Of course there are a couple of Chopes shots mixed in there just quietly, and a couple of gems from Manea Fabisch and Joseph Duerr that really helped pretty it up.
Those 16mm water shots are a thing of beauty. Can you speak about some of the quirks/challenges of that compared to your normal digital water set-up?
Yeah so the Photosonics 1VN is a high-speed 16mm camera that shoots up to 200fps. It gets the heart rate up knowing you are absolutely binning cash every time you depress that trigger, and knowing that you only have a total of 30 seconds of real-time shooting before you have to reload… which can only be done in the dark. But it’s crazy how long you can make that 30 seconds last for when you’re selective – all day really if you shoot to the conditions. And also crazy how good even the average shots and mistakes feel when you watch them back.
It is also absolutely ripping film through the gate at crazy speeds, so it needs to be really well loaded and lubed every time so it doesn’t jam. It also gets the heart rate up swimming around with it because you never really know if your last shot jammed or is working still until you pull the trigger again and see the counter move – or not. And it doesn’t have a viewfinder, so you’re also just imagining how wide your lens is and holding the thing at arm’s length, hoping it’s pointing in a good direction. But it felt only right to be out there operating on a wing and a prayer, because that’s kind of the way James surfs. No structure, just blind experimentation and flow at every point.
I also felt it was only right to shoot the bulk of the clip on 16mm… I feel like I’m preaching to the converted talking to you, but the words that Che and Taco were putting down felt so magical to me that I needed to have some dreamy, cluttery film to put behind them. I actually shot a lot of it on Ektachrome 100T and was really into the look of that film stock. The water shots were 500T because that’s the only stock they still make in double perf… and even that’s hard to come by.
Getting to Cloudbreak from the coast seems like a mission that involves a fair bit of logistics/chances of things to get messy, as told in the film. Any particular chaotic stories that didn’t make the cut?
Getting to Cloudbreak is pretty easy because they are set up with good boats everywhere. But good boats for paying tourists. Getting to Cloudbreak to surf as a local is really very hard, because you have to have a lot of money to do so.
Stories wise. They are such a random bunch of happy-go-lucky Fijians that have somehow ended up taking care of this pretty luxury yacht that’s parked up at Cloudbreak every swell. I feel like every day with Che, James, Teo and the boys you will have another story! Just the way the Fiji boys run their operation is hilarious. Kinda just winging it the whole time. Getting themselves into all kinds of situations. It’s pure adventure every day, which is what surfing’s all about, really. I’ll dig up a frame grab of Messa from another swell when the sled blew over the ski and knocked him off… he was still trying to start the thing as an 8-footer literally barrelled over his head. To me their energy and surfing spirit is so pure and so sick.
Can you tell us about your experience away from Cloudbreak, and how it was to dive deeper into the Fijian culture?
Yeah so Taco and Teo’s family put on a lovo for us where they cook the food in the ground… while Taco was indulging us with so much old-world wisdom the whole time. Without getting too out there: it was a really special experience for us, to be honest… even to step back and feel the pace that they are living life at for a day feels nourishing to the soul. The boys were brought up without any processed food until they were 18… now they are smacking the odd Burger King hit and whatever else, haha… just another one of the comedic and chaotic contradictions that make this scene so interesting to me. But they come from such a sound upbringing, and they are able to tap back into that connection so regularly, it’s pretty sick.
Chemistry between surfer/filmer is something that’s built over time, and a good example of that is your connection with Craig after all these years. Can you speak about shooting with James, and what makes it special?
Yeah I feel like shooting with James is always entertaining and chaotic. You never even know which waves he’s going to take off on… he’s just feeling it out the whole surf. On an 8-foot drainer one second, then sliding backwards down some weird double-up two seconds later. Then within that he’s just experimenting with some new line on every single wave. But he’s always a showman. And he can just dial in with any board so quickly. It’s like he finds the point at which they slide out and plays to it all the time. He was riding a twin with a snapped-out fin for most of our trip… but in true James style didn’t even notice, haha. It’s just really cool watching him step onto any new board and how quickly his surfing adapts to it. This trip he ended up jumping on Craig’s 5’4 Hypto… thing could barely float him but he was absolutely ripping on it first session.
Aside from being an absolute weapon in the water, James seems to be a unique character. Can you tell us something that people might not know about him?
James is a weapon. He’s 17, so just figuring life out still… I mean I am still too, but he’s coming from a tiny Fijian village and now travelling the world. I’m about to go to New York for the premiere of the Sun Bum film, which should be eye-opening for him. He’s always good for a laugh, got a funny take on things when you speak to him, but sometimes it’s just as fun to kick back and people-watch him to see what he gets up to in situations. A bit of that same creative, mischievous energy outside of the water too. But I really look forward to seeing what he gets up to in the next ten years. It’s not going to be boring, I know that.
On a more personal note, how has your life as a filmmaker evolved since becoming a dad?
Yeah, I’ve got two rug rats. It does make travelling a bit harder, especially for longer trips. But it’s still working, so I’m still running it. I also feel like it’s made me prioritise a lot harder the things that I will do. I’ve been making more effort to put time into my own films rather than just shoot for everyone else’s projects in the last year. I mean I still do, but I want to make sure they are things that I’m stoked on, that are going to be in the right hands.
What can we expect from Dav in the near future?
I just did an African trip with Frankie Harrer and her husband, Hugo Boserup, to some remote African zones… filmed a bit of surf and a bit of skate in some overcrowded African cities… so better try and put that together now. I’m not sure what the audience is for that one, but I like the stuff I shot, and it should come together okay and find a home on some corner of the internet, haha. Otherwise I’m keen to try and tee up another bigger project one of these days, so fingers crossed for another one of those.
