“Through surf, we’re able to escape from the world into a simpler, more pure environment” - Five Summer Stories
On Wednesday, November 9th, 2022 the Coast Film and Music Festival in Laguna Beach kicked off with a short discussion with filmmaker Greg MacGillivray, and professional surfers Shaun Tomson and Jericho Poppler, followed by the night showing of the MacGillivray Freeman surf film – Five Summer Stories. The film takes the audience on a journey through water, the growth of the surfing community, and why it’s so important to appreciate what nature provides for us.
Locals, surfers, film enthusiasts, activists and many more filled the Hobie shop with great anticipation. Whether it was someone’s first or tenth time seeing the film, everyone’s eyes were glued to the projection screen. Amazing, bright, and awe-worthy visuals flashed across the screen, leaving the audience with a smile.

The main question is, why is this film so impactful and how so many decades later, is it still considered to be the best surf film of all time? To fully understand the gravity of this film, we have to travel back to when the concept of filming was merely an idea.
“Surfing is the one way that we could all find some serenity and some peace and some connection to nature in the wild. And that's what this film was all about, how a surfer is so lucky to get away from all of this despair onshore and go out into the waves, even if there are no waves at all – just to sit there and watch.” - Greg MacGillivray