Shooting the Curl : ‘King of the Hard-Core Surf Films’ Takes His Independence a Step Farther--to Video

“Around the World in Eighty Waves” stands and delivers double-barreled surf action that will have you foaming at the mouth. See it now before the end of the world. --From flyer for Chris Bystrom’s “Around the World in Eighty Waves”

He’s commonly dubbed the “king of the hard-core surf films” by his primary audience, some of the raddest dudes and dudettes from here to Australia. With such titles as “Blazing Boards,” “The Last Surf Movie” and “Around the World in Eighty Waves,” Chris Bystrom’s films are rarely weighted down by such things as plot or characters. They are documentaries for surfers by a surfer.

Bystrom himself likes to be called the “Charlie Chaplin of surf films” since he handles every phase of his films, from photography to distribution. Beyond his personal infatuation with the sport, the 39-year-old film maker brings a surfer’s mentality to the job. Fiercely independent, Bystrom often allows the pleasures of surfing to interfere with his work as he travels around the world.

Among surfers, he is something of a legend for his ability to put out films featuring top surfers from throughout the world. Once a member of the Ocean Beach Planning Board who concentrated on selling used records at the since-steamrolled flea market in Leucadia, Bystrom now lives on Australia’s Gold Coast. But he still spends a few months a year haunting the beaches of California, shooting footage, renewing old friendships and hawking his films.

“I try to work really hard for six months and then take six months off,” he said as he relaxed in a friend’s home in Ocean Beach, where he was staying for a few weeks. “After I leave here, I go into a mode where I try to surf every day.”

For many years, Bystrom “four-walled” his films, meaning he rented individual theaters and showed them himself. He traveled from city to city, arranged for theaters, distributed flyers and set up and ran the projectors.

“I prided myself on never having been busted for putting leaflets on car windows,” he said.

Now Bystrom has taken his independence a step farther, releasing his 16-millimeter films on videocassette.

“Four-walling was just too much work,” he said. “It’s like touring with a rock group or something.”

Last week, Bystrom released two new movies on video: “Freeze Frame” and “Around the World.” He concentrates on California, distributing tapes to video stores and surf shops much like a door-to-door surf video salesman, which is why he says he can add “the Willy Loman of the surf set” to his list of nicknames.

Unlike most film producers, Bystrom can’t quote sales figures or profit margins. Although he’s happy to sell 2,500 copies of a film over a few years, he said they are “the most popular renting surf films in the world.”

“I’d have to say (Bystrom’s films) rent much better than most surf films,” said Tom Szwak, director of movie purchasing for Blockbuster Entertainment’s chain of video stores. “His first two (“Blazing Boards” and “Beyond Blazing Boards”) were wildly successful for us.”

Szwak said research conducted by his company indicated that people living along the ocean weren’t the only ones renting Bystrom’s movies. The videos were equally popular in inland communities such as Rancho Bernardo and El Cajon.

Three elements make the movies popular, Szwak speculated: the bright, colorful artwork on the covers; the high-quality, often spectacular surfing footage, and the music.

For Bystrom, music is as important as a good wave. He painstakingly selects music for each film, often spending as much time doing the sound track as the editing. His two new releases include unreleased songs by the Hoodoo Gurus, as well as tracks supplied by Ronnie Montrose, Agent Orange and others.

“Chris has always been on the cutting edge of music,” said Curtis Beck, general manager of music publishing for Enigma Records. “As soon as he called, I set up a meeting and said, ‘How can I help?’ ”

The surf market is particularly appealing to music companies, said Beck, a former competitive surfer.

“It’s hard to sell products in the surfing community, but when you do there can be great rewards,” he said. “When they really like something, it can be one of the most active audiences you can have.”

Bystrom’s name is well known in Australian music circles, said Beck, who credits Bystrom with convincing the Australian branch of Enigma to re-release Montrose’s “Speed of Sound” album.

“We told them Chris was using seven Ronnie Montrose songs and their ears just popped up,” he said.

