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Torren Martyn interview with Albe Falzon 
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the classic surf film Morning of the Earth, filmmaker Justin Misch meticulously restored, remastered and digitalised the original film rolls to make this edition, in Albe's words, “look and sound better than it ever has.” 

Torren Martyn caught up with Albe in January 2021 and asked some questions about life and how the film Morning of the Earth came about.  This interview features in the beautiful hardcover 50th Anniversary Book that commemorates the film.

The images below are stills from 
Morning of the Earth and RE-MOTE: The Lost Reelsa new film that emerged from 16mm camera original outtakes that were unexpectedly unearthed during the re-mastering process.

Torren:
Let’s start with your life, the early days and where you grew up.
 
Albert:
I grew up in the inner-city suburbs of Sydney for the first ten years of my life. It was all concrete. My grandfather loved swimming and would take me down to Coogee Beach on the weekends. He was a beautiful swimmer. The first time I saw the ocean was with him. Not long after that, we moved up to the Central Coast. I was within walking distance of the ocean and joined the surf club because I was interested in surfing. I met a man in the club who’d loan me his surfboards, he became a mentor for me and was just really kind. He showed me how to swim and navigate in the ocean. That’s when I really connected with life because I started riding waves.


TM:
Was that around the same time that you got your first surfboard?
 
AF:
Yeah, I was about 14. One day Midget Farrelly came up with a group of Maroubra surfers and I bought a balsa surfboard off one of them — a fantastic board, my first board. A pivotal moment when my mother bought that surfboard for me.

 

TM:
I bet. Were you already into photography in those days, or when did that come onto the scene?
 
AF:
It’s really interesting, I actually got my camera before I got my surfboard. I always had a camera nearby for some reason or the other. I loved taking pictures of what I loved to do, which was surfing with my friends. Eventually I got a little 8mm movie camera and started making films. Not long after that, an artist friend opened up a photographic shop in town. I’d go in there to get film and so on and one day he just offered me a job. He said, “come work for me,” because he had this idea that if I was in the shop, he could go out and paint. That’s what he loved to do, paint trees and nature, and one day he built a dark room in the back. He’d always say, “oh, take this camera if you like,” and I would go out with these cameras and lenses and photograph my friends, come back the next day to process my film in the back — no one in the shop because he was out painting pictures, and I’m out taking photographs of surfers and developing film (laughs), it was perfect. But that’s how photography really started for me, him giving me the opportunity and the technical surroundings to develop, process and print. 

TM:
Yeah, wow. I was really curious about that side of it, the developing and processing of the film.
 
AF:
The exciting thing about analogue photography is that it’s like taking off on a wave — you never know where you’re going to go. When you take a picture, you know you’ve got the picture in the camera, but you don’t actually see it until you process it and print it up on a piece of paper, and then you see it coming up. Like riding a wave, you don’t know what the image is going to be, but then you slowly see it taking shape — it’s a really exciting moment, and that’s how it is on a wave. You take off and you get into it and you go, “Whoa, this is great.” 
 
TM:
It just comes to life.
 
AF:
Yeah. It comes to life, it’s beautiful.

Torren Martyn - Thank You Mother

TM:
So what was happening around that time, around the mid 60’s Vietnam War and conscription era? 
 
AF:
Well, that was a real interruption for me because I was just starting to connect with Bob Evans, stepping off into the world of filmmaking and having some photos published. The opportunity was there. Then I was conscripted. Did two years. I didn’t try to avoid it, but it just put a real block on things. It was bizarre the way it happened. I had been surfing down the beach at Blue Bay, came home and my mother said to me, “Oh, there’s a letter here for you, it’s an official letter.” And I went, “Official letter?” She said, “Yeah.” Opened it up and it said, report for duty. And I went, “What?” You know, I’m in the ocean one minute, next thing report for military training and service. 16th of February.
 
TM:
Wow. 
 
AF:
Blew me out. I just thought, this can’t happen, because it was just so far away from my thinking at the time. I mean, you’re not thinking about fighting wars or anything when you’ve just started a career in surfing and photography. Fortunately, I wasn’t sent to a combat zone. I wouldn’t have gone. I had a really good commanding officer and he asked me at one point, “what do you think about Vietnam, personally?” And I said, “Are you asking me if I would go to Vietnam?” he said, “Yeah.” I said, “No way.” I just knew I’m not going to go in and do damage to anyone or any country. And he went, “Cool,” end of story. Brushed it. So I did two years in photographic areas and lithographic print making and when I got out, reconnected with Bob and continued where we left off.
 
 
TM:
And, in terms of filmmaking, was it all just your inner circle of friends or were you getting external work from it?
 
