post by chuck

most every piece of surf cinema these days is selling something. corporate dollars and product placement. an agenda. dollars. even most indy films are attempting to showcase young surfers with professional aspirations. still kinda dollars.

meet jeremy rumas from northwest indiana. at 20 he had a job. dollars. lots of dollars. but with dollars came a cubicle in a corporate office in chicago. graphic design and animation. his passions neatly packaged and branded, yet a bright future by  anyone’s standards.

4 years later he needed a break from his cubicle. one impulsive decision later and jeremy would find himself adrift in the pacific ocean aboard a recently purchased shredstick.

“I clearly remember the moment I thought to myself, “Wow, this is so awesome, I want to make a film about what this feels like someday.””

as you can imagine jeremy no longer lives in chicago. fast forward a couple birthdays and jeremy is on the verge of completing his debut surf film Hangs Upon Nothing. he now has less dollars.

jeremy was kind enough to sit down with me via e-mail to discuss the project. here is the full interview:

What made you decide that you wanted to document surfing?

The whole experience of my first surf trip, a solo trip to Samoa.  It completely blew my mind and changed my direction in life.  Out in the water there I clearly remember the moment I thought to myself, “Wow, this is so awesome, I want to make a film about what this feels like someday.”  It was the end of the day, north side of Upolu, I was out in the water with a few local Samoan guys.  One was swimming around with a machete and mask, gathering urchins, cracking them open right there in the water and eating them.  And we were surfing right over where he was swimming.  This guy, Unga, could even catch fish with his bare hands, and he’d chomp them right there.  I could smell the cooking fires from the nearby village, the light was golden and the winds light.  The ocean was a glimmering glassy turquoise with small swell lines rolling in.  I looked up and straight above me is this huge frigate bird just gliding peacefully.  It’s black silhouette reminded me of the shape of a pterodactyl.  And here I was right in the middle of all this.  It was all so different than anything I had ever experienced before.  I remember thinking I just really wanted to convey what all this feels like by making a film someday.  I had no idea what the film would be, I just knew I wanted it to convey what the experience of surfing feels like to me.

Describe your life/career before you picked up a surfboard.

At the age of 20 I landed my first job as a commercial artist, drawing and animating for an educational software studio in Chicago.  I realized I was learning more at work being around a bunch of really talented artists than I was in school, so I left school to go work.

From 22 – 23 I was full time as an artist/animator for a big corporation.  I was really grateful to be making a pretty good living, be out on my own, and getting paid to draw.  But I’m not sure I really felt like an artist at the time.  All my creative energy and time was being poured into products I had no connection to outside of work.  I decided to quit my full time job so I could pursue my own art.  My plan was to freelance as a commercial artist and work on my own stuff on the side.  I still didn’t have a very concrete plan, I just knew I had to try to do something of my own.  I also knew I wanted to see some more of the world.  Thinking back over the previous few years was sort of a blur of sitting at desks.  For some reason with my 24th birthday approaching, I felt like I better make a move quick if I was to try to do something of my own.

It was a few months after this that I bought a surfboard and took that first surf trip.

How is it different now?

I really had to cut back materially to make this film project a reality.  I got rid of a lot of stuff, sold my car, moved out of my apartment.  I looked at it all, and I said it’s either stay here anchored to this stuff, or simplify and head out and see some of the world.  What I do have now is a wealth of experiences from around the world.  I’ve made friends in some far corners of the earth.  I’ve experienced a tropical cyclone on a small atoll.  I’ve surfed perfect waves.  I’ve sailed from Hawaii to Kiribati.  I’ve listened to whales that sound like dinosaurs.  I’ve seen rainbows at night across the open ocean under a full moon.  I’ve experienced first hand a lot of what this planet has to offer.

I have this feeling now that if I was stuck in Indiana for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t be bummed.  Or even if I was to die tomorrow, I’d be at peace with it.  I’ve thought about that actually.  I feel like I’ve experienced enough in life already that I’m pretty fortunate.

And along the way I’ve been putting together a film.  It’s been an amazing experience so far.

What does the title Hangs Upon Nothing mean?

Hangs Upon Nothing is a reference to the earth.  I wanted a title that summed up our planet.  I got the title from an unlikely place.  I remembered this verse in the Old Testament that says the earth hangs upon nothing.  I’ve always thought it was a profound way to describe our planet, that it hangs upon nothing.

I’m not trying to make any sort of religious statement with this title.  I liked the sound of it, and I liked that it represented the earth, so I went with it.  The surfers that make up this film are from all walks of life and all have different beliefs, from atheism, to Christianity, to Islam, to Hinduism.  I wanted a representation of surfers from different corners of the world.  If there is any spiritual theme to the film, I’d say it’s just an awareness of our connection to our planet, and our connection to each other.

