As China trains its first generation of Olympic surfers, two promising young athletes – Alex and Lolo – navigate adolescence, freedom and their love of the sport.

With unprecedented access SURF NATION is a feature-length observational documentary that tells a story beginning in Hainan, China’s southernmost province where hundreds of athletes as young as 9-years-old train as part of the Chinese National Surf team. These young recruits have left their families around the country and are paid to become surfers with Olympic aspirations.

Shot in a tropical paradise with miles of empty beaches, aspiring athletes and their international coaches live in an old hotel that has become the hub of surfing in China. The kids surf and take classes six days a week. The pressure of failure looms over them as weak performance means dismissal. Their Australian coaches teach technique and surfing’s central attribute: individuality, in a culture that demands conformity. Over a period of two years, we follow two of China’s top surfers, Alex and Lolo, as they train with the team, compete and discover what they want their lives to be.

Producer Diane Quon is from Lake Forest and is an Academy Award-nominated producer who worked as a marketing executive for 17 years at NBC and at Paramount Pictures. Jessica Q. Chen is one of the directors and producers of the documentary, she is a Chinese American filmmaker and video producer at the Los Angeles Times. Jeremiah M. Bogert Jr is another of the directors and producers of Surf Nation, he is currently a photo editor at The New York Times and has more than 25 years of experience producing award-winning visual stories. Nevo Shinaar is a creative producer based in Chicago. His award-winning films have played at film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, AFI Docs and Palm Springs, acquired by Disney+, HBO Max, The Criterion Channel, POV/PBS, and The New York Times,

Ms. QUON and Mr. shinaar will be in attendance after the screening for a Q & A!

Lolo, Chinese National Surf team member, 22

Lolo doesn’t want a traditional life for a Chinese woman and makes some unconventional choices despite her parents’ disapproval. Once she learned to surf at age 19, Lolo decided not to attend university or work in an office. She also decides not to marry her controlling fiancé. Instead, she joins the surf team for the housing and monthly stipend, but the rigorous training soon smothers her joy of surfing. Dreaming of a ‘surfing life,’ something as yet undefined in China, she eventually leaves the team to pursue this goal.