The Picture Of Dorian Paskowitz
After all the credits roll by at end of the documentary "Surfwise," which comes out Friday in L.A. at the Nuart Theatre in Santa Monica, then-85-year-old legendary surfer Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz talks about how the ultimate way to die would be to eaten by a shark.
It's a little disconcerting, but at that age, why not think about those things. He's already lived a life that many would consider pretty extreme.
As we touched on in the story in today's Daily News, "Surfwise" covers the way Paskowitz and his third wife, Julliette, raised their nine kids in a 24-foot camper while driving across the country living a self-exploratory existence based on all healthy foods and surfing.
The kids -- David (born in '59), Jonathan ('61), Abraham ('62), Israel, aka Izzy ('63), Moses ('64), Adam ('66), Salvador ('67), Navah ('69) and Joshua ('74) -- had many problems adjusting to "normal" life once they outgrew the camper and went out into the world. That's the most interesting story line in the documentary, and finding out how it caused several rifts in the family before they all came together in the end for a reunion in Hawaii.
Two of the nine live in the San Fernando Valley. All are in some sort of creative field -- music, cooking, graphic design, film making. All continue to surf.
Jonathan Paskowitz, who won the U.S. and world longboard championships in the late 1980s, is one of the documentary's producers and brought in Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks' owner, as an executive producer with his HDNet Films and Magnolia Pictures companies.
Moses Paskowitz, who walked on and played football at UNLV before getting a tryout with the San Diego Chargers, lives in Encino and works as a transportation captain on many feature films. Navah Paskowitz-Walther, the only girl of the family, also lives in Encino (and is shown driving around town on the 101 during the film to talk about her experiences with the family).
Joshua Paskowitz, the youngest born in 1974, ventured into film making and is in the process of editing a documentary he made about the surfing industry of Orange County.
"I have to surf regularily or I get fussy and depressed and bummed out, very irritable," Joshua said. "Surfing is the one thing I guess my dad gave us that was the unknown factor, more wonderful than we really imagined at the time. He was a lifelong and one of the most hardcore commited surfers ever known. He sacririfced all our lives to surf. We always thought it was selfish. But when comes to it, the character of people he brought in contact with was so amazing, we could never repay him for that."
Says Jonathan: "Everyone knows about being in team sports, having coaches ... and surfing may seem selfish, but it's one of the most brotherhood-oriented, kindred-spirit kind of activites you can have. The people really care about each other. It's really a band of brothers kind of thing."
==More about the Paskowitz family surf camp, click here.
==More information on ordering Dorian Paskowitz's book, "Surfing and Health," ($29.95 plus shipping), click here.
==More on the documentary, "Surfwise," click here, the official movie site.
==A review of "Surfwise" from Variety.
==A review from the New York Times, where the movie opened in Manhattan this week.
==More response to the documentary on Rottentomatoes.com.
==Jonathan Paskowitz talks to National Public Radio.
==More interviews with the Paskowitz family from CinemaBlend.com.
==A 2003 story on Paskowitz that appeared in the St. Petersburg Times.
==A 2007 story about how Paskowitz helped brings surfing to the Gaza Strip to help promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
==A more recent story on Paskowitz in AARP magazine.
==The "Surfwise" trailer:
==The Paskowitz family interviewed at the premiere of the film late in 2007 at the Toronto Film Festival:
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