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The Perfect Wave
Stephanie Johnes' documentary hits the Nantucket Film Festival.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
story by Antonia DePace
On January 18, 2018, Brazilian native Maya Gabeira surfed the biggest wave a woman had ever surfed in Nazaré, Portugal. There was only one problem—no one believed her. “She out-surfed all the men, and then nobody believed her. Nobody was there. Nobody gave her an award. Nobody noticed,” explains filmmaker Stephanie Johnes, who has summered on Nantucket since she was 8 years old. The documentary, Maya and the Wave, screens at the Nantucket Film Festival this month.
In turn, Gabeira fought for vindication by appealing to her fans and starting an online petition, eventually leading her to become the first female surfer honored with a Guinness World Record. Two years later, on February 11, 2020, she became the first woman to compete in the men’s division of a big wave competition, during which she surfed the largest wave of the year (73.5 feet), breaking her previous record of 68 feet. This earned her the World Surf League’s 2020 Women’s XXL Biggest Wave Award—the equivalent of the Oscars in surfing. “Her teammates said it should have been the sports story of the year. I mean, it’s unbelievable. She’s out-surfing 18 very prominent male surfers, and it wasn’t really celebrated,” Johnes adds.
Johnes’ long-awaited documentary is 10 years in the making, and it all started when Gabeira was 26 years old. Johnes had just wrapped filming Venus and Serena, which followed the tennis legends and sisters on and off the court. “As a filmmaker, sports are
so awesome because they’re so visually engaging and wonderful to film,” explains Johnes.
Upon being introduced, Gabeira invited her to a surfing trip to Mexico, thus beginning the decade-long story in 2012. “The production took place with her as her life unfolded. It was a bit of a reverse approach,” Johnes says.
Filming in “cinéma verité,” as the Nantucket summer resident explains it, allowed her to be a part of Gabeira’s pivotal career moments firsthand. From the first wave to watching Gabeira nearly drown in Nazaré and come back with a vengeance, the entire documentary was filmed exactly as all those life moments happened. But what makes this surfing story so different than others? Johnes responds, “There’s a lot of surfing stories, but this one is pretty special. She really broke a glass ceiling with what she did in the big waves.”
Through Gabeira’s story, the documentary highlights the very important topic of gender equality in surfing. According to the Surf Industry Members Association, there’s an incredible male dominance in the sport, with approximately 65 percent of 3.8 million surfers being men in 2020. Big wave surfing is often seen as a huge show for male dominance, often leading to testosterone-boosted behaviors within the waters. But that didn’t stop Gabeira. “This conversation is very unique in particular, because it’s extremely uncommon for women and men to compete against each other directly,” Johnes says.
The documentary follows this topic throughout, along with themes of perseverance and strong family connections. It also gives the public a closer look into the world of professional big wave surfing, an often “unseen” sport compared to more popularized athletics like soccer or basketball.
Of note, the film has already premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival—during which it was first runnerup for the People’s Choice Award for documentaries—and was the opening night film at the DOC NYC (America’s largest documentary film festival). It also screened at the 2024 Sun Valley Film Festival, where it won Best Documentary Feature.
Moving forward, Johnes is preparing for a film tour in the United States, Canada and the UK this fall. “My goal is really to sing the underdog stories,” she concludes. “I like to bring to light the stories that are lesser known, so this was the perfect project for me because it’s a stunning story that deserves a bigger light than it has had.”
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