Macking

After years of hand wringing and looking the other way, Federal officials have officially allowed Maverick’s surfers to use wave runners, those noisy, polluting watercraft that make environmentalists’ heads explode. Valid only on big-wave days, it’s a concession to the sport, much in the way helicopters are required for skiing on a mountain in the middle of nowhere, and anyway the whole affair takes place a half-mile out, so your knucklehead beachcombing is secure. The crafts allow surfers to catch waves that would otherwise be out of reach -- the ones that eclipse the sky, fucking with gravity -- and allows for films like Ride-On. The latest feature from Powerlines Productions, Ride-On devotes itself to 2008 Maverick’s, a scooping barrel in Mexico, and Ghost Tree off Pebble Beach, where tow-in surfing is now banned forever. Mavs is huge, filmmakers compare it to the legendary 100-foot Wednesday in 2001, which, conveniently, was the subject of their 2001 film 100-Foot Wednesday. All the locals are out. Tonight, the directors are present.
Dec. 19-23, 7:15 & 9:15 p.m., 2008