Tim Bonython is an award winning Cinematographer and Director, specialising in footage of Local and Big Wave surfing. His production company Tim Bonython Productions has a vast footage library, which is available for licensing.

Tim Bonython Productions was created by Tim Bonython and his wife Sandrine, and specialises in cameraman and production services, which are available to hire. It also operates the Australian Surf Movie Festival, an annual national tour showcasing TBP’s latest and greatest independent surf feature films throughout clubs, pubs and cinemas Australia wide.  Tim Bonython Productions run their own distribution.

Who is Tim Bonython?

Tim Bonython simply has a major addiction to what he does. Shooting the biggest waves with the best big wave surfers & then showing it all on the big screen at the Australian Surf Movie Festival  (ASMF).

Tim Bonython’s association with surfing films began in 1978, when armed with a Super-8 camera, he set off to Hawaii’s infamous North Shore to capture the big waves and their riders. From that moment he became totally besotted with the sport, it participants and turning it into captivating, breath-taking and inspiring films that could be shown  immediately on the big screen.

At the start of his career Tim filmed the renown Rip Curl Pro event at Bells Beach Victoria back in 1981 where competitors surfed waves in excess of twenty feet.  With a projector & PA in the back of his car and and a 4 x 3 screen on the roof, Tim toured hot off the press some of the most amazing surfing footage ever shot in Australia. This pubs and clubs around Australia’s East Coast idea was revisited and 2001 became the  Australian Surf Movie Festival.

In 1998, on the advice of internationally renowned surf photographer Dan Merkel, Tim went off to document one of the biggest swells ever surfed at Peahi/Jaws on Maui, now one of the world’s most famous big wave locations. The film from the hours of footage collected became one of the most respected surf documentaries created, called Biggest Wednesday. During that time Tim worked for Quiksilver International, the ASP and also produced music videos for the Screaming Jets, Midnight Oil, The Angels & Frenzal Romb.

Over many years, Tim has made a home-away-from-home in Tahiti shooting at one of the world’s most notorious, big wave surfing locations – Teahupo’o. From footage shot here, Tim created the award winning documentary Blackwater—The Story of a Place Called Teahupo’o. In May 2006 it won Best Surf Documentary in the International Surf Festival in St Jean De luz, France. He followed this with May Dayz showing the jaw-dropping feats of the big waves and the riders over two incredible days at the same location. 

In 2013, Immersion the Movie, won many awards around the world throughout it’s first year touring to various film festivals and was at the time reviewed as the ‘best surf movie to date’. 

2017 saw the release of The Big Wave Project, a masterful, award-winning documentary on the art of big wave riding. For five years, Tim followed a tight-knit crew of the world’s best big wave surfers as they each attempted a personal goal – to ride the world’s biggest wave. The Big Wave Project featured in a sell-out Australian cinema tour, The Australian Surf Movie Festival in 2017, and won Best Action Documentary award at the Maui Film Festival. 

Production is now underway on Tim’s next project SwellChasers TV series. There are two stories between every motion image: the story of what was being captured, and the story of capturing it. SwellChasers follows the unrelenting journey of acclaimed surf cinematographer Tim Bonython on his attempt to document the world’s most prestigious big wave surfers riding the world’s most dangerous and remote surf breaks. Due for release 2020.

The Australian Surf Movie Festival

Tim filmed the renowned Rip Curl Pro event at Bells Beach in 1981 where competitors surfed waves in excess of twenty feet.  With a projector & PA in the back of his car and and a 4 x 3 screen on the roof, Tim set off to show some of the most amazing surfing footage ever shot in Australia in pubs and clubs around Australia’s East Coast. This annual tradition would eventually grow into the Australian Surf Movie Festival.

Since those days, Tim and his wife Sandrine have grown the Australian Surf Movie Festival from its humble beginnings out of the back of his car to screening his films at Big Day Out and in front of sell-out crowds at large pub and club venues on the coast and in selected independent cinemas throughout Australia and international locations.

Most films featured are his own productions, most recent being The Big Wave Project toured nationally in 2017. The next Australian Surf Movie Festival event is scheduled for Nov-Dec 2020…watch this space!