Mechanically hollow, palm-fringed and sapphire-hued, Lagundi * Bay on the island of Nias emerged as one of surfing’s ultimate fantasy wave in the 80s. Natural footers were particularly enamoured. They’d seen plenty of vision of Indo lefts but now they had a world-class wave in the archipelago where they could ride a deep frontside tube, kick out in a channel, and dry-hair paddle back to the take-off zone.

The wave was discovered in 1975 by Kevin Lovett and John Giesel who travelled aboard rickety craft and schlepped through jungle to find a genuine surfing Nirvana. While Erik Aeder’s 1978 spread in Surfer magazine blew the lid on Lagundi, it was the Nias section of the 1982 Hoole/McCoy film, Storm Riders, which really sent surfers wild with wave-lust.

Now a new documentary, Point of Change puts Nias under the microscope with a decade-by-decade look at the evolution of the island as a surfing destination. Produced and directed by Rebecca Coley, the film is set to hit the big screens in Indo and Australia over the next two months.

Here’s where you can catch the film on the following dates:

Nias

• 11 November – Nias Heritage Museum, Gunung Sitoli
• 14 November – Sorake Beach
• 1 November – Lagundi Botohili Village

Bali

• 28 November – Balinale International Film Festival

Australia

• 3 December- Luna on SX, Fremantle WA
• 10 December – Avoca Beach Theatre Screening
• 12 December – Byron Theatre Screening
• 14 December – Yamba
• 17 December – Harbord Hotel, Freshwater NSW

The film features interviews with Kevin Lovett who candidly reflects on all aspects of his wave discovery – from the barrel-inspired bliss he and John Giesel enjoyed, to the sinister events playing out behind the scenes. Cleverly incorporating historical footage with interviews and animation, the film traverses a broad range of themes but carefully avoids trying to preach any particular message. The cycle of surf tourism and its effect (positive and negative) on a local community is one of the key topics addressed. The impact of the 2005 earthquake on the break and the community is also explored – and not everyone agrees the wave is better.

We caught up with Rebecca to learn more about the film. Check out the conversation below.

What prompted you to make a movie about Nias? 

I first visited Nias 20 years ago and I found it to be the most interesting place I had ever experienced. It was such a goldfish bowl of different personalities and cultures as you had surfers coming from all over the world with very different ideas about what their experience should be. The local architecture and rich culture and the wave fascinated me, and the locals were funny and charismatic, but also took no shit. One guy who had great banter showed me where he lived, and it was a tiny hut with a mud floor where him and his mum and sister lived and it shocked me honestly. (He actually turned up at a screening in Newquay which was a mad full circle moment). I guess the fact I could live on £1 a day just didn’t feel right and that was where it started really, the juxtaposition of that and how it felt. Then it was a few years later I ended up coming back after the tsunami and obviously saw the massive devastation and I remember walking along this raised reef and there were all these discarded remnants of people’s lives just strewn all over the place and it was so tragic, and everyone was traumatised. The next time I stayed longer and got to know people more and I heard rumours about the first surfers and malaria and black magic, and I was curious to find out more about these stories and if they were true. 

It’s an interesting part of Indonesia with Christian, Muslim and ancient influences? Is that explored in the film? 

Yes, to an extent – the ancient culture is explored as much as we could find out about it. 

What time span does the film cover?

The film spans from the 1970s until today and there’s also a backstory about colonialism and the Niasan ancient civilisation and beliefs, to understand the Nias culture and to give context to all that comes after in the storyline. There’s a little history lesson at the top to give the film context and it’s necessary to understand the world we’re walking into…

Are you coming from the perspective of a non-surfer? 

I grew up surfing and have been obsessed with surf culture since I was a teenager. I’d definitely be a much better surfer if I wasn’t always filming it. 

How extensive was the research work? 

It took a really long time to do the research because I wanted to get it right and to go deep into it to understand it and it took a long time to find everything out. I wanted to talk to as many locals as possible to hear their side of the story and hear what their firsthand experience was and this took time. We were trying to find one Chief and he’d just passed away. When we found Safarma, one of the main contributors, he was great and enthusiastic about sharing all his knowledge and wanted us to know what had happened in those early days. We spent quite a lot of time at the Nias Museum also finding out about the history and culture and beliefs. I found a book about Nias in the British Library in London, but it was in Dutch, so I had to get it translated and that took a bit of time and effort. I also went on a deep dive into an archive search to find clips that were hard to get hold of. 

