"The first question that comes to mind is -- where did Aaron Lieber come from and how did he get so many friends? Aaron's virgin effort in surf filmmaking is remarkable -- despite working for two years without pay while going to college full-time and borrowing over $60,000 -- since he was still able to wrangle up Slater for an intro, no less than 22 "new generation" rippers as a starring cast, Lil Jon for a cameo, and stamp his passport all around the world to bring us The Pursuit.
The first surf film distributed on both DVD and Blu-ray HD, the premise is that life's real beauty lies in its pursuit, and the riders provide a show-and-tell of their own path. Brett Simpson wants to be the best athlete he can be and gets a good start by pulling off maneuvers that don't have names yet. Dusty Payne just wants to ride the best waves possible and proves it by making beyond-vertical drops on the biggest waves of the movie. Eric Geiselman and Cheyne Cottrell hold down the East Coast end of the film, while Torrey Meister and Tanner Gudauskas pop their Teaphuoo cheery and Hank Gaskell steals the show with his own blend of insaine airs and power carves. Lieber's pursuit is to be the next Taylor Steele. A lofty goal, and while he's not there yet, he's entering the field with one of the tightest videos of the year.
Lieber busted his hump editing the entire film himself, while also developing the concept, filming, writing the script, and premiering it on the East Coast from First Street Surf Shop in Miami to Ioka Theater in New Hampshire (a total of 16 premieres in 21 days). And he's enjoying some big press, including interviews on Fuel Tv. In the words of The Daily Habit host Pat Parnell, 'If The Pursuit doesn't make you wanna go surf, you're pretty much a lost cause.' " - Jeanne-Marie DeStefano, Journalist, Eastern Surf Magazine