A camera in his hand since 1967
Chris Bystrom grew up in Redondo Beach, California, surfing every chance he got and paying his way by selling records at swap meets. In 1967, at 17, a close friend handed him a movie camera, and he found his calling. His first surf movie, Room to Move, was shot on 8mm.
Blazing Boards, a 90-minute film with poster art by Rick Griffin, premiered in late 1984 and toured theaters before its VHS release in 1985. In all, Chris made 30 surf films and videos, among them Beyond Blazing Boards, Pacific Dreams, Thunder Down Under, The Last Surf Movie, Son of the Last Surf Movie, Madmen, the OZ on Fire series, Cyclone Fever, Gravity Sucks and Primal Urge. His family believes no one person has released more surf films.
At a time when most surf movies played in high school auditoriums and community halls, Chris brought surfing back to the big screen. His 16mm films showed at the Sydney Opera House and in cinemas across Australia and the United States. His covers carried art by Rick Griffin and Jim Davidson, and his soundtracks gave early exposure to bands like INXS, Men Without Hats and the Hoodoo Gurus.
He was known for putting lesser-known surfers on screen alongside the stars. He also filmed bodyboarding, with the Blast Off series, and he saw the longboard revival coming before it started. In the mid-1990s, when longboarding had been all but forgotten, Blazing Longboards, Longboarding Is Not a Crime, Full Cycle, Longboards the Rebirth of Cool and Soul Patrol helped bring it back.
In Australia he wrote The Glide, the first full look at longboarding in nearly thirty years. In 1997 he founded Pacific Longboarder in Queensland, a magazine he published and edited, and later opened the Retro Groove surf shop and museum in Coolangatta.
Chris died in a car accident at Tumbulgum, New South Wales, on May 4, 2001, at 51. His original 16mm films are now being scanned by the Nalu Film Foundation. His son Josh Bystrom carries it on as a water photographer on the Gold Coast, where Kirra is his home break. See his work at joshbystrom.com.au.
