Chasing Surfing Waves and Dreams

Twenty-seven-year-old director David Arnold brings out two awards out of their black boxes and sets them down on his work desk in his home in Kemang, South Jakarta. They are crystal clear, save for a black-and-white sticker pasted on each one saying “Who’s Your Dede”.

He won the awards for the documentary film “Mengejar Ombak” (Chasing Waves), which he directed alongside Tyrone Lebon. The movie recounts the early life of Dede Suryana — one of only two Indonesian surfers to have ever competed in world championship events and winner of two gold medals at the 2008 Asian Beach Games — and follows his journey from one competition to another across five continents.

The film won in the categories of Emerging Director and Original Music Score at X-Dance, an action sports film festival in Utah in January this year.

“Dede put the stickers on himself,” Arnold says, smiling. “During the Q&A session in Utah, some people in the audience asked me questions, but I called Dede down to answer them. And I swear, throughout the festival, there wasn’t a standing ovation as loud as the one Dede got. The crowd loved him. The girls went crazy for him.”

Early on in the film, Dede sits in his small rented room in Bali and talks about his hopes of one day buying his own house.

Born 23 years ago in the small fishing village of Cimaja, West Java Province, Dede had an early interest and a natural talent in surfing, as his parents and older brothers say in the film. From the age of 6, Dede’s passion and talent for surfing was obvious to those around him. With humble beginnings, he would paddle banana tree trunks in the river and go swimming at Cimaja’s beach. His brothers later taught him how to surf.

“When I saw Dede at the beach, he had just turned 6 years old. After a while, he got good and later he got sponsored by Spyderbilt,” Otoy, one of Dede’s brothers, says in the film.

Edin, another brother of Dede, recalls how he took Dede to Bali twice a year to compete. “My parents were angry at me, but I just wanted to give Dede the support he needed to become the best,” says Edin, who also surfs.

A broad range of other interviewees, such as Dede’s guardian in Bali, Surf Time magazine publisher Harry Radcliffe, and Indonesian surfing legend Rizal Tanjung, recollect their early encounters with the wonder-child after he moved to Bali to chase his dreams.

Arnold, who has lived in Indonesia on and off, would go on surfing trips to Cimaja as a teenager. It was there that he first saw Dede, then a sun-kissed, well-built 14-year-old surfer. Back then, the two would simply exchange nods.

“Dede is one of the most talented surfers, one of the most talented sportsmen, and his story crosses so many themes,” Arnold says. “He comes from a humble background. His family is great. He is a charismatic character and his face is very photogenic. So I thought, let’s make a film about the guy.”

That was 2004. In 2005, the film crew recorded the first interviews, and the shooting process continued throughout 2007. The post-production stage went on, and off, through 2008.

The most interesting thing about the documentary is that it isn’t just another story about a sportsman’s struggle to make it to the top. Instead, it zooms into Dede as he tries to maintain his Muslim identity in a Westernized Bali, where surfers are notorious for being party animals and “chick magnets,” as one of his friends claims in the film.

At the beginning of the film, Dede’s mother, Iin Yuhinu, recalls how before her son was taken to Bali she warned his sponsor not to give the “bad stuff” to her son. “Just give him Sprite or Coca-Cola,” she says.

Her words were solemnly obeyed, confirmed by close friend and fellow surfer Dedi Gun, who says unlike himself, Dede is a serious person who rarely parties. The serious side of Dede is beautifully captured in footage depicting him standing poised, staring thoughtfully into the rolling waves.

For those who wish to see the 2008 Indonesian Surfer of the Year in action, the film shows Dede riding and flying over the breaks, and smoothly gliding out of barrels every now and then.

The 47-minute, organically developed film hints at an anticlimactic ending, when Dede’s attempt to qualify for the world championship looks unpromising.

However, the final scene offers a sense of optimism and closure to Dede’s endeavor, evoking the message that he is also a winner off the breaks.

Arnold believes that with his indubitable talent and young age, Dede will find himself in the spotlight for a long time.

“His is a story that’s going to develop,” he said. “The film is just a portrait in Dede’s ongoing journey.”


(This article was published on www.thejakartaglobe.com on March 19, 2009. Photo : Zimbio)