'Forgotten Island of Santosha'
Date1974
Object number00017319
NamePoster
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 634 x 480 mm, 0.023 kg
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineANMM Collection
Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionThis promotional poster was printed for the surfing film 'Forgotten Island of Santosha'. The artwork features a coloured illustration of the sun setting over an island scene. This film was shown widely in Australia upon its release.History'Forgotten Island of Santosha' was a 1974 surfing documentary which followed Larry Yates and Rick Ely as they surfed in Hawaii, California and Mauritius. The documentary also featured religious processions and tribal dances from the places they visited. The film was directed by Yates and narrated by Ely.
Hollywood began producing surf films in the late 1950s as the first generation of post-World War II War baby boomers reached adolescence. Surfing and the beach symbolised the idealism of carefree fun and freedom. Surfing films have been a critical ingredient in the popularity of surfing culture and have helped to popularised surfing and beach fashion. In the 1960s surf art moved off the covers of surfing magazines and onto film poster promoting movies featuring surfers riding large waves in exotic locations.
Surfing films provides an insight into the surfing lifestyle and have become part of surfing popular culture. They reflect the internationalism of surfing in their content an appeal. Surfing films provide the opportunity to watch talented and often high profile surfers catching waves that every surfer dream about riding.SignificanceThis poster is an example of the types of promotional material produced for surfing movies in the 1970s.