SOMA Surf Documentary

Direction Films produced its first Documentary film on behalf of our client, Shutterstock Studios and we could not be more proud of the outcome and the global reach the film has already had for such a great cause, more on how it came to be below.

Our first documentary film...

Direction Films made its documentary breakthrough back in 2022 when its client, Shutterstock UK reached out to collaborate on a very important and one of a kind project.

The aim: Create stock images and videos for the Shutterstock stock website in order to showcase black female surfers, images that was very scares prior to this project of which the proceeds goes to surf NGO called SOMA Surf on the West African island nation of São Tomé & Príncipe.

Our client, Shutterstock, together with their funding partner, Betlic, decided to also create a documentary spotlighting both female empowerment especially in Africa, but also to use as tool in a broader global campaign to put the spotlight on SOMA surf as a funding campaign to support SOMA. SOMA uplifts girls by teaching them to surf, providing after-school classes, life skills, and broadening their horizons with opportunities to travel to compete and study abroad.

Despite the immense logistical and budget challenges and a year of searching for female photographers and documentary film makers that could also speak Portuguese we managed to put a diverse team from around the world together including a talented local female documentary film maker, making her directoral debut.

The final product: An impactful film telling the story of resilience, empowerment, and hope, reaching audiences worldwide. This collaboration stands as a testament to the power of storytelling and human endeavour and we are looking forward to creating more such incredible content in the future.