Ben Weiland
Island X
“Island X” is a film about a journey to the edge of the surf map and overcoming life’s toughest setbacks. After losing his entire life’s work in a fire, internationally renowned surf photographer Mark McInnis assembles a team of surfers (Pete Devries, Noah Wegrich, and Josh Mulcoy) and sets out on a grueling mission to track down undiscovered waves on the most unlikely of islands, located in the far north, in the violent Bering Sea. His goal is to regain the inspiration that originally started him on the path of surf photography. After reaching the island, the crew meets up with a local native Alaskan—Ricardo Merculief—who has been surfing perfect, empty waves for over 10 years by himself on his family’s ancestral land. With Ricardo’s guidance, the surfers ride world class waves that challenge their understanding of what is possible in one of the harshest environments on the planet, while Mark finds the key to continue on his path of photography and overcome life’s biggest setbacks.
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Arc of Aleutia
How far would you go, and what would you endure to surf alone? On this search, the journey often consumes the destination when the magnitude of the adventure overwhelms us. In a new film by Roark, Directed and shot in Alaska by Chris Burkard and Ben Weiland -surfers Harrison Roach, Parker Coffin and Nate Zoller test their resolve as they retrace the path of a legend in one of the most remote destinations in the world. The oft not surfed Aleutian Islands serve as more than a setting -they are a relentless femme fatale in a film about what motivates us to adventure into the unknown and more importantly, what lures us back after we are broken.
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Under an Arctic Sky
The film follows six surfers along with adventure photographer Chris Burkard and filmmaker Ben Weiland as they seek out unknown swell in the remote fjords of Iceland's Hornstrandir Nature Reserve. Chartering a boat, they depart from Isafjordur on the cusp of the largest storm to make landfall in twenty-five years. With the knowledge that storms bring legendary swell the crew are optimistic, but face failure when the storm forces them back to shore. Making the decision to carry the expedition on by road they experience the brutality of Iceland's winter and question whether the search is worth risking their lives. Despite setbacks the team pushes on and finds that uncertainty is the best ingredient for discovering the unimaginable.
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Faroes: The Outpost Vol. 02
In the middle of the North Atlantic, a cluster of 18 jagged islands comprises the Faroe Islands. Dane Gudauskas, Justin Quintal, Sam Hammer, Tyler Warren, Chris Burkard, and Ben Weiland attempt to unravel a coastline of dramatic fjords and plunging waterfalls in search of perfect waves. They spend two weeks hopping between the islands, living in seaside cottages and becoming acquainted with the strange and ancient customs of a nation founded by vikings.
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