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THE BIG WAVE PROJECT

THE RAW JOURNEY INTO ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST EXCITING CHALLENGES: RIDING THE WORLD'S BIGGEST WAVE

It is a production that is everything Tim Bonython lives for when it comes to documenting surfing. Big wave surfing has evolved radically over the past 10 years and THE BIG WAVE PROJECT is everything from where it came from to where it is now.
This production has taken Tim around the planet to interview the world's most renowned big wave surfers and to record the biggest and most death-defying waves. It's a narrative that will scare viewers as much as it will exhilarate.

  • Tim Bonython
    Director
    Immersion the movie, Blackwater, biggest Wednesday
  • Jason Muir
    Writer
  • Sandrine Iratchet-Bonython
    Producer
  • Jaimie Mitchell, Mark Healey, Franscesco Porcella, Andrew Cotton, Ryan Hipwood, Aaron Gold..
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Sport, big waves
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 38 minutes
  • Production Budget:
    250,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Portugal, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Red, Sony FS7
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Australian Surf Movie Festival

    Australia
    Cremorne
Distribution Information
  • Foxtel Australia
    Country: Australia
    Rights: Free TV
Director Biography - Tim Bonython

Tim Bonython is an award winning Cinematographer and Director, specialising in footage of Local and Big Wave surfing. His production company Tim Bonython Productions has a vast footage library, which is available for licensing [you can view some of Tim’s work here].

Tim Bonython Productions was created by Tim Bonython and his wife Sandrine, and specialises in cameraman and production services, which are available to hire. It also operates the Australian Surf Movie Festival, an annual national tour showcasing TBP’s latest and greatest independent surf feature films throughout clubs, pubs and cinemas Australia wide. Tim Bonython Productions run their own distribution.
Tim Bonython simply has a major addiction to what he does. Shooting the biggest waves with the best big wave surfers & then showing it all on the big screen at his annual tour, the Australian Surf Movie Festival (ASMF).

An award winning surf film-maker, photographer and director, Tim Bonython’s association with surfing films began in 1978, when, armed with a Super-8 camera, he set off to Hawaii’s infamous North Shore to capture the big waves and their riders. From that moment he became totally besotted with the sport, it’s participants and turning the footage he captured into captivating, breath-taking and inspiring films.

In 1998, on the advice of internationally renowned surf photographer Dan Merkel, Tim went off to document one of the biggest swells ever surfed at Jaws Maui, one of the world’s greatest big wave locations. The film, produced from the hours of footage collected, became one of the most respected surf documentaries created, called Biggest Wednesday. After touring this film throughout the country and overseas, it was sold on to VHS then to DVD and with over 130,000 units sold remains one of the biggest surf video sales of all time in Australia.
During that time Tim was working for Quiksilver International and also produced music videos for the Screaming Jets, Midnight Oil, The Angels & Frenzal Romb.

Over the last 12 years, Tim has specialised in filming big wave and ocean imagery. He has work in various productions and won Awards for his work as a cinematographer.
Tim now film on RED and just finished the production of his latest film THE BIG WAVE PROJECT that was screened around Australia in the Australian Surf Movie Festival.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Over very long time my love affair with the ocean has continued to grow. From the early days as young whipper snapper at my
All genders - all ages of Ocean enthusiasts
home beach of Tennyson in Adelaide the ocean was my playground.
Some 50 years later the surf is my business. The bigger the waves the bigger my enthusiasm. Big is Best.
In 1981 i went to Bells Beach for the very first time for the Rip Curl Pro, my first paid job to document surfing outside home where the surf was as big as its ever been.
On my return back to Adelaide I edited up my Super 8 footage and showed at the local pub where we had a line a mile long to get in and see this hot off the press footage when there was no VHS, DVD or on online viewing.
Simply shooting the majesty of the ocean with surfers enhancing them and then taking it on the road showing it on the big screen was my new found business.
From that definitive day at Bells Beach where the surf was 10 to 20 feet to today where I travel the world searching out the biggest and most feared waves to document.
15 years ago i decided that if its not big and scary then i would not bothering with it. Shooting only big wave surfing was my genre.
For the past 5 years, I've been dedicating my time to work on my most definitive film to-date: The Big Wave Project.
Most documentaries come with a script sold to investors and then the producers to make a film. This documentary isn't following this path. All interviews and filming on location follow unscripted events. The challenge was to create a story line from all events gathered. It is raw, challenging and honest.
Why this topic?
Because it is a genre that astounds people. Like Simon Anderson said "… screening of Tim Bonython Big Wave Project didn't disappoint. The reaction of the people there said it all. I've never heard so many ohs and ahs in a cinema. A great insight to the inner sanctum of just about every big wave charger and big wave destination from around the globe. 5 stars Tim."

Around the planet big wave surfing has grown so quickly. 10 years ago the sport didn't even exist in Europe & now Europe is the new frontier.
Portugal is the home the to the worlds biggest & most dangerous wave Nazare. Then there is California with Mavericks, Hawaii with Jaws/Peahi and Tahiti with Teahupoo.
And of course there's Australia. The home of some of the worlds heaviest & most thickest waves. We call them SLABS.

So my story The Big Wave Project is that. A bunch of guys & girls, adrenalin junkies for some, "crazies" for most, driven live to surf the biggest waves in a world that every place & every wave is different.
It's a narrative that will scare viewers as much as it will exhilarate.