Patagonia just recently dropped the trailer for a new surfing documentary covering Mr. Pipeline himself, Gerry Lopez, set to release this summer, and it looks sweet. I don’t know a whole lot about surfing, but I sure do like to watch it. This film will certainly have a lot of that, but it also appears to be covering the more serious parts of Lopez’s life, like his rise to fame and his search for harmony with the world.
Evan Hayes, who worked on the production team for Free Solo, is one of the executive producers for this film, and veteran documentary film maker and ex-professional skateboarder and surfer Stacy Peralta both produced and directed it. Altogether, “The Ying & Yang of Gerry Lopez” looks to be a top tier sports documentary.
“From award-winning documentary filmmaker Stacy Peralta comes Patagonia’s The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez, a film that lifts the veil on one of surfing’s most enigmatic heroes. While “Mr. Pipeline” is famously known for his calm demeanor in the tube, Gerry built his career with aggressive surfing that left behind a trail of blood and tears. Gerry is as radical as he is Zen; he transcends categorization. He’s one of the most influential surfers and surfboard shapers of all time, an entrepreneur, a family man, a movie star and a lifelong yogi who brought surfing to new frontiers. His influence on modern surfing is immeasurable, and for the first time, his story is being told in full.”
Image Credit: Patagonia on YouTube