Dir. Mina Dufton
2020 | 76 mins | Finland
English, Portuguse and Finnish with English subtitles

SHOWING TIMES:

• Sat 17 Dec: 6.30pm
• Thu 22 Dec: 6pm

Big Vs Small returns to Exeter Phoenix after a suCcessful preview screening this summer.

When filmmaker Minna Dufton started her documentary about elite big wave champion surfer, the ‘tiny fighter’ Joana Andrade, who rides the powerhouse waves at Nazaré, Portugal (home of the 100ft World Record Wave surfed by Garrett McNamara), little did she know Joana harboured a deep secret. ​

By way of explaining the safety equipment big wave surfers use, Joana shared her deep fear of drowning, something many big wave surfers share. In that one extraordinary moment, a remarkable cinematic serendipity would unfold and bring together the tiny Portuguese surfer with Finnish world champion free diver and Surf Cinema Alumni, Johanna Nordblad for the most unusual of training sessions. ​

BIG vs SMALL is a modern-day fairytale stretching from the raging monster waves in the south to the dark stillness of a far-north, frozen Finnish lake; it’s about power and strength on top of the water, and facing demons under it. It’s about trust, it’s about letting go, and it’s about what happens when two elite female champions share their extraordinary talent with each other.

Because, the battle isn’t on the wave.

TRIPLE F-RATED:

Directed by a woman, written by a woman and starring a significant woman.

F-Rating is a new rating for films directed by women, written by women and/or with significant female characters on screen, in their own right. Find out more here >>

VENUE: EXETER PHOENIX, STUDIO 74

*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. We don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>