Sombrio
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| Directed by | Paul Manly |
"Sombrio" is a an hour long documentary about the eviction of a diverse community of surfers and squatters that existed on the West Coast of Vancouver Island for more than thirty years.
It centers on a family with ten children who grew up surfing on the beach and captures them and other residents over a two-year period, revealing their personal stories and convictions as they come to terms with their impending eviction.
"Sombrio" presents a portrait of a vital subculture in BC’s history and challenges our notions of what it means to be a self-determined citizen.
Since the 1960s, Sombrio Beach, a picturesque paradise of rainforest and beach on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, BC, has been home to a unique community of “squatters” living in a funky array of beach shacks.
A magnet for surfers, social misfits, those who simply wanted off the modern grid, or to live a simpler life, the Sombrio community was an experiment in cooperation, anarchy and self-sufficiency.
This ended in 1997 when the government evicted the squatters after the integration of Sombrio beach into the greater Juan de Fuca provincial park.
"Sombrio Beach" is about a sense of place and brings together the threads of sustainable lifestyle, history and ownership of land, and the stories of creative individuals who dared to live by their passion, skills and ingenuity away from the consumer world.
The images of the ocean are stunning and the prowess of virtuoso surfers simply amazing. Carole Roy Ph.D Instructor Canadian Studies Trent University.
Through rare and intimate interviews that were obtained through an established trust, combined with beautiful cinematography, "Sombrio" reveals a candid and poignant look at life, a contemplation and weighing of values, in the globalized postmodern world.
Directed by Paul Manly.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-m9nno07EU