Endless Winter: An Analysis of the Political Economy of Irish Surf Films

Abstract

This thesis is a study of surf filmmaking in Ireland and a contribution to studies of Irish and international cinema. It is also a study in the political economy of media production. Surf films are an area that remains critically undeveloped within film studies. Scholarly references to `surf movies' in film studies texts and histories of cinema are rare, even though subcultural surf films have existed in independent and vertically integrated economies since the 1950s. Surf films emerged from early amateur forms of filmmaking during the 1950s, existing for the most part outside traditional frameworks of film distribution and exhibition (with some notable exceptions). Subcultural films about surfing in Ireland began to emerge during the mid-1990s and the first indigenous Irish surf film was produced in 2002, reflecting the boom in surfing during the Celtic tiger years. By the early 2010s, Irish surf films had coalesced into a recognisable genre, utilising video platforms and film festivals as a means of distribution and exhibition. This thesis bridges the research gap between the study of Irish film and media, and the emergence of Irish surf films. It argues that the economies of subcultural Irish surf films are often based in a community ethos, in which social and cultural capital play a greater role than economic capital in their circulation. In the case of short Irish surf films (the most common type of production) this grassroots form of cultural production can be regarded as an autonomous form of political economy, wherein filmmakers and creators maintain agency over their creations.