Vague à l'Âme - Interview with Director Vincent Kardasik

In the build-up to the epic Billabong big wave movie premier Vague à l'Âme, I was given the opportunity to ask Director Vincent Kardasik a few questions about his latest project.

If you're not aware, it's a story about a quest - to go bigger, charge harder and find the courage to face monsters at sea. The film gives unparalleled insight into the real and raw emotions that play out on a surfers' adventure. It shows adrenalin, solitude, camaraderie, laughs, hard work, disappointments and euphoria chasing giants swells around the world...

Bascially, it's insane.

Historically big wave movies are all about ‘filming the surfer on the wave’. What made you want to create a movie about the journey, rather than focusing purely on the swell?

When you score, I mean when you’re at the right place, at the right time with a good crew, that’s something special… If it happens once in your life, you want to do it again, it’s just too good... That feeling you lived something unique… But if you think about it, it’s special because of all the efforts and the decisions you had to make before scoring. When I first start traveling with François and Sancho, I realized it wasn’t that easy. François has a proper job, Sancho is sometimes too excited about a swell… But they still manage to drop everything at the last minute and jump in a plane to score heavy waves… To be honest, I wasn’t really into producing another surf flicks, I wanted to tell the story of those guys: Shane who can’t stop charging and has that unique relationship with the Ocean, Sancho who is at the turning point of his career, he knows what he has to do but is it really worth it? François, obsessed by perfect waves and always looking at forecast and then Justin Becret, a 15 years old prodigy stuck in that adventure with us and ready to follow us everywhere… Vague à l’Ame was a tough mission but with such a dream team!

Was it tough trying to convey the life of a surfer, rather than just filming them on a big wave?

Not tough but definitely time consuming… And the fact you sometimes need to drop everything at the last minute to chase a swell doesn’t really help doing anything else… They don’t really live in the same World as us… Surfing and scoring is their priority and will always be I guess. If the movie was 90 minutes, that would have been one more thematic: how complicated it is to be in that mode and stay connected to the real World… You can be sure the best swell of the year will happen during New Year Eve, your wife’s birthday or when you had that meeting you can’t cancel…

There’s always a risk when filming big wave surfing. Did you ever fear for your safety whilst filming?

Damn… I think both François Liets and Yann Benetrix (famous big wave surfer from Hossegor) saved my life twice during this all process. That day when Justin got that barrel in Hossegor, it was really big and mean… Far from the shore… To shoot a clip we always had to be at the worst spot… Yann did such a good job in keeping me safe because trust me it was sketchy... Another one was that crazy spot in Spain, the locals couldn’t make it to the line-up, 15 feet sets were closing the channel right after the harbor and we were the three of us on the ski (François, Sancho and myself)… I asked François twice to drive back to the harbor... It was so heavy that I wasn’t feeling it… At some point you're just going through massive waves and you’re like « if I make it safe, I will never do that thing again »… And a couple weeks later you’re back at it…

What was it like working with big wave legend Shane Dorian?

Shane was my favorite surfer when I was a kid and I’m still really impressed when I’m in front of him… That guy is my hero. First trip I did with him was in Ireland, weather was perfect, waves were firing, he got one hell of a bomb on his first wave right in front of me… I had to pinch myself, is that for real??? Where do I sign? I want to keep on shooting with that guy! Shane is amazing, so calm and chill, always open minded and ready to help… And so damn connected to the Ocean!

How do you think the audience is going to react to this movie?

This is not the typical surf flick so they might be confused… There’s action in it, of course, I’m an action shooter and I made my name in producing highlights clips around sessions or events but I wanted to add something really human to that… Let the guys talk between them, try to tell stories into the main story and all this definitely needs to find its audience… I didn’t produce that film trying to make Shane, Sancho & Co look cool… If at the end of the movie you don’t like them for any reason, that’s part of the game, here they are… It’s still a brand film so I had to keep some limits to make it enjoyable but the director’s cut is one hell of a movie, not for all audiences but something you will love or hate… Anyway, the actual version of Vague à l’Ame is still an hybrid between surf movie and documentary with a lot of attention to detail when it comes to camera work so it will be easier to watch and understand.

Going forward, do you have plans to do something like this, or will you change tact completely?

When I first started my company in 2008, I made a bucket list... For real… Stuff I wanted to do around surfing with my camera… Directing my own surf flick was in that list. All the rest happened in the first 6 years… As for a proper movie, I had a few opportunities, I even shot a 26 minutes for Nike but nothing like I wanted… When François, Billabong and Monster first approached me I was like « yeah, this could be interesting if we’ll do it my way… » I didn’t have carte blanche, as I said before, it’s a brand movie but I had a lot of freedom and for once I could rely on my vision…

That was the last thing to check on that list ten year after I put it on paper… So it’s probably time to write a new one and focus on new goals… Probably not around surfing this time… I’m 38 this year and I think there’s a lot of talented directors and operators pushing behind so let’s make some space for them…

I have at least a couple surfing projects I need to finish this year and then I will move on… At some point I want to be able to go to the Ocean to enjoy it with my family and my friends and not having to always link surf and business...

Cheers Vincent!

To show how stoked we are about the London premier, we're giving away tickets for you and a pal to attend. All you need to do is head to our Instagram @wetsuitoutlet, follow us and comment whether you're IN or OUT, and just sit tight for the winners to be announced!

Please note: You must be in London and available to attend on Saturday 19 May. Competition closes May 14 and winners will be drawn May 15.

Sam Quennell

Published on 8th May 2018 in Surfing