The Wavescape Festival, running from 19 November to 9 December 2019, has evolved over the last 15 years from an event celebrating a love of surf and beach culture to one dedicated to the fight for a greener earth and bluer ocean. The 2018 festival will add several satellite events to its offering, including the Wavescape Artboard Project, Clifton Beach Screening, Slide Night, Wavescape Film Festival, and Wesgro Blue Ocean Master Class.
Talks, film screenings, beach cleanups, book launches, and charity events are all in store as Wavescape brings together creative and scientific minds with a passion for the ocean to advocate for change. This includes marine biologists, conservation influencers, artists, tourist boat operators, surfers, divers, fishers, photographers, authors, filmmakers, and activists.
Cape-Town-surfer-Matt-Bromley surfs a giant wave off Kommetjie, Cape Town. Photo Alan van Gysen
“It’s so special to showcase these amazing people and their acts of kindness, talent and genuine love for the ocean. This year we are really underlining our commitment to the elimination of single-use plastic, and our partners have agreed to do the same. There is a hard-hitting meme going around – ‘“It’s only one straw” … said 8 billion people’. That is the key. We have the power to make a difference as a collective,” says festival director Shani Judes.
It’s only 1 #Straw ….. said 8 Billion people.#StrawNoMore #BeatPlasticPollution #environment #sustainable #SaveOurOcean pic.twitter.com/NUkKTgFEnT
— Verde-Environmental (@VerdeEnv) July 25, 2018
Also read: The final straw: 6 alternatives to sipping through plastic
Several African premieres will be screened at the festival, including one at Clifton 4th Beach, four nights of screening at the Labia Theatre in town and movie nights at the Jack Black Tap Room.
Co-founder of Wavescape Steve Pike, known as Spike, says: “It’s special to see how our festival has grown into such a vital part of the Cape Town summer calendar, and how it brings together such a wonderful group of passionate people who are making a difference. An integral mandate of Wavescape is to remind us how crucial the ocean is [for] our survival, and to the earth we inhabit while embarking on a celebratory feast of ocean love and surf stoke. ”
All proceeds from the event will be donated to beneficiaries such as the NSRI, Waves for Change, Shark Spotters, the 9 Miles Project, Ocean Pledge, Beach Co-op and South African Adaptive Surfing. Last year’s art auction raised R772 000.
Wavescape also presents the world premiere of Satori Film, a documentary about Cape Town’s big-wave surfing crew, at Jack Black’s Tap Room.
Wavescape Festival Programme 2018
9-15 November: Stories: a Big Wave Surfboard Exhibition, Jack Black Tap Room
15 November: Big Wave Surfboard Q&A, Jack Black Tap Room
19-28 November: Wavescape Art Board Exhibition, Jack Black Brewery
24 November: Satori Film Premiere, Jack Black Brewery
28 November: ArtBoard Auction with Nik Rabinowitz, Jack Black Brewery
30th November: The Sexy Ugly Beautiful book launch at Rolling Wood with John McCarthy
1 December: Clifton 4th Beach Outdoor Screening
3 December: Slide Night, Centre for the Book
5 December: Wesgro Blue Ocean Master Class
6-9 December: Wavescape Film Festival, Labia Theatre
1 or 2 December: Beach Clean Up hosted by BEACH Co-op
1-2 Dec and 8-9 December – Swim Free Confidence courses by John McCarthy
To find out more about all our events, please go to wavescapefestival.com
