Event information reads: 7-9th November 2024, Riverside Studios, London, Surf / Film / Art / Culture

Return to Yellow

The Shorties x Surfdome: Return to Yellow // A film by Martin Rawlinson

The UK county of Lincolnshire is where I first started surfing, If I’m honest, it’s the one place I would truly consider my homeland. I left when I was 19 – mainly in the pursuit of better waves. But as fate would have it in 2016, after 27 years away, I found myself living back in the area for an extended period.

‘Return to Yellow’ visually chronicles the surfing I experienced during this period and also gives a feeling of what it’s like to live in this forgotten little corner of England. It’s a journey into the county where the locals are called ‘Yellowbellies’, vast swathes of land are at sea level and sediment from one of the UK’s largest rivers means the water only comes in various shades of brown. A place that with the wisdom of age I came to realise might not exactly be a surf mecca but is still a beautiful little place to call home.

This short would have never happened without the support of my incredibly creative partner Jeanne-Marie Persaud who got behind the camera on the days when most people would choose to be at home behind nothing more than a mug of tea.

Return to Yellow - The Shorties 2021

Return to Yellow - The Shorties 2021

LOVE SURF MOVIES? Check out all the longlisted entries to the 2021 Shorties short film contest presented by Surfdome >>> HERE <<< Support your favourites by watching, enjoying and sharing the entries & giving them a vote by clicking on the button or Twitter icon above. Voting is open until 6th November.

Head to our Shorties Instagram post >> HERE << and spread the stoke by letting us know which Shorties are your favourites.

The Shorties x Surfdome

Short films are a central pillar of modern surf culture, a creative outlet for sharing stories and inspiring stoke. Here at the London Surf / Film Festival we wanted to celebrate the short and give homegrown filmmaking talent a platform to bring their visions to the surf world so we established ‘The Shorties’. It has fast become one of the most prestigious short film competitions for surf filmmakers in the world.

While the main festival is a showcase for international filmmaking, The Shorties short film contest is open exclusively to filmmakers from or based in Britain and Ireland – from both leading lights and up and coming filmmakers. We showcase the very best short films entries on the big screen as part of the festival. These shortlisted films are eligible for two prestigious awards presented by Surfdome: Shortie of the Year and Emerging Talent. And this year, marking the 10th Anniversary we are delighted to announce a £1000 filmmaking fund for the winning Shorties entry*.

10th Edition London Surf / Film Festival x Vans hosted 2-4 December 2021 at Genesis Cinema. See you there!

FESTIVAL TICKETS will be going live very soon, you can get the inside line by signing up to our newsletter here >>> HERE

To see this year’s full line up of films, hit the LINK

*The shortlisted and winning Shorties entries are decided on by our esteemed viewing panel as well as by the wider surfing world… you!  The public acts as one of our 10 jury members. You can vote for as many different films as you like, only one vote per film will be counted! Spread the surf movie love!