AF:
Well, I didn’t look at it commercially or try to make a living from it. I did it because I loved it. It was my creative life. I was able to discover my creativity through my surfboard and camera. And then one day I met Bob Evans. He was invited to my friend’s house for dinner, and afterwards he projected one of Bud Browne’s films for us with his 16mm projector. I was just through the roof. The thing that was impressive was that the film had Makaha footage in it — fantastic shore break with some California surfers that was just mind boggling. That was a real turning point for me creatively, but also personally because I wanted to go to Hawaii. As a surfer, I was starting to get that vibe about it, because I was aware that Australians were going there and it had this quality about it, attractive energy where if you were a surfer, you just wanted to go to Hawaii. It was the dream. Go there and ride waves in the Pacific Islands. I mean, it was just fantasy land, you know? And I was young and impressionable. I stayed in contact with Bob, and soon after, Surfing World magazine emerged, and I started to send him a few pictures. Not long after that he offered me a job. That was the beginning of my career as a photographer and filmmaker. 

 

TM:
And when did Tracks magazine come in, early 70’s?
 
AF: 
Yeah, Tracks emerged in the early 70’s. We were making these magazines about the ocean in the concrete jungle — it was incredible. What inspired Tracks was John Witzig’s idea behind the delay of publishing color magazines, which took three months to turn around. They weren’t current and we were moving into an era where people wanted to know things here and now. Big changes were occurring because of the Vietnam War, because of music and art and freedom and the revolt in America against war. There was a real movement and John picked up on it and said, “Let’s move everything forward and start a newspaper so we could bring everything here and now.” So instead of waiting three months to pass over information, it’d be seven days. And we were interested in assisting that movement. We went in hardcore at Tracks and got political. We were environmental and into yoga, music, and change, and it just took off because everyone was ready for it. They wanted a voice and they wanted a direction, and Tracks became that voice and direction. The first issue hit the stand and just went through the roof.
 
TM:
So it was John, yourself…
 
AF:
And David Elfick. Three of us. We all had publishing experience but we were all different. John was a journalist, I was into graphic arts and photography, and David understood how the mechanics of publishing worked and was the business man. 
 

 

TM:
And how did Morning of the Earth come around? Was that connected to the mag or was that just a personal passion project?
 
AF:
Well I wanted to make the film well before the magazine started. Morning of the Earth was already incubating in me for 10 or 15 years, even from when I first picked up my 8mm camera. I wanted to film something beautiful, something that I loved. Then I had the opportunity with Bob to go out and actually have the experience of filmmaking — he became a mentor and was so generous and gave me the opportunity. So, Morning of the Earth started to get into the simmering and boiling point inside of me, and that’s the reason that I actually moved away from Bob. I wanted to make a film. I really wanted to fulfill that desire, and I had no idea how we were going to do it, but I knew I just wanted to make this beautiful film about surfing. Then one day when I was working with Bob at Surfing World I somehow got connected to these nuns because they were doing a little bit of publishing work with us — books for the education system. When we finished, they came up to me and asked, “What do you want to do with your life?” and I’m just sort of floundering, you know, trying to figure out which way to go and what to do, and I just said, “I want make a beautiful film about surfing, a really beautiful film.” And they said, “Well, just go and do it.” And that’s what I went and did. They just planted the seed and said, “Go do it. Do what you love.”
 
TM:
That’s amazing.
 
AF:
The funny thing is I wanted to be a priest when I was at Catholic school.  My grandfather wasn’t a religious person, but he came from Malta — and Malta’s got more Catholic churches than any part of the world. It’s like the full-on religious pinnacle of Catholicism outside of Rome. So religion was embedded in our DNA. I think it’s really important to bring that in because that’s why I connected with surfing, and the spiritual path. One day I had this experience at St. Mary’s Cathedral where I witnessed violence for the first time in my life. My family and relatives were loving people, I lived in a commune, it was a really peaceful, beautiful environment. There was no such thing as a disruptive world on any level. So when I witnessed this young boy being savagely beaten in school, it freaked me out and I absolutely disconnected from religion from that point on. I left it straight there. Just like that. The blade came down and severed it.

 

TM:
But spirituality and Buddhism has been a huge part of your life, when and how did that evolve?
 
AF:
Well, the seed was always there, but when I disconnected from religion I was in this vacant void. Nothing existed. Then I started surfing, and riding waves reconnected me on a spiritual level. I began having this natural connection through the ocean and it felt really good.  
 
TM:
So, when the film was released, how was it received? There was obviously no internet, just community halls and word of mouth. Was it internationally toured?
 
AF:
The film was never shown outside of Australia, except one or two screenings. It was really well received here in Australia and the music was a really important part of that success. Morning of the Earth was the first Australian soundtrack to go Gold. David, who was well versed in the music scene at the time, introduced us to G. Wayne Thomas. So, Wayne came in and produced our music and contributed through his own songs. And that was a really big step because when it was finished, we had an original soundtrack. We’d give the musicians little five-minute cuts of the film — they had free reign to create the music and write the lyrics, and then they’d come back and we’d put the pieces together. And when it was released, David put his business cap on and did a deal with 2SM, the biggest radio station. They just played it non-stop, and that was part of the success of the film because it went out on a much broader scale, to young people and an audience outside of the surfing industry. “Open Up Your Heart” became a huge hit, and as a result of that, there was a tsunami of people coming to the cinema. We only had one print, so we put it in the theater in town and people would be lined up for three blocks. It was just mind boggling.
 
