6 Years in the Making, A Surfer and Filmmaker Release Their Best Work Yet

Editor’s note: Click here to find tickets and venues to watch Perry Gershkow and Noah Wegrich’s Keeping it in the Shadowssurf film. 

In addition to sharing a love of cold Northern California lineups, offshore Ocean Beach and Guinness on tap, Perry Gershkow and Noah Wegrich have another trait in common: they’re both legitimate surf film junkies. 

Such is their insatiable appetite for consuming and crafting high-caliber, artful work that the two longtime friends have sat on premium footage for six years. Now, they’re touring their magnum opus, Keeping in the Shadows, in dozens of theaters and surf shops around the country. The plan is to hit the US West Coast from February through early April, then scour the East Coast and Europe in the fall ahead of the film’s digital release at the end of the year. Do your eyeballs a favor and watch the trailer below. 

Perry and Noah share a strong sense of style and visuals, something that comes across in their respective work (see their last project, Elude, for context). This movie's title is a nod to Perry’s nostalgia, a purposeful intent to quietly curate and not bombard an audience or indulge in instant gratification. “In a way, it’s a surf film where we can relish the fact that there’s no timeline, no sponsors, no one telling us to finish the film,” he said. “You can get overwhelmed with chasing immediate satisfaction, and for me, Noah, and the other guys in the film, it was about enjoying being present and taking time away from the madness.”

One thing that makes the project unique is that they made it independently, without the backing of a company's dollars. It’s entirely funded on their own dime. No locked-in travel budget, no oversight, just friends linking up when time, money and swell windows align. Though Perry’s career began in surfing with brand campaign shoots and edits, these days he pays the bills through the commercial space outside the surf industry, directing and producing audiovisual masterclasses. But when it comes time to get back to the waves, his level of cinematography and attention to detail is second to none.  

“We’re always touching base, and if he had some time off, he’d reach out and vice versa,” Noah said. “On top of that, there’s the challenge of having enough money in the account to go on a trip. But that adds a layer to it. We work so hard to have the time and money to go on these trips, so when we do get to go, we appreciate it that much more, even when you’re sitting in the airport or skulling beers when the waves are bad.”

Perry, based north of San Francisco, and Noah, based in Santa Cruz, have known each other for 14 years. When they first met, Noah was a towheaded teenager and Perry was just entering the workforce. They've grown personally and professionally, but have remained friends ever since. “I feel like over the last 10 years, Perry's grown and become a more well-rounded cinematographer and storyteller,” Noah said. “It's cool to think back to where we started.”

Perry's commercial portfolio is studded with artistic cinematography, detailed editing and mesmerizing aesthetics. His surf films, which are merely his passion projects, have the same visual weight.

But there’s a famous quote attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci: “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” That’s akin to how Noah and Perry felt over these past few years. Each long session, each fruitful trip, while meaningful, wasn’t enough in their minds to put the tools down. But there was no deadline. Just a hunger to raise the bar.

“It’s a never-ending thing for us,” Noah said. “I think that’s why we work so well together, we both want to be better at our craft. For Perry, he appreciates surfing, and I appreciate the cinematic side of things. I’ve always been fascinated by cameras, photos, and how it comes together with color and sound design.” 

At 1 hour and 20 minutes of runtime, Perry’s creativity and editing were given free rein in KITS. He somehow combed through and organized just under 15 terabytes of footage. Based on the initial teasers and frames, the results look stunning. The film features sessions in Ireland, Scotland, Chile, South Africa, and more than a handful of cooking days at Ocean Beach and elsewhere in California. It also includes other pro surfers like Torren Martyn, Ian Crane, Nat Young, the Gudauskas brothers and Cliff Kapono. 

During each trip, Perry and the traveling crew of surfers hit up locals to chase waves, share meals and have beers. Not only does this help diffuse tension in the lineup, it allowed for more nuanced storytelling that Perry had not explored previously in his films. "I've always been one to be all about the visuals, but I think with this one, it felt like a time to give people a nod to how the travel goes and you meet along the way," he said.

“It kind of encapsulates our friendship,” Noah said. “We’re obsessed with trying to push things further. And I think that’s why it ended up being six years. We just thought, let's do it better.”

Music, too, is a key component of the film, not an afterthought in the editor's chair. Perry was very intentional about sourcing a soundtrack he felt fit the film's style. "You can't have a surf movie without the right music," he said. "You can have the coolest surfing in the world, but if the song doesn't work, it's such a letdown. You can have a classic song that everyone loves, but if it doesn't fit the surfing, it's a write-off."

A small but remarkable note: Noah is unabashedly fond of a specific yellow Channel Islands Twin Pin, which has made numerous appearances in other edits with O’Neill and Island X. He’s lugged the same board around the world since before he and Perry began filming for KITS, repairing dings and busted fin boxes (at least seven times) for over six years. The thing has come through for him again and again.

“It’s been through the absolute ringer, but it’s also gotten me through some of the best sessions of my life,” Noah said. “I can’t believe it’s still intact. The board deserves a movie for itself.”

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