Between Land and Sea by Ross Whitaker │ 87 mins │ Ireland, 2016
Please note that this film can only be viewed in Ireland and the UK │ Once purchased, films will be available for viewing for 48 hours.
glór is delighted to present a short summer season of online film – Summer Out West showcases three critically acclaimed films unique to the west of Ireland.
A year in the life of an Irish surf town at the mercy of the Atlantic Ocean. This observational feature – at times intimate, at times epic – embeds itself in the Big Wave surf community to present a thoroughly engaging and visually stunning portrait of the ever-changing life at land’s end.
The decisions we make early in life can have consequences more far-reaching than we imagine when we make them. Young surfers dedicate their lives to the ocean, consumed by the excitement and beauty on offer but how can they balance that with the inevitabilities of later life – money to earn, mouths to feed?
Against the backdrop of Ireland’s stunning west coast, this film digs deep into the day to day lives of the surf community, taking the audience beyond the bluster of the typical adrenaline fueled film to create a very real portrait of those who choose the surf lifestyle.
Directed by Ross Whitaker (Saviours, Unbreakable) and featuring some of the biggest waves and best surfers in Ireland – as well as a thrilling cameo by Hawaiian legend Shane Dorian –Between Land and Sea succeeds in being exhilarating while giving a moving, humorous and thought-provoking account of the ocean-going natives of West Clare.
Ross Whitaker is one of Ireland’s best known and respected documentary filmmakers. Former commissioning editor of Film Ireland and former festival programmer of Stranger Than Fiction at the IFI, he is well versed in the language of film and an active participant on the Irish film scene. His first feature, the self-funded Saviours, was called the “best Irish film of 2008” by the Sunday Tribune. His follow-up short Bye Bye Now won awards at multiple festivals including Silverdocs and Nashville. His work in television with Blind Man Walking in 2010 and the Prime Time political documentary The Bailout in 2011 has also drawn great praise.
He is best known for the riveting and emotionally powerful documentary features When Ali Came to Ireland (2012), Unbreakable: The Mark Pollack Story (2014), and Between Land and Sea (2016). Other recent work includes the acclaimed TV documentary Anthony Foley: Munsterman, which provided an extraordinarily insight into the events surrounding Foley as a rugby player and coach, his death, and the emotional aftermath; the award winning international smash Katie, (2018) exploring the life of Ireland’s boxing phenomenon, Katie Taylor, and Shane Lowry: Open – the story of how Irish golfer Shane Lowry won the Open, (2019).