When surf culture and wave lust collides with a remote Indonesian community there can be interesting consequences? 

The travellers are coming to the Point from totally different views and perspectives and you hear that with the locals saying they were not being sure if the surfboards were shields or weapons you know… they had never heard of surfing and had a fear of the ocean and so to see these white guys paddle out and dance on the waves – it blew their minds and then were trying to understand how they were doing it – “is this Jesus”,  because John has long hair like the pictures they had seen….  One local Gaya says their parents were telling them the colonials have returned. Another local, Safarma, says they were like chickens and ducks and so they couldn’t warn them not to stay in a place they thought was haunted, or warn them about dodgy characters they were worried about hanging around.

There’s a dark side to the discovery story. Malaria and other malevolent forces at work? 

Yeah, spoiler alert. Malaria was rife then and was so horrific and bouts of it would come back every year once you got it.  It was a massive risk you took to travel then. The story looks at that polarity like the consequences of finding paradise – they found their holy grail and they were living the dream for a while and then things started to go wrong. 

I’ve met young surfers from Nias who met Australian girlfriends and I’m sure some Australian men met partners in Nias also? Is that part of the story? 

The story explores the friendship and mixing of cultures and Bonne Gea has her aunty giving her a hard time about finding a western husband. Bonne is very much the positive legacy of surfing in Lagundi in the sense she managed to get sponsored and has made her living from surfing her whole life as well as being Indo and Asian Champion. 

Do surfers get the credit they deserve in the mainstream for their role in cross-cultural interaction in Indonesia? They probably know a lot more about the region than your average Australian politician? 

The film is walking a line of saying there’s positive and negative to everything and so we’re in the big grey field where it’s complicated and not always black and white and of course surfers are not a monolith. There are some amazing surfers who tread lightly and are super respectful and have given back a lot to the community, and after the tsunami I really saw that and experienced that with surfers helping navigate the boats and getting aid to remote islands.  

What about the traditional rock-jumping that Nias is famous for? 

Yes we touch on that, as that was the training for the warriors and it was very much a rite of passage and a big part of Niaisan culture and so now it’s more of a tourist attraction, but it has a long history of being an important part of warrior training when there were often wars between different villages and marauding gangs raiding each other’s villages and kidnapping people, and so the training was to enable the warriors to jump the stone walls surrounding the villages. 

Can a film like this help surfers become more aware about the impact of their behaviour when they travel to Indonesia and other locations? 

I think the film shows how Nias is a microcosm, and we can zoom out and look at the bigger picture and it can apply to many things, not just surfing. It is nuanced and so far, people always come out of the film with questions and having conversations, and reflecting a bit and people always tell me it got them thinking and I think that is amazing if it sparks that in people.

What about the emerging crew of local surfers? Do we meet any? 

There are quite a few clips of local surfers, and we mainly talk to Bonne who’s such a pioneering badass in my opinion and did well to escape an arranged marriage and get sponsored by Billabong and make a new life in Bali. Lusinda (Lucie) is also a great surfer and she’s playing the young girl who’s kind of like the eyes of the island. 

What about the Coke commercial that sold Nias as the ultimate symbol of surfing paradise? Were the local community aware they were part of a global campaign? 

Coca Cola came and filmed the advert and left and they didn’t give anything back and the locals had no idea they were part of a global campaign, no. Total exploitation for you. 

It’s often considered the ultimate Fantasy Wave. Is that a veneer of the truth about Nias? Should surfers look beyond the tunnel vision of their surfing when they travel? 

Yeah, I mean ultimately, us even being there is having an effect, and so it is just looking at the ways that can be more positive, whether it’s checking the locals are benefitting in any way from your trip, to figuring out if there’s anything you can do or give back culturally, socially or environmentally in whatever way that looks like for you. 

Do you see a positive future for Nias? 

Yes, I mean Nias is amazing and will continue to be so. There’s a younger generation now that are second or third gen who’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly and so they’re in a good position to figure out the best thing for their own place. They have their own ideas and realisations about how they want it to be there so I just hope travelling surfers hear that and it can be a harmonious time of human interaction with nature where the local’s perspective is respected.