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Table of Contents
RIDE THE WAKE Screenings
From left: Pro rider Ricky G; Jennifer Akana Sturla, director of RIDE THE WAKE; and pro rider Randall Harris
Behind the scenes on the set of RIDE THE WAKE
RIDE THE WAKE is the first professional format narrative film involving the sport of wakeboarding. JASON SOEDA: Aloha, Jennifer! It's so nice to have you back at LVHIFF. How has your career evolved since you brought us KAMEA? JENNIFER AKANA STURLA: Since KAMEA my career has evolved into some projects that haven't happened and another short film, similar in length, genre, etc., that has happened, called RIDE THE WAKE. I've got things I'm working on putting together and am cultivating relationships at Sony Pictures (where I hold my "day job") to try and make one of them happen, and to "happen" in a way that extends beyond financing and into real studio distribution. JS: Tell us about the origins of RIDE THE WAKE. Was this a project you've had in mind for a long time? JAS: Actually, I was hired to direct RTW. My producers, Zach and Drew, had been developing the project for a while and although they didn't have a director attached they asked a mutual friend if she knew of any water DPs. She thought of me and my experience shooting KAMEA in the water and said "Well ... let's start with the director - who do you have?" They were actually looking for a director as well. So we had a meeting and they offered me the job the next day. I was pretty excited because it seemed like it was a go, that they had money, etc., but of course they didn't - because how do you get money for a short film, right? So while we started to look for financing I sent some rather extensive notes to the writer and he promptly quit. The producers then handed me the script to rewrite and, admittedly, that was what I wanted to do from first reading it. I did a page one rewrite and later some revisions and about seven months later we shot. Ultimately, the film was possible because, to my knowledge, no one has done a professional format narrative film involving the sport of wakeboarding before, so we were able to get some support from the industry in terms of private equity and company sponsorship, in addition to some money I brought in through a benefactor of mine. JS: RIDE THE WAKE and KAMEA both feature strong, young females who are just coming of age. Has this always been a compelling theme for you? Are there any autobiographical elements in your films? JAS: Coming-of-age plus action seems to be my thing. Maybe I don't want to go too soft so I try to offset the coming-of-agey part with action. But I like action just as much, really. With KAMEA it's surfing, with RTW it's wakeboarding, and with the current feature I'm working on it's dance. As far as "strong young females" I don't know if they're unusually strong, as female human beings go, but compared to the average film character they probably are "strong." They are not passive, it's true; both Kamea and Jessica take action to affect their lives, they reach beyond their fears to gain something for themselves, and that is certainly a theme that my life shares with their stories. And both films, ultimately, seem to say, "It's not about getting a boy so that you can be happy," which, it seems to me, is the suggestion and ending of 99.9 percent of films of this genre: girl alone, girl gets boy, girl is now whole and complete. Uck. I hate that. JS: What was your biggest challenge in the production of RIDE THE WAKE? JAS: The biggest challenge was getting the money. For independent filmmaking that always seems to be the challenge, especially expensive ones, shot on film, in the water, etc., etc. But also I'd say shooting in the water with three cameras and two to three boats was a trick to pull off, but, you know, on the other hand there weren't any lights to have to work with for the water shoot so I could focus on the boats and stuff. We shot fewer than half of the days I took to shoot KAMEA, which was challenging for me. I shot all of John Stockwell's scenes in one day, for example, and originally we scheduled two. On one day I had to shoot six pages, six pages comprised of a bunch of scenes in different locations and parts of scenes we had to pick up - it was pretty intense. We'd do a couple takes and move on to the next setup, then move on to the next location. "Gate's good? Moving on!" All day long. JS: Did you do any wakeboarding during production? Or were you strictly business? JAS: I was all business, though I could have gotten wet during Jenny Ladner's ("Jessica") wakeboarding rehearsals, but I wasn't up for it. I grew up water skiing - my dad had a boat and we could take trips to Lake Powell and other amazing lakes - and so I thought, cool, I'll have some commonality with these guys. But wakeboarders hate water skiers, there's a real rift there, so I didn't play that card. JS: When you're working on a film, do you enjoy the collaborative process? Or do you prefer working alone? JAS: You're never working alone. Unless you're walking around with your own video camera and shooting strangers, you're always working with someone else. You might want to work alone, when there's tension, but collaboration is the process. I like it, of course - when you work with a DP you connect with it's really a creative romance, this kind of unique relationship in an artistic dimension that's different from any other. It's wonderful and can be very satisfying. JS: What do you want LVHIFF audiences to take away from your film? JAS: I'd like them to be excited by the spectacle of the film and affected by the characters and the story. I'd love for the audience to take away something that relates to their own human experience and to have felt an empathic connection with the main character. JS: What's next for you, Jennifer? Any Hawaii-based projects on the horizon? JAS: Yes! Oh I want so much to make my first feature here! I'm working on a dance movie about a Hawaiian local boy hip-hop dancer and it's written for Valen Ahlo, who had small parts in both of my shorts. He's an amazingly talented dancer (hip hop, street dancing, hula, all of it) and the film will showcase his talents. It's set in Wai'anae and there will be roles for several local kids. Gerard is promoting the Red camera for this project so I'm looking forward to seeing the HIFF trailer as research!
Just For Fun: HIFF Survey
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