THU 3 SEPT
The Gate Picturehouse
87 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3JZ




The Gate Opening Gala


6 pm


Opening Gala


7 pm


Opening Film
Free but need to book seats on Gate Notting Hill website.




Crystal Voyager
David Elfik
U 76 minutes
Portrait of famed surfer George Greenhough

The goal of surfing in the 60’s and 70’s was tube riding. George Greenough was the first surfer to film inside the tube, to take the audience deep inside a huge breaking wave. For George the tube is a time capsule and for those few seconds, time enters a space, a zone of its own, the synchronization within the forces of nature, the expansion of consciousness.

George is surfing’s renaissance man, the designer of the modern surfboard fin, created a lens that approximates the vision of the human eye. He constructed a waterproof movie camera that could run at 3 x times normal speed and strap to his back, designed and built a flexible surfboard he could kneel in to get those hero shots from inside the tube looking out.

Crystal Voyager is George’s story, centering on the construction of his yacht the Morning Light, that allowed him the freedom to explore the ocean & to take us into the world of the dolphin and for the final 23 minutes we are in that green and wondrous world transported there by the music of Pink Floyd’s ECHOES.

Crystal Voyager is a cinema experience that thrilled the UK and world 50 years ago now digitally restored in a newly released 4K Directors Cut.

The closing sequence is generally considered to be the highlight of the film. Filmed with a camera in a waterproof housing strapped to Greenough's back, the sequence is composed entirely of slow-motion footage shot inside the curl of waves, edited to the 23-minute song "Echoes" by Pink Floyd. The group reportedly allowed Elfick and Greenough to use the music in their film in exchange for the use of Greenough's footage as a visual background when they performed "Echoes" in concert.




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