When Bystrom first moved to San Diego in 1971 from Los Angeles--following a girl and the waves off Sunset Cliffs--he fed himself by selling used records out of the trunk of his car. Later he became a regular fixture of the weekly flea market in Leucadia, selling albums and jewelry and advising people on the hot new bands.

“Back then I lived on avocado and tomato sandwiches six days a week and had hot dogs on Sunday,” he said.

Despite his rather bohemian life style, Bystrom was elected to the Ocean Beach Planning Board in 1976, representing slow-growth and environmental interests.

In 1977, he produced his first surfing film, “Room to Move,” using Super 8 film. It cost about $1,500 to produce. The following year he released “Room to Move II: Hawaii 1978.” Half of the sequel consisted of footage from the first film, “which nobody had seen,” Bystrom said.

After two trips to Australia, Bystrom raised $45,000--with the help of friends who mortgaged their home--to finance the filming of “Thunder Down Under: Pacific Dreams,” his first 16mm film. In April, 1981, the film opened simultaneously at the Strand Theater in Ocean Beach and the La Paloma in Encinitas.

It took more than a year of screening the film throughout the world, but Bystrom finally broke even on “Thunder Down Under.” With new-found confidence in his abilities, he decided it was time to get serious about film making.

“When the surf was at its best, I would always surf instead of shoot, so I never had footage from the best surfing days,” he recalled. “Finally, a friend told me, ‘You have to stop surfing when it’s perfect.’ ”

Once he had made the crucial decision to concentrate more on work than play, he spent a year developing “Blazing Boards,” which would become his most successful film to date.

Bystrom travels the world gathering footage of surf contests, including surfers who may not be as well known as some of the sport’s stars. He boasts of finding surfing spots off the beaten path, such as during a recent trek to the South Pacific island of Sumbawa.

Bystrom narrates in all of his films, which are filled with his own touches. He opened one film by appealing for sympathy from the audience by showing pictures of his dog who had recently died. In “Freeze Frame,” he spends a few minutes discussing a local Santa Cruz anti-surfer who is a frequent nemesis when Bystrom screens films in the area.

More than anything else, Bystrom says, he likes to use the films to “get on his soap box” and preach the pure world of surfing. With few of the bikini shots that are an obligatory ingredient in most surfing coverage, his films are full of insider jokes and references that few people outside the surfing community understand.

After the release of “Beyond Blazing Boards,” Bystrom grew tired of the constant hassles of four-walling and vowed to quit the business. He had an idea for a screenplay based on surfing.

As a farewell to the industry, he released “The Last Surf Film,” which was soon followed by “Son of the Last Surf Film.” However, Bystrom found himself missing the travel and the fun of shooting. He also found that surfers missed his films.

“It was almost like it was demanded of me that I keep doing them. Surfers with weepy eyes would look at me and ask when I was going to do another film.”

He started shooting again, but he was injured in a fight in Indonesia. Unable to operate a camera, he came up with the idea of releasing his films on videocassette. He found distributing videos to be like “night and day” compared to the hassles of four-walling. With the costs of renting theaters skyrocketing, along with the costs of promoting films, he discovered it was much easier for him to break even with videos.

“Surfing guys are usually quasi-businessmen,” said Blockbuster’s Szwak. “I’ve never had any problem with Chris. He’s one of the ones who has endured and been able to control the distribution of his own product.”

Bystrom is quick to point out that making money has never been a primary goal of his business. He hopes to develop his screenplay and perhaps make more documentaries, but fame and a financial windfall are not among his goals.

“I’ve always wanted to do it as a way of maintaining my style of life instead of getting rich,” he said.

Bystrom has little desire to explore subjects outside surfing. “Surfing is the most beautiful thing in the world to watch on film. It’s gorgeous. No other form comes close to the impact.”

Hard-core to the very end, he has nothing but disdain for some other surf-film makers who, he says, are only in the business to exploit the market.

“I can tell by the way they make their films,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s exploitative. They don’t understand surfing as well as I do.”