Morgan Maassen recounts his adventures shooting Malia Manuel.

Last spring, Malia reached out to me asking to make a film that saw her surfing in both her favourite places around the world, as well as adventuring to new waves she dreamt of visiting… and so we set off, first to Tahiti, followed by Indonesia and South Africa, France and a quick jaunt to Spain, back to Tahiti for whales and weather redemption, and then concluding with a sublime winter on her home island of Kaua’i.

It was nothing short of a pleasure to hop around the world with Malia, from dancing with Humpback Whales to watching elephants pick fruit from trees in South Africa, sailing through Indian ocean archipelagos and being blistered by winter wind in the Atlantic. We scored waves of all shapes and sizes, sampled cuisine and smelly taxi rides across multiple continents, surfed in the belting rain and counted bands on poisonous sea snakes… I could go on and on, with so many experiences that could fill an anthology of films. But in-between all those moments I strived to capture with my lens, I watched a woman continuously spill her curiosity out into the world, while constantly striving to hone her athletic ability… and so I made a visual tale about a world-class human, surfing her way around the globe.
– Morgan Maassen
Direct/film/edit: Morgan Maassen

Supported by lululemon
Music:
Marco Shuttle “Into Thin Air”
Brendan Void “Angel.OO”
Dirty Art Club “ifproperly”
Nicola Cruz “Mantis”
Dirty Art Club “hardluck”
King “U’re Mine”
Tomaga “Gonda’s Dream”