A new documentary spotlights Ecuador’s women surfers fighting climate change

A new surf doc­u­men­tary, Cei­bo, which tack­les gen­der inequal­i­ty and envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion in Ecuador, will pre­mière in the UK on 26^th April. 

The film is an all women-led project co-direct­ed by Corn­wall-based film­mak­er Mad­die Med­dings and Aus­tralian surfer-activist Lucy Small.

Told through the per­son­al jour­ney of pro­fes­sion­al surfer and activist Pacha Light, Cei­bo exam­ines the inter­sec­tion of surf­ing, envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice, and gen­der equality.

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Born in the Ecuado­ri­an Andes and raised off-grid in a remote cloud for­est, Pacha returns to her roots fol­low­ing the death of her father in 2021. It begins as a quest of self-explo­ration, before grow­ing into a wider explo­ration of Ecuador’s pow­er­ful his­to­ry of activism – par­tic­u­lar­ly the role of women on the frontlines.

Light said: ​“To share my per­son­al her­itage, learn­ing and embrac­ing what it means to be an Ecuado­ri­an woman through­out the film­ing of ​‘Cei­bo’ has been noth­ing short of empow­er­ing. Wit­ness­ing this col­lec­tion of inspir­ing sto­ries from young women and by young women, gives me hope – in activism, in rela­tion­ships, in loss, Indige­nous wis­doms and the strength of community.”

From land rights bat­tles in the Andes and Ama­zon to the fight to pro­tect the Gala­pa­gos Islands, in Cei­bo, Pacha and Small explore per­son­al iden­ti­ty and col­lec­tive resis­tance and the ocean as a space of both heal­ing and protest.

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Small said: ​“For so many years grow­ing up as a surfer I had no one to aspire to be because surf films and mag­a­zines were filled with male surfers. I am so proud to share this impor­tant sto­ry that brings to the fore­ground the com­pelling and beau­ti­ful nar­ra­tives of women in Ecuador, a coun­try that has achieved so much in the pro­tec­tion of some of the world’s most unique nat­ur­al wonders.”

Cei­bo film pre­mieres at the Fin­is­terre Store on Neal Street, Lon­don, before embark­ing on a UK-wide tour.

Watch the trail­er below. For the full nation­al tour sched­ule, vis­it the Cei­bo​’s offi­cial web­site.

Han­nah Bent­ley is a free­lance jour­nal­ist. Fol­low her on Insta­gram.

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