Denmark surf film joins successful AACTA run for WA winning best cinematography and sound in a documentary

Denmark’s big-wave surf documentary Facing Monsters has capped off WA’s winning spree at this year’s Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards joining Mystery Road Origin, shot in Kalgoorlie, in showcasing regional WA on the silver screen. Denmark-based surfer Kerby Brown and his captivating surf film have capped off a successful award season with three nominations and two big wins at the AACTA awards. The documentary has won awards at several international film festivals as well as picking up honours at home at the Australian Screen Sound Guild awards and the WA Screen Culture awards. Facing Monsters, which stars Brown and his family, was nominated for best cinematography in a documentary (Rick Rifici), best original score in a documentary (Tim Count) and best sound in a documentary (Xoe Baird, Ric Curtin and Jeremy Ashton). Rifici and the sound team both picked up awards for their hard work bringing the world of big-wave surfing to the everyday audience. Executive producer Susanne Morrison said Facing Monsters was five years in the making and involved a talented and tight-knit group of people across filming, location, editing, sound and production. “It is incredibly humbling and rewarding to be recognised by the AACTAs, they are such a prestigious industry award to be nominated for, never mind win,” she said. “We had the huge responsibility of telling someone’s personal story, a family story, in our hands and everyone felt that deeply along the way. “For our Facing Monsters team to be recognised by the highest industry honour with three nominations and two awards, was just an incredibly special way to celebrate the journey we have shared together. Cinematographer Rick Rifici said he was honoured to receive the award. “I’m super stoked, it was a really hard competition and I’m just honoured,” he said. “I wasn’t really expecting it, the other nominees were all really amazing. “It all seems very surreal, I was pretty unprepared and I didn’t have a speech.” The sound team, led by Ric Curtin ASSG, received their award for their work bringing the sounds of the massive waves to life. They worked closely with Brown to create the visceral experience of riding monster waves. “It was a huge surprise because we had also won the ASSG award as well, so to then get the AACTA we were completely knocked out,” he said. “It’s really Kerby’s film, it was Xoe Baird who worked on all the sounds of the waves. “Kerby’s probably the only person who has actually heard the sound of those waves crashing across coral reefs. “Xoe did an amazing amount of work on each of the waves, there is 62 big waves and they all sound different.” The Facing Monsters team is still working behind the scenes to bring the film to as many people as possible with the film still screening in Australia, New Zealand and the USA and now available on on-demand TV platforms like Amazon and ITunes.