Girls Can't Surf

This band of 1980s fiercely competitive renegades weren’t just battling the waves. Everyone from their male counterparts to the media and sponsors treated them like show ponies, dismissing their undoubtable talents on the board. At a time when the sport was rapidly turning pro, they were forced to wear impractical and demeaning gear and compete for pitiful prizes. Despite their undeniable determination, it took these surfing greats 25 years to turn their sport around.

Girls Can’t Surf features sensational archival footage and stirring interviews with trailblazing surfing icons Jodie Cooper, Frieda Zamba, Pauline Menczer, Lisa Andersen, Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha, Layne Beachley and more. Directed by multiple award winner Christopher Nelius (Storm Surfers 3D) and produced by Walkley award winner Michaela Perske (Footy Girls, SFF 2006), this brand-new Australian documentary is a wild ride of clashing personalities, sexism, adventure and heartbreak, with women surfers fighting against the odds – for decades – to make their dreams of competing on equal terms a reality.

Christopher Nelius is an Australian film director, producer and writer. His first writing gig was a documentary about surfer Ross Clarke-Jones; he developed that idea further to co-create a documentary series, and later Storm Surfers 3D (2012), which won multiple international festival awards.