Shooting a Surf Film in a country at War

After hearing about a wild, beautiful part of the coast in eastern Russia, Australian filmmaker Spencer Frost and photographer Guy Willment spend eight months exploring the notion of a surf trip there to make a film after a local from the region tells them that winter is a great time to surf.
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Towards the end of February 2022, they fly out of Sydney to explore a remote peninsula called Kamchatka where 13 active volcanoes plunge into the sea, and snow and ice blanket the beaches as the winter swells roll in.
There is one small problem.
Enroute to Moscow, their plane lands in Abu Dabhi where they are to catch a connecting flight to Moscow. On arrival, they learn that while they were in the air, Russia has invaded Ukraine. In the airport, they watch TV news footage that shows bomb blasts and reporters dodging bullets as Ukraine is engulfed by war.
Somewhat shell-shocked, the film crew sit in an Irish pub talking to friends, family and contacts in Russia about what to do. Family members urge them not to go. But they have invested so much time and money into this project, including eight months of preparation and the purchasing of insurance, camera gear and air tickets. They decide to go, perhaps not realising the severity of the situation.
They get on the plane, but it is grounded due to closed air space on their flight path to Moscow. After four hours, the flight crew finalises a new flight path away from the war zone, and they take off for Moscow. In Russian air space, two fighter jets appear and escort them to Moscow.
Once on Russian soil, more gnarly moments are encountered with skittish Russian military personnel on a long and arduous trip east fraught with angst. Eventually, they are let through and arrive in Kamchatka for what will be a mind-blowing adventure in a windswept winter wonderland where temperatures plummet to -20 degrees. When strong winds blow, the wind chill factor plunges to ungodly levels. The rest is history in the form of a film called Corners of the Earth: Kamchatka doing the film festival rounds.
Spencer and Guy also discuss other projects, their aesthetic process as well as technological advancements that have influenced their craft, with some discussion about storytelling that connects with audiences on a deeper level. These are two humans with a passion for surfing, filmmaking, and photography that inspires and entertains.
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