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Waveriders, the acclaimed documentary directed by Dublin native Joel Conroy and coming out on DVD March 16, is based around an unusual premise: modern-day surfing’s Irish-American roots. The award-winning film traces the history of the “father of modern surfing,” Irish-Hawaiian George Freeth, as well as showcasing the work of Ireland’s top surfers in incredible footage atop Ireland’s monster swells. Conroy’s personal background both behind the camera and riding the waves comes through in the intensely visual focus of Waveriders, which brings the viewer into the ocean with Irish surfers including Richard Fitzgerald, Gabe Davies, Easkey Britton, Kevin Naughton and nine-time world champion Kelly Slater. “I’ve been in production for 15 years, and I wanted to make the step over,” Conroy told Irish America in a recent interview. Narrated by Cillian Murphy, the film began to come together when Conroy came across a London newspaper’s mention of George Freeth,...

'Waveriders', the Ifta winning documentary which tells the previously untold story of the unlikely Irish roots of the worldwide surfing phenomenon and today's pioneers of Irish big wave surfing, is set to be released on DVD on 7th August. The film, directed by Joel Conroy, boasts a distinguished cast of world-renowned Irish, British and Irish/American surfers including May Borthwick, Easky Britton, Gabe Davies, Richard Fitzgerald and journeys full-circle from Hawaii to California and back to Irish shores following George Freeth's wave of influence.

Ifta nominated feature documentary 'Waveriders', directed by Joel Conroy, will receive its Us Premiere at the 24th Santa Barbara International Film Festival on the 28th Jan '09. The film is set to be released by Element Pictures Distribution across nationwide cinemas in Ireland and the UK on 3rd April 2009. `Waveriders' is a co-production between Inís Films based in Dublin, Ireland and Besom productions based in Derry, Northern Ireland. It was directed by Joel Conroy, produced by Margo Harkin, narrated by Cillian Murphy, written by Lauren Davies and Joel Conroy with Daniel Trapp as Director of Photography. It features Richard Fitzgerald, Gabe Davies, Kelly Slater, Chris, Keith and Dan Malloy, Rabbit Kekai, Kevin Naughton, Craig Peterson, Drew Kampion, Arthur Verge, Andy Hill, Alastair Mennie, Easkey Britton and John McCarthy.