content: Feature Documentary

narrated by: Joel Edgerton
awards: 2 x ACCTA (formerly AFI) Awards, Best Documentary (Multiple awards)
KEY CRED: Highest Grossing Australian Documentary 2011
commissioned by: Privately
year: 2011

Mark Matthews is a known Big Wave Surfer. He has dreams of being the best. Richie Vaculik, Mark's best mate, also has a love of the big waves, but he also has his own ambitions.

Although a carpet layer by day, Richie has aspirations of becoming a MMA Cage-Fighting Champion. Both are fearless, living life to the full and on the edge, daring each other to surf bigger waves, party harder, take greater risks. But when their adrenalin-seeking antics & hardened partying turns sour, it sets in motion a dramatic and life-changing series of events that threatens to derail everything they have worked so hard for. In the blink of an eye, Mark's surfing career is in tatters & Richie is facing a jail term. But for these two friends, giving up is not an option.

It's not the mistakes you make but how you overcome them. Their unwavering friendship gives them the courage to battle their demons, rise up from their troubled past & conquer their fears. This film is a feature-length docu-drama, told through the eyes of the two friends, Pro-surfer Mark Mathews and MMA fighter Richie Vaculik & filmed over three years. It provides a unique & candid insight into the tumultuous life of two world-class athletes facing against-all-odds personal challenges.