Chasing%20the%20Dream

© Mike Melia

Visionaries: Chasing the Dream

Nov 01 2006 / Los Angeles, CA
Mei and Williams tell the story of a group of young surfers trying to go pro. 
 
When Josh Williams and Angelo Mei were sixteen-years-old they knew what they wanted to be—pro surfers. The two hadn’t met yet, but growing up amidst the beach culture in the mid- to late-80s this was not an uncommon dream for kids. Today it’s more than a dream, it’s a reality for many kids as school’s like Huntington Beach High and Palos Verdes have surf teams along with traditional sports like football and soccer.

Of course neither Williams, nor Mei went on to be pro surfers because something else grabbed them even stronger—the desire to make films. At 16-years-old Williams began making mini-films of kids when he worked at a surf camp. “I could make more money making surf films when I worked at the camp, so it was a no-brainer, but then I discovered I really liked making surf films.”
 
Mei and Williams became acquainted in their 20s, hitting it off because both had a passion for film and surfing and went on to film school. In spite of formal educations, neither lost their passion for documenting surf films. In 2005 when Quiksilver asked Williams, a filmer who owns Metalstorm productions, to produce a short film about the Huntington Beach High School surf team, he knew whom to turn to for a director—his friend Angelo Mei. “I had to carefully consider the project,” says Mei. “At first I was concerned that all of these kids would be exactly the same because they all grew up in the same community and were rich white kids who live at the beach. Where’s the conflict? But as it turned out they are all so different and their parents and families have some heavy stuff going on around them. We were able to capture that I think.”
  
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 Chasing the Dream

  •   Get a look behind the lens of 'Chasing the Dream' and follow the story of 8 Huntington Beach kids trying to become professional surfers.
  • Watch the Chasing the Dream trailer.
 
They also brought in few more people to help round out the film. John Philbin, a surf instructor and actor from Malibu who played “Turtle” in the movie the “North Shore” and understands all too well the story of kids wanting to go pro on the circuit. Philbin helped give the mood of the film and brought in actor Gary Busey to narrate the film. Mei also brought in an editor/co-writer named Maggie Carrie, who also happened to be an old professor of Mei’s.
 
The movie is described as Hoop Dreams meets Endless Summer and is in the vein of the academy award winning movie Murderball, where the filmers introduce a group of young surfers from Huntington Beach and follow them and their coach through a year where they travel to Australia. Some of the boys were as young as 15-years-old and had never been outside of America, so the journey not only followed them physically as they are introduced to the world outside of their hometown, but also as they emotionally grow and learn whether they have what it takes to make it as a pro surfer.
 
“It was an interesting film for me to make because I wanted to be a pro surfer when I was a kid and at some point I realized I didn’t have what it takes. To watch a kid learn that about himself and then to try and push on anyway, even when they know they may not make it is amazing,” says Williams.
 
Adding to Williams sentiment Mei says of the movie, “Its’ not a surf film. The subject matter is surfing but it’s a bigger story. It’s a movie about the love of surfing. You are not going to put in Chasing the Dream to practice your next aerial reverse. It’s a coming of age story about kids.”