Photo Marc Dura
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Vincent Kardasik
A dream vision
Vincent Kardasik has been filming his friends surfing for almost 20 years.
His cinematography make us want to go to the water, but the exploits that he films in gigantic waves, make us dream above all.
Vincent grew up near the beaches of Hossegor, and he found himself at the right place in the right time, with the best French surfers.
Since then, from commercials to documentaries, from movie sets to music videos, Vincent has never given up the surfing world.
He is and was behind the camera, in the water and on land, on the making of multiple productions:
"A season of dreams" with Jeremy Flores,
WSL productions,
the Surf Therapy Tv series,
Redbull Tv documentaries on Nazaré, ...
In 2018, he releases his first surf movie: "VAGUE A L'AME", around big waves surfers.
The film received several awards at festivals and was a great success at screenings, including those organized on our SURF NIGHTS.
In January 2020, a second film was released: "SOUNDS OF SURFING (S.O.S)", an artistic project around Dj Molécule and the wave of Nazaré.
Screenings in theater are to come in 2021.
Waiting for a new film from the best surf film director in France, we asked him a few questions.
- Hi Vincent,
what was your background and who are the friends you started filming with?
"Since I was a kid, I've always wanted to be behind a camera, as long as I can remember, it's something that has always fascinated me.
As a teenager, during our skateboarding sessions, I had the opportunity to borrow a camcorder from a friend's parents.
I started to train on some editing, etc...
I started to study at an audio-visual school that I never finished and through my training contract, I had access to a Sony VX-100, at this time, it was THE camera to film action sports.
On my free time, I filmed my skater buddies Jean Supervielle, Benat Stevenot, Mat Dupuy, etc...
And sometimes the guys I surfed with like Fabrice Gelez, Alain Riou, Tim Boal, Miky Picon, Sancho, etc....
They were at the top of surfing in Europe but we didn't realize it.
Little by little, people started to ask me to film sessions, to buy my videos, etc...
One day while asking Nicolas Dazet for an advice, he gave me a job, I thought about 5 minutes.
To struggle on part-time work in Paris and to movie school in Bayonne or film my friends in Hawaii ...
I gave up my studies, my training contract, kept the VX-100 until its owners ripped it out of my hands and it was on the way.
I was 22 years old, I did 40 this year."
Photo Manu Miguelez
You can only be amazed by the general level of courage
in surfing over the last few years.
- What was your best surf trip?
"There were a lot of very good ones and I hope there will be some more...
But my first year of work with Daz was quite outstanding.
I had never travelled before and in 6 months, with Miky, Sancho, Fabrice, etc, I went to the North Shore, the Gold Coast and then to the Mentawais with Tim McKenna as photographer on the boat.
It was crazy.
Getting out of the boat before sunrise, seeing Macaronis on steroids that looked more like Teahupoo than a skatepark, shooting HT's with unreal light at the sunset, it was just amazing.
Since this, I went 11 times to the Mentawais on different boats and on some trips I scored a lot, but the first one was unforgettable".
Photo Marc Dura
- What was your biggest scare in the water?
"In 2006, I was in Portugal with Tiago Pires and José Gregorio.
My buddy Alex Laurel was there with his jet ski, a 900 stx, and José asked us to go on his home spot to film him and Tiago in tow-in, but also to help them in terms of security.
He grew up in Nazaré.
I had never heard of this place, I could not imagine what it was going to become.
And with Alex, we thought we could drive the jet and shoot photos as we usually did in Mundaka or Hossegor.
I won't be able to tell you how big it was that day, but once we were out there, we were literally all scared stiff!
Tiago fell on a wave, I didn't have the piloting skills to catch him, the jet didn't have the power for this chaos.
We escaped unscathed but thinking back, we were completely nuts.
But José surfed a wave and it was the first time I saw someone towing in Nazaré.
5 years before Garrett McNamara."
- Who are your 3 most bravered surfers today?
"Bravery means giving your best, to Othmane in his quest for big waves, Sancho in his search for the perfect tube or Jeremy in what he did on the Tour and more generally in his career .
So many people do their best, and deserve it, and of course man or woman.
Check out the careers and results of Justine Dupont and Johanne Defay!
It's impossible to name 3 surfers more fearless than others.
On the other hand, you can only be amazed by the general level of courage in surfing over the last few years."
- What are your 3 best surfing movies?
"STRANGE DESIRES" (1990)
By Jeff Hornbaker with Martin Potter.
This one is above the others and the two protagonists were also very "high" at this time ;)"
"ENFER & PARADIS (2021)
I had the chance last week to watch the first cut of this film.
It will be released in 2021, it's heavy, very, very heavy.
And the third one, it's not to please Daz but it's
FIGHTOONY (2002)
When the movie came out, we understood two things:
first, we could roll up our sleeves and do quality work in Europe, secondly, you could film surf on good music.
It wasn't just Pennywise and NoFX and that, believe me, it was a revolution.
Look at Sancho's part on DJ Medhi or Miky's part on the remix of Method Man!"
Photo Tim McKenna
- What are your songs to go in the water and your songs for partying?
"I don't listen to music before going in the water because I surf like a goat...
If I get motivated by music, I can lose my temper and surf even worse ;)))))))
At partying I am as eclectic in music selection as I am in drinks.
But between us, we have a private joke on a Drake song:
"Started From The Bottom"."
I had never travelled before and in 6 months...
...I went to the North Shore, the Gold Coast and then to the Mentawais...
It was just amazing.
Photo DR
- Who are your partners behind the camera and in front of you on the jet?
"My partner in crime is Julie, my wife / accomplice.
Today, if I can live of my job, it's thanks to her.
Before we set up our business together, she slaved for two while I thought I was Scorsese.
Behind the camera, I work a lot with Alex Lesbats and Boula Darrigade, these two are pretty hot to follow us on every project.
There's Alex Laurel with whom I've been traveling for over 15 years and we've just co-directed two Red Bull docs together.
Antoine Chicoye, who is with us on WSL productions, Laurent Pujol, whom I filmed when I started out and who is now helping us on quite a few projects.
On the jet, my acolytes are the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (put them in any order you want):
François Liets, Seb Saint-Jean and Yann Benetrix.
I owe a lot to these 3 guys."
- What is your favorite material?
"I've always loved big screens and particularly ultra high definition cameras.
For the past two years, I've been shooting with a Red Monstro when the projects are worth it and I like so much the image that comes out of this sensor.
I have two custom-made housings that someone made me, and in the water I can adjust the camera like in the studio.
It's always a big pleasure."
- Which sequence were you most proud of?
"I would have said the Andy Irons part in Mundaka in Trilogy, but Taylor Steele didn't credit me...
so I wasn't supposed to be on the jet that day ;)
It's hard to say, but maybe the epilogue of VAGUE A L'AME.
We really need to get back to Nazaré after Sancho's wipe out in 2014.
And the closer we got to the end of the film, the less impossible it seemed.
I really wanted to end where it all started.
We scored Jaws, we said to ourselves that we deserved a break and then...
We go out of the water, we went back up in planes and we drove 8 hours by cars to arrive 6 hours before the session.
With Sancho, Julie and Boula.
All 4 of us were exhausted and we hardly realized what we were doing."
Photo Arnaud Ly Van Manh
- What do you produce with LKRTEL?
"Surfing documentaries, right?
Sorry, it was easy...
LKRTEL is our project with Julie in which we took with us all the people who were crazy enough to follow us.
We dreamed of a virtuous circle but it is rather an infernal spiral.
We never get bored and we make unforgettable memories while selling a little bit of digital dreaming."
Thank you Vincent.
Published on Sunday, January 24, 2021