TM:
Yea it’s incredible that the film has connected with so many people, even outside of surfing. Now 50 years on, people watch it that don’t normally watch surf movies and they still connect, they’re drawn into it. The film really captured the essence of surfing and living really simply and in harmony with nature, and it’s also never been branded. It’s always inspired people, whether it’s taken them towards surfing or to just do what they love, which is something that so many people can resonate with.
 
AF:
Yeah, it’s pretty interesting when you examine that and try to understand what the connection is. I think it captured the real essence of the time, and not only that, the essence of humans doing something that they really love. And the lyrics were just phenomenal — timeless. You can listen to those lyrics now and go, “Yeah, we should hear lyrics like that” because it’s a reminder and a wake up call. When you look at the number of people on the planet and the degradation and consumption levels being so huge, it’s more important that films like this go out because it’s a reminder of the fragility of our planet. I always thought Morning of the Earth was about the earth. It was about the soul of surfing because that’s what we were active in doing, but it went far beyond that. It was about the planet. No fences. It wasn’t about divisiveness, it was about love, and caring for this planet, and I always thought that the title was reflective of that. Underneath it, there’s a spiritual wave and people resonate with that, whether it’s conscious or subconscious. It works for them because everyone wants to find a path and some direction in life. You have this peripheral life that you live, and after a while you go, gee, there’s got to be something more to it, and I think Morning of the Earthoffers that portal, and it stays with them because that’s how they want to live their life. Not so much the lifestyle that the film projected, but the essence of what the lifestyle projected.
 
TM:
Yeah, absolutely. The timelessness and relevance of it in the modern day just takes you right back and helps you realize what’s important in life and, even though it’s so saturated by the new age it’s still quite simple, hey?
 
AF:
Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with modern medicine and education, but it’s programmed… it’s a program and it’s not natural, it’s not a natural program for us. If you could live your life naturally, you’d live more like what Morning of the Earth has to say and what it is and what it represents in essence. And when you ride a wave, it’s not about the program, it’s the freedom and the beauty and the spiritual aspect of you connecting with nature and that’s how it is in and out of the water. And I think that’s really important in life. 

 
TM:
What sort of change are you seeing from when you made the film in the 70’s to now, was it always local farmers and that cottage style industry, where everyone’s building their own boards? Or were there commercial aspects to it too where brands and big company names were trying to take over?
 
AF:
No that was totally off the radar. It had nothing to do with that whatsoever. It was just about the pure spirit and beauty of surfing and the ocean and your connection with it. Competitive surfing for me was the antithesis of Morning of the Earth. Competitions were you against me, it was based on divisiveness and separation and elitism. When we made the film, it was about unity and free spirited go-and-live-your-life country soul type living. 
 
TM:
Absolutely, yeah.
 
AF:
It’s just a choice you make, to live in an environment and connect with the other kingdoms in that environment. There’s a great disconnect in the world today because of technology. It has its benefits, but at the end of it, you know, if you want to go for a walk in a rain forest, you don’t want to do it artificially on the computer. The real deal is heaven on earth. Everyone that paddles out in the ocean has that experience. And they’ve all got families and things that they’ve got to care for, but on a personal level, you get that by just paddling out in the ocean and if you can maintain the feelings you get when riding a wave in your day to day living, feelings of kindness and gratitude, then you will naturally resonate to a place where you’ll be caring for the other kingdoms and other people — just as we are being cared for. We need to be more sensitive with the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom. As humans it is our responsibility to act with kindness and respect for those kingdoms and for everyone. We don’t see the air we breathe, and without it you’re gone — and that comes from the ocean and trees. That’s what keeps us functioning here as human beings on this planet.
 
Surfing offers us the opportunity to stay connected to that life force in consciousness not just for a minute or 10 minutes or an hour of your life. It’s your entire life. Once we realize and embrace that, your life changes and you become a server and a light bearer. And that’s what surfing offers to us, you just have to continue on that wave with gratitude and loving kindness so it’s engulfing your entire world. That’s what Morning of the Earth is about. That’s what we get from the ocean.
 
You know, we’re really just cells in a heavenly body in this solar system, each one of us. And as custodians of the earth, we have a responsibility to contribute towards the spiritual wellbeing of this planet in this solar system — one of millions of solar systems. Perhaps the reason and purpose in our being here is to contribute to the sacredness of this planet and in doing so the sacredness in ourselves. So just paddle out. Go surf (laughs). I mean that’s pretty much it. I don’t see life as any more than that and I’m so grateful to be able to share that through Morning of the Earth. It’s just a small drop in a beautiful ocean. And that came from the surfboard that was given to me when I was 15, and the people that I came in contact with who made sure I stayed on the path and took the high line. That’s it, never strayed from it. And you know, I have to be thankful for that. 
 
 
Eungai Creek, NSW
January 26th, 2021



To purchase a copy of the 50th Anniversary Book or to watch Morning of the Earth and RE-MOTE: The Lost Reels please head to morningoftheearth.com
 
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