New Smyrna Beach, FL – The pleasure is all ours. Sam George has decided to donate his time and expertise to our humble festival. Short films accepted for competition will be screened by Sam and other jurors, whereupon he will render his confidential votes for recognition by our festival’s jury.
As both a former senior editor for Surfing Magazine and former editor-in-chief of SURFER Magazine, Sam George, 60, has been writing about the sport for over 33 years and is acknowledged as one of the sport’s leading experts. George has written and/or directed a number of acclaimed surfing documentaries, including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival official selection Riding Giants and other films such as Pipeline Masters, The Lost Wave: An African Surf Story, and Hollywood Don’t Surf, which premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Sam’s latest documentary Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau, premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and screened as the premier episode of ESPN’s prestigious “30 for 30” documentary series. It went on to win a 2014 Emmy Award as part of that series.
Sam has written and edited more than half a dozen books on the subject of surfing, including Surfing: A Way Of Life (1992), Surfing (1994), Tom Blake: Surfing 1922-1932, The Perfect Day: 40 Years of SURFER Magazine (2001 Surf Life (2003). SURFER 50 (2010) and The Big Juice (2011)
One of the sport’s most well-traveled surfers, Sam has explored the coastlines of over 40 countries, riding waves on every continent save Antarctica. On one of his latest adventures, he rode waves near the Arctic Circle on the north coast of Iceland.
A former professional competitor, Sam is also one of the pioneers of stand-up paddle surfing and is currently Senior Editor at SUP Magazine. He still competes in various stand-up paddle surf races, accruing a number of age group victories.
