Friday One Sheet: A Tale Of Two Surf Docs, BANGLA SURF GIRLS and NO SURF ON MARS

Today is a study of contrast in posters for surfing documentaries. The first, Bangla Surf Girls, is a study in blue and pink and pastel for a crowd pleasing story of three female teenagers from Bangladesh who trade domestic drudgery for dexterity and determination in the face of the sports community (and cultural) sexist attitudes.

The poster is open blue sky, with grey surf and the three heroines attending to the details of their task.  The lipstick swirl title and the colourful clothing add a splash of energy, but the serious expressions on the girls' faces suggests otherwise. The tagline, "Never have the stakes and waves been so high," underscores the progressive mission of the film.

In high contrast, we have the 'warning orange' poster, complete with NASA font, for No Surf On Mars. What I believe is a climate change doc from the perspective of the Australian surfing community -- note, information is scarce about the actual details of the film; the director, Stefan Hunt, makes dance and surfing and dying and old age, I could be wrong -- is 'teased' by perhaps the most ridiculously engaging image of the year so far: A cosmonaut standing on the precipice of a Martian canyon with a surf board.  

Now, I do believe the film will be another pragmatic plea to address the climate on our pale blue dot, Earth, but you cannot fault the marketing for landing on an image to pull a prospective audience into the fold. Hook. Line. Sinker.

Two films. Similar subjects. Worlds apart in their presentation.