The Living Curl (1965)

Jamie Budge captured through his lenses the golden era of Californinan surf

"The Living Curl" is one of the local classics of the 60´that kept all its charm up to the present. Much thanks to the figure of legendary surfer Jamie Budge, who also became a prominent surf filmmaker, an activity that he began at an early age. He started filming with 8 mm with only 16 years of age. The stars of those first "homemade" filmings were Budge himself and his friends. However, Budge soon earned status as a film director and great californian surfers of the time (such as Dewey Weber, Lance Carson or Miki Dora) followed to be the main subjects of his next movies.

In "The Living Curl", Budge captures the Malibu scene in all its splendor. Another reviewer summed up with great exactitude the quality of this movie: "Great shots of surfers who were the icons of the day demonstrating their trademark styles as well as some front edge progressive moves. Great footage of early contests which were won more for takeoff rights in the line-up than anything else.

Essentially what you get with this piece of history is the essence of the golden era of american surf.

TLDR: For those of us that grew up surfing in the sixties, "The Living Curl" is like having Surfer Magazine circa 1961-1964 come alive.