Directed and executive produced by award-winning filmmaker Chris Smith and executive produced by Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winner Joe Lewis, the six-part HBO Sports Documentary series 100 FOOT WAVE intimately captures the decade-long odyssey of surfing pioneer Garrett McNamara, who, after visiting Nazaré, Portugal in hopes of conquering a 100-foot wave, pushed the sport to ever-greater heights and alongside locals helped transform the small fishing village into the world's preeminent big-wave surfing destination. 100 FOOT WAVE is also executive produced by Maria Zuckerman, Ryan Heller and Michael Bloom.
The series will premiere this spring on
HBO and be available to stream on
HBO Max.
After being recruited by a band of Nazaré locals who hoped to see if the dangerous swells they had observed their entire lives were surfable, McNamara - the Guinness World Record holder for the largest wave ever surfed for eight years - and his wife, Nicole, traveled to the remote city in 2010 to pursue the monster waves. Standing atop the city's abandoned 500-year-old lighthouse, they witnessed surf more dangerous than any they had ever seen, and a possible answer to Garrett's lifelong quest to ride a 100-foot wave. In the years to come, their journey helped attract the most fearless big-wave surfers to Nazaré and helped solidify it as the marquee destination in the sport.
Over the course of six episodes, 100 FOOT WAVE interweaves the transformative story of the seaside village with McNamara and his peers' ongoing search for the tallest wave on the planet. The series captures the common spirit and fearless passion shared by McNamara and big-wave surfers from across the world as they push themselves through life-altering injuries and tantalizing near-misses in their collective pursuit of the inconceivable. Spanning four continents, 100 FOOT WAVE is an inspirational story of a group of people on a quest to achieve new heights, and a town and a sport that were forever changed by one seemingly impossible dream.
100 FOOT WAVE is produced by Topic Studios, Library Films and Amplify Pictures. It is directed by Chris Smith; executive producers, Chris Smith, Joe Lewis, Maria Zuckerman, Ryan Heller and Michael Bloom.
About Topic Studios
Topic Studios, the award-winning entertainment studio from First Look Media, develops, finances and produces provocative and entertaining content for all platforms including theatrical, streaming, television and podcasts. From Academy Award® winning films (Spotlight); to documentaries (The Fight, co-released with Magnolia Pictures and Mucho Mucho Amor); to television (the Film Independent Spirit Award® nominated docu-series
LOVE FRAUD and the Emmy Award® winning and Peabody Award® nominated "16 Shots," and the Emmy Award® nominated Losers); and pioneering podcasts (the return of Politically Re-Active with W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu, Missing Richard Simmons, the Peabody Award® nominated Running from COPS, Anthem written by John Cameron Mitchell & Bryan Weller, featuring Glenn Close, Cynthia Erivo and Patti LuPone; and the IDA Award® winning investigative podcast, Somebody). Films from Topic Studios include Michael Angelo Covino's The Climb (Sony Pictures Classics); Euros Lyn's Dream Horse, starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis (with Bleecker Street); The Nowhere Inn written by and starring Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia) and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent); "The Mauritanian," a political drama directed by Kevin Macdonald and starring Jodie Foster and Tahar Rahim, recently nominated for two Golden Globes® for their performances in the film, and Benedict Cumberbatch and Shailene Woolley (STXfilms). Benedict Cumberbatch, Golden Globe® nominee Tahar Rahim and Shailene Woodley (STXfilms); and Pablo Larrain's Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, acquired with NEON and currently filming. Topic Studios is also ramping up its scripted television division, having set up two premium dramas arising from their previous first look deal with Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip), including the adult thriller Savannah with PKM Productions; and is developing an English-language adaptation of the critically acclaimed Israeli HOT comedy, Nehama, among other projects.
Library Films, helmed by director Chris Smith, produces and finances premiere documentary projects. Wry, empathetic, and wise, Smith's films occupy a special niche in contemporary cinema. His
Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning American Movie follows an irrepressible young director cobbling together a regional horror film. His narrative feature The Pool won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. The film's New York premiere was accompanied by a MoMA retrospective of Smith's other work titled Chris Smith: American Original. More recently, Chris has directed and produced a run of blockbuster documentary feature films and series. He directed Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, a documentary detailing Jim Carrey's transformation into Andy Kaufman for his role in Man on the Moon. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and went on to win the LA Film Critics Society for Best Documentary and a nomination for Outstanding Documentary at the Emmys. Chris also directed FYRE: The Greatest Party that Never Happened. The film entered the
Pop culture zeitgeist upon its release and earned four Emmy nominations. He also directed the docu-series The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann. His latest docu-series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, which he served as an Executive Producer, took the world by storm and went on to garner six Emmy nominations.
Amplify Pictures, an independent television studio, develops, finances and produces award-winning, commercially successful scripted and documentary content for the global entertainment market. Launched in 2018 by Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody winning producer and Amazon Studios co-founder Joe Lewis, Amplify Pictures has played a pioneering role in independently produced television. Like earlier series produced by Lewis - Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag (Emmy, Golden Globe, Peabody award winning); Joey Soloway's Transparent (Golden Globe, BAFTA, Peabody, GLAAD Media award winning); Nic Refn's Too Old To Die Young (the first streaming series to premiere at Cannes) - Amplify Pictures is focused on combining brilliant creators, unique worlds and unparalleled filmmaking to tell global stories. Amplify Pictures has upcoming productions coming from Chris Smith, Lisa Taddeo, Lucy Walker, Smriti Mundhara and Epic Magazine, among others, in the works. In addition to television, Amplify Pictures is focused on emerging forms and platforms, having recently produced the first original video content for Giphy (Dina Martina), which will premiere on Valentine's Day 2021. Amplify Pictures has offices in Los Angeles and New York and employees with a shared goal of telling stories from new, overdue and varied perspectives in the hopes of expanding understanding and making the world a better place through entertainment.
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