The inaugural O'Neill Aotearoa Surf Film Festival launches this week.
Surfing enthusiasts will swap wetsuits and surfboards for popcorn and ice creams as Mount Maunganui's big screen launches the inaugural O'Neill Aotearoa Surf Film Festival this week.

The festival, with the support of Tourism Bay of Plenty, is the first dedicated surf film competition in the country showcasing a celebration of surf cinema and the art of wave riding in New Zealand.

Opening at Bay City Cinemas Mount Maunganui on Wednesday, the three night festival will include feature films and short films as well as other festival events including live music and an opening night gala.

Festival director and film maker Nick Stevenson says Mount Maunganui is the number one pick for the opening of the festival because it is the 'surfing capital of New Zealand”.

'We think it's the perfect city. Everyone is associated with the beach culture and they all surf as well.

'All of the selected feature films have never been screened in New Zealand so we are excited to be bringing them to New Zealand audiences for the first time.”

Running in true Kiwi style, the festival will then hit the road with a selection of the award winning films for a six-week coastal tour of New Zealand's beach towns.

Being the first festival, Nick is blown away by the 35 submissions for the awards which made for some tough decisions for the screening panel of Craig Levers (surf photographer), Andrew McAlpine (film designer) and professional surfer Maz Quinn.

'We literally had films from all over the world, places we wouldn't expect films to come out of. We also had some amazing Kiwi films in it.”

Nick says the number of submissions shows surf cinema is riding the crest of a technology wave where anyone is able to pick up a camera or a Go-Pro camera to produce high quality content.

Best Feature Film winner ‘Waverider', produced by New Zealanders Karl Lear and Gareth Davies, will screen along international entrants ‘The North Canyon' and ‘Bending Colours'.

Despite a lot of focus on the films this year, Nick says a lot of time and effort has been put into ensuring the festival is 'not a one hit wonder”.

'O'Neill is a super supporter. They are looking at this long term and we want to develop other events around it like art and music, plus the whole surf culture as opposed to just film.

'We want to provide a platform for surf film makers where they can actually reach their audience and just have that connection as there isn't that in New Zealand at the moment.”

Tickets and programming details for the O'Neill Aotearoa Surf Film Festival are available online at www.asff.co.nz and limited door sales will be available on the night.

View the YoutTube clip for Best Feature Film, New Zealand film - Waverider here.

Best Feature Film

Waverider - Karl Lear, Gareth Davies (New Zealand)

Best Short Film

Darkside of the Lens - Mickey Smith (Ireland)

Best Cinematography

The North Canyon - Garrett McNamara, Polvo Concepts, Paulo Caldeira, Gustavo Neves (Portugal)

Best Documentary

North of the Sun - Inge Wegge, Jorn Nyseth Ranum (Norway)

Best Soundtrack

North of the Sun - Inge Wegge, Jorn Nyseth Ranum (Norway)

Official Selection - Feature Films

Waverider - Karl Lear, Gareth Davies (New Zealand)

Bending Colours - Kai Neville, Rick Riffici (Australia)

North of the Sun - Inge Wegge, Jorn Nyseth Ranum (Norway)

North Canyon - Garrett McNamara, Polvo Concepts, Paulo Caldeira, Gustavo Neves (Portugal)

Gauchos Del Mar - Julian Azulay, Joaquin Azulay (Argentina)

Water from the Moon - Arya Subyakto (Indonesia)

Official Selection - Short Films

Darkside of the Lens – Mickey Smith (Ireland)

Abroad – John Lynch (USA)

Uncommon Ideals – Chris McClean (United Kingdom)

Upcycling - Henrique Ogro Perrone (Brazil)

Nature is the Canvas we Destroy – Scott Gruzinsky (USA)

Beyond the Scars – Chris McClean (United Kingdom)

Tipping Barrels - Ben Gulliver (Canada)

New England Blood - Dylan Ladds and Ryan Scura (USA)

Ale Ponzanelli & Matt Calvani – Luca Merli (Italy)

Away – Elisa Bates (USA)

A Neo-Modern Aesthetic – Ted Whittaker (New Zealand)

Salmon Theory - Dylan Ladds and Ryan Scura (USA)

Girls, Girls, Girls – Luca Merli (Italy)