The Trailer Project :: The Lure of the Sea
18 - 31 August 2018
The Quad
From Morning of the Earth to the meaning of life, film maker Albe Falzon has followed his own path
When Albe Falzon was honoured at the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame awards in 2006, it was more than 30 years since the release of his classic surf movie, Morning of the Earth.
Surfing had moved on, become big business and a high profile professional sport, but Albe still looked like he’d walked straight off the set of his great country soul surf flick. He couldn’t be lured from his quiet country retreat for the bright lights of the awards night at a fashionable beachside resort, and appeared instead via a video greeting. Sitting on the veranda of his charming renovated farmhouse, patting a kangaroo that was seated peacefully at his side, Albe thanked all for the acknowledgement and apologised that he had many pressing commitments that kept him busy at the farmhouse. “Like feeding kangaroos,” he grinned.
Albe had been given The Surfing Hall of Fame Lifestyle Award, which honours those who best represent and contribute to Australian surfing’s culture and lifestyle. He had earned this honour by doing what he has always done - surfing, making art, and living life at his own designated, gentle pace, taking time to smell the flowers and appreciate the great natural playground he inhabits.
Albe is enjoying a whole new bout of recognition as surfing’s retro fashion trend gathers steam, and a new generation of surfers look back to the early ‘70s as a time of magic and inspiration - of radical new design experiments and easy country living before crowds and the coastal real estate boom transformed our beaches.
The music, the look, the surfboards are all back in fashion among a generation of surfers weary of fast-edited thrash/punk surf flicks and earnest battles in pro surfing competition.
“Getting back to where it all began
Life was simple, no rip off people
And it was fun.”
So goes the soundtrack to Morning of the Earth, and while many of us are trying to recapture that innocent approach to life, Albe has never left it.
Text by Tim Baker
