Short Film to Highlight Local Surfer

A trio of filmmakers will soon release a short documentary about a surfer who competed in a pro competition on his home turf — or surf — in Long Beach last summer.  

Patrick Cummings, E.J. McLeavey-Fisher and Veronica Balta created “Stacked,” a 15-minute film on Point Lookout native Balaram Stack — who surfed against the likes of 11-time champion Kelly Slater as a wild-card entrant in the Quiksilver Pro New York in September — a public screening of which is planned for Long Beach, according to Newsday.

Cummings, who along with Mc-Leavey-Fisher often traveled from Manhattan to surf in Long Beach, got the idea for the documentary when they learned Stack would be part of the international competition held on the East Coast for the first time, interviewing him along with late surfing legend Sean Collins. Said Cummings:

"The story we wanted to tell and ended up telling is about the town, and how this is such a big deal for this giant competition to come to Long Beach. It's unfortunate they're not coming back."

In December, Quiksilver announced that it would not hold the competition in Long Beach in 2012. Stack, who celebrated his 20th birthday during last year’s tournament, was eliminated from the competition in Round 2.