Dave Homcy Film Guru Oahu, Hawaii
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You may not know Dave Homcy’s name, but if you’ve watched a surf film in the past 10 years, then you undoubtedly know his work. Whether it was changing the course of what constituted a surf film in the late ’90s with his work on September Sessions, his contributions to the much heralded A Brokedown Melody, or his latest work on a music video with Eddie Vedder, Dave’s unique perspective has shaped and matured surf filmmaking remarkably. Although his first venture into the film industry arose when he worked on a production crew in Miami, Florida shooting 16 mm commercials for the military, Dave’s real introduction to shooting surfing arose when he moved to Oahu and met Sonny Miller who took him under his wing and hooked him up with a water housing. A natural behind the lens with a self-proclaimed infatuation with the beauty of shooting in film, it didn’t take long for Dave to find work on various projects produced in the Islands. As Dave’s work gained notoriety throughout the industry, he began to truly find his niche working with Chris Malloy and Jack Johnson on the film September Sessions. “For a long time, surf movies were really defined by a lot of action and quick edits,” said Dave. “When Septem-
ber Sessions came out, I think we really changed that.” In the following years, Jack Johnson’s career as a musician began to take center stage. Although Jack remained involved in various projects Dave began to fill his shoes behind the lens would eventually take on the role of the director of production. In his latest venture, Dave is working with Keith Malloy on an upcoming film about bodysurfing entitled Hell or Highwater. The movie, set to premiere by the end of the summer, has taken Dave from Fiji to the West Coast to New Zealand and New York and will surely showcase the sport in the telling and immaculately shot manner that has forged Dave into the filmmaker that he is today. By bringing art back to filmmaking, Dave has taken surf cinematography to a new pasture and furthered our collective understanding of how to document the sport.
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