Believe

"Believe: A Movie About Dreams." The messages are simple and timeless ride whatever kind of board fires your imagination, regardless of design and fashion trends.

Respect your elders, tend to the young, cherish every day, do what you love.

Every so often, a movie, a book, a song, or a piece of writing comes along that touches you profoundly, in ways you couldn't begin to expect.

"Believe," a self-funded movie, produced by Mick Waters of Little House Productions in Billinudgel, New South Wales, is one of those movies.

This production is a deeply personal journey into not so much surfing but rather the love of surfing and many of its offshoots and parallel interests.

But, don't let the self-funded fool you into thinking this is a cut-rate production by any means.

However Spartan the budget may have been - around $25,000 and many unpaid hours over the five years taken to bring this to light - the final package is completely professional, and the quality and feel of the visuals are fantastic.

By fantastic, don't expect glitzy, though. This is raw and real, like a one-mic acoustic recording of a guy and his guitar pouring his soul out onto tape.

The older, grainier clips work incredibly well juxtaposed with the modern footage to give the entire production a strong sense of history, and in a way, pride in the heritage that's being passed down through the generations.

The retro material includes archival footage of Duke Kahanamoku, courtesy of Joe Larkin, and scenes from "Morning of the Earth" and "Storm Riders."