Oct 28 at 5:30pm - Greenbriar Theater- Plemmons Student Union

Panelists include: Ben Judkins, Filmmaker and Taylor Lane, Surfboard Designer.

 

 

This documentary focuses on creative solutions to environmental issues and climate change, while offering hope and student empowerment through individual action toward global protection.

After a young designer realizes that a surfboard – which he crafted from thousands of littered cigarette butts picked up off California beaches – could captivate the eyes of millions across the globe, he decides to use it as the impetus to do something more. 

 

 

The Cigarette Surfboards become a platform to spark ocean stewardship and the symbol of a campaign to hold Big Tobacco accountable for their toxic, plastic waste. Surfing is the medium, but the message is universal. The surfboards are used to start conversations and explore tangible solutions to better understand how to protect and restore the health of the ocean. The Ciggy Boards are the vessel, platform, and connective thread between all the ocean activists featured in the film. 

 

 

Bios:

Ben Judkins, Filmmaker- Raised in Northern California, at age eight I found an old camcorder and discovered my medium to explore and create. After years videotaping my friends skateboarding and surfing, I landed at University of California Santa Cruz, majoring in Film & Digital Media. My senior film “Marshall” earned the Dean’s Award, and also won “Best Locally-Produced Work” at the 2017 Santa Cruz Film Festival. I’m an avid surfer who believes in the power of visual storytelling to move people to action. The Cigarette Surfboard documentary is an opportunity to inspire a generation of surfers to be stewards of the sea.

Taylor Lane, Surfboard Designer- Growing up with a garage full of tools, I always tinkered. In the “live and let live” ethos of Venice Beach, California, I learned to appreciate alternative perspectives. After graduating from San José State University in 2017 with a B.S. in Industrial Design, I took on freelance gigs, along with an internship at The North Face as an Equipment Designer. With the Cigarette Surfboard, I realized I am most fulfilled by seeking solutions that address social and environmental problems. Since childhood, I’ve often been the one asked to fix something. Doesn’t always mean I can, but hell, I’ll try.