On its own, the title seems to be in harmony with what I think of as the myth of the surfer. Hangs Upon Nothing seems to feel like not being caught up on anything, not being tied down, being free.  So it reminds me of  individuals who leave behind the expectations and demands of society and modern life, and just go off and do what they want to do, live how they want to live.  To a certain degree, any surfer does this each time they get in the ocean.  And some people, like Chuck Corbett who is in this film, they spend a majority of their life living this out.  Chuck, originally from Alabama, spent 30 years wandering atolls of the equatorial Pacific, a lot of that time surfing.

There’s also a bit of a nod to hang five or hang ten.  I kind of like how it seems like a vague play on those phrases.

What influences you in terms of the imagery/photography? and what inspired the music/vibe of your film?

I would say first of all I’m heavily influenced by the unique visuals of NW Indiana.  Not joking here either.  The industrial landscape is epic and huge, and is right next to sand dunes and Lake Michigan.  And it looks like an alien world in places.  I’ve always found this strange beauty in it all.

I’m very influenced by two early George Lucas films, the first Star Wars and American Graffiti.  The Empire Strikes Back directed by Irvin Kershner is probably my favorite film and a big influence.  The Good,The Bad, and The Ugly is an influence on this project both in terms of visuals and music.  There’s some Baraka influence in this for sure.  I’d even say there’s a bit of inspiration from the Japanese comic Akira, in terms of visuals and scope.

As far as surf films I feel very in tune with Morning of the Earth.  I’m also influenced by Bruce Brown’s The Endless Summer.  And it was seeing Jack Johnson’s The September Sessions that convinced me to buy a Bolex and shoot 16mm film for this project.

The surf industry can be a backwards, inbred network of morons, how has breaking into the surf film world been for you?

I still don’t really know the actual industry part of surfing too well, and I’m still in the process of trying to break into the surf film world.  The crew at Korduroy have been really great in giving me a chance to get my project out there.  And the guys at Matuse have been very supportive too in putting out some good words about the film.  And then lots of people I have never met have shared the first teaser trailer on their blogs and fb, and well, that’s been the biggest help of all.  Thank you everyone for that.

I’ve met some people while traveling who are heavily involved in the industry.  Most of them have actually been pretty encouraging, and excited that I’m making an independent film shooting in 16mm.  People see my camera and usually trip out, and many want to chat about what I’m doing with this classic camera.

I think what I’ve found more than anything so far is that it’s good to team up with other people who are doing something similar, or who have an interest in contributing to your project.  And be open to bringing people on board who you initially didn’t think of as being a part of it, or even people you’ve never met before.  It’s surprising how much this can add to a project creatively, and bring things to it that you never expected.  It also helps a lot in getting the word out when you have a group of people doing that, instead of just doing it all yourself.

Travel Stories?

When first starting out on this project, I arranged to visit the atolls of Tokelau.  Me and my friend Tim Southall went there by boat from Samoa.  We didn’t know which atoll we’d end up on, or where we would stay.  We just went.  We hoped to find some waves to surf and film.

On the way there on the boat, a lady named Hana greeted us.  She asked which atoll we wanted to go to, and we said we were thinking it’d be nice to visit Atafu.

“That’s my island.  Where are you going to stay?” she said.

“We don’t know yet.” I replied.

“OK, you stay at my house.”  she replied.  This was about 20 seconds after meeting her.  I’ll never forget this.  A complete stranger just offering us her house to stay in upon meeting us.  She then walked off.

When we got to shore on Atafu, Hana took us to her family’s house.  We sat and talked with her mother, and some of her relatives.  They gave us food and drink.  Hana then took us across the village to her house.  It was on the edge of the village next to a small forest.  The house was built up on stilts of coconut trees.  There was a small 1 inch padlock on the front door.  She gave us the key, and then said, “OK, here you go.  I’ll go stay at my family’s house while you’re here.”  She walked off, and that was it, we had a house to stay in.  We were kind of shocked.  Where we come from, I can’t imagine this happening.

We had to return to Samoa when the boat was to return, and no one seemed to know if this would be later that day, the next day, or a week later.  The worst cyclone they have seen since the 1960’s came through that week, Cyclone Percy, and the flat atoll started going underwater.  Because of this we ended up stuck there and staying in this house for two weeks.  We would go out for the day, come back, and there’d be a basket of freshly speared fish hanging on the door that one of Hana’s relatives had left for us.  I’ll never forget the hospitality this family showed us.

What’s next for you?

My friends and I in Turbofire to Zenith have a long road ahead of making music for the film, and that’s going well so far and is one of the most fun parts of making this.  I still have a lot of editing work ahead.  And I want to make a bunch of silk screened posters for Hangs Upon Nothing and Turbofire to Zenith.  And then there’s trying to coordinate a film tour also.  It’s a bit overwhelming thinking of it all.  Taking it one step at a time.  I’ll throw this out there too, the big dream is to tour this with Turbofire to Zenith playing the soundtrack live.  I’m really hopeful we can pull that off.

big thanks to jeremy for the interview, we owe you some beers buddy. Check out Jeremy’s blog here, and for some of his insane animation work that was done in his cubicle, click here, and for another interview with jeremy on korduroy click here. Still photos by Jason Lukas.