YOUNG Port Macquarie filmmaker Noah Cornale has had success with his latest project, Hold Down, gaining an official selection in the Byron Bay Film Festival.
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It will be screened at 5.30pm on October 13 at the Byron Community Centre.
The film is a visual response from Mr Cornale to growing up as a young surfer on the Mid North Coast of Australia.
"It focuses on presenting a side of surfing that people do not necessarily see or think about," he said.
"A hold down can be deathly even in the smallest of waves and always feels way longer than it really is.
"The film explores the different elements of this submerged affair using images that are a response to the coastal landscape and culture."
Watch the trailer for the film in the player below:
“Hold Down” is a surfing terms is the period of time a wave and it’s force holds a person underwater. This commonly happens to surfers when they fall off or get dumped by a wave.
Mr Cornale said he was inspired by Tim Winton’s Novel ‘Breath'.
"I was inspired in the way that the novel is a comment on him growing an interest for big wave surfing as a teenage boy and the importance of timing and the ability to hold your breath when you get held down," he said.
"Therefore Hold Down would be a visualisation of my infatuation with the side of wave riding that observers don’t see; the hold down."
The short film captures and explores the images and beauty of the coastal landscape and the environment in which surfing takes place.
"It aims to show the audience what surfing really includes. It is not just a sport or a hobby, it’s a spiritual outlet," he said.
"It’s a response to the environment/world in which surfers live and experience on a daily basis."
