Nathan Apffel, who is credited as director and director of photography (also the independent filmmaker in Los Angeles), grew up in Los Angeles, but he developed a love of the ocean while staying at his family’s beach house on Balboa Island and learning to surf.

His narrator is Laguna Beach’s Tom Morey, the inventor of the Boogie Board. Two surfers who appear onscreen are San Clemente’s Kolohe Andino and Hans Hagen, who was born and lives in Laguna Beach. Hagen is also one of the executive producers.

Apffel wanted to highlight individuals “far from the ‘normal’ idea of a professional surfer.”

“Surfing culture originated as an act of escape and joy, yet today, there has been a departure from these origins entering an age of hyper-progression and extreme commercialism,” he explains.“Among the unstoppable trend of surf globalization, there are still certain individuals who have chosen this age-old path of discovery with surfing being a spiritual reflection of themselves.”

He calls his eight surfers “prophets” to the industry. And to translate their passion to viewing audiences, Apffel had to go to where the surfers find it. That involved taking an old, 80-foot, wood-hulled fishing vessel called D’Bora through the outer islands of Indonesia—with his crew and

expensive sound and camera gear aboard.

“Here, our crew scored some of the best surf to hit the island chain in the past decade,” says Apffel, still excited at the memory. He’s less thrilled recalling the day he was shooting in the water when a set with 15- to 20-foot faces rolled in.

“I dove under, almost hitting the reef,” says Apffel, remembering it being only 5 feet down. “All of a sudden, something hit me really hard in the head, and I almost lost consciousness. When I surfaced, I realized it was Hans Hagen.” Considering the gash Hagen’s board carved into Apffel’s head, it could have been disastrous were it not for the quick needlework of their surf guide.

Later into filming, the director was in Bali when he awoke one morning shaking in a cold sweat. That lasted for four days before he figured out he was suffering from dengue fever, which is a lot like malaria but relatively easy to treat.

Perhaps it was a fever-induced dream that caused Apffel to come up with the angle he wanted to shoot Hagen surfing off mainland Mexico. The viewer will likely believe it was shot from a helicopter, but the camera was actually perched high atop a cliff that hung over the wave break.

Lugging 50-plus pounds of equipment, it took Apffel three and a half hours to schlep up that cliff. “I only had my gear, swim trunks and a pair of sandals,” he recalls. “Needless to say, I wasn’t well-prepared.”

He now proudly boasts that trek produced “some of the coolest angles from the film.”

Nathan Apffel is an independent filmmaker located in Los Angeles, his films are inspiring the youth, creating a cult following, he is turning his focus on independent feature films with his first release coming out Fall of 2011. Nathan Apffel develops campaigns for companies trying to reach the youth market through pop culture advertising; he is based in Los Angeles and also travels to work in New York and San Diego. The independent filmmaker Los Angeles is full of innovative ideas and strong will to offer something new to the global audience.