Plot

A fun short, showcasing the passion of wave rider, John Taschner, taking advantage of El Niño conditions- as rain moves out, high surf moves in. Taschner seizes each opportunity to be ready for the next one.

Walls of Water is a documentary style adventure film about epic storm surf during freak ocean conditions known as El Nino, and the quest of big wave surf riders to rude the massive ocean swells by El Niño storms. "Epic" footage of dramatic surf riding and crashing surf. Walls of water is a fun and sublime ride on giant waves. A powerful film of sublime simplicity that elevates the art of extreme adventure sport films.—author

Big wave surfing is an extreme ocean sport, with great visual impact to even the most casual observer, where very experienced surfers seek out storm waves that are often unpredictable and depend upon tropical storms. Many big wave riders use specialized surf or body boards, and some riders catch the wave without a board, in a sport known ad known as bodysurfing. Sizes of the board and techniques needed to successfully surf large storm waves vary by the size of the wave as well as the technique the surfer uses to reach the wave. Big wave riding is hazardous, and the National Weather Service will sometimes issue warnings about serious injury or death when large storm systems bring massive surf is hitting coastline or populated areas. El Niño impacts the global climate and disrupts normal weather patterns, which as a result can lead to intense storms in some places and droughts in others. For surfers, El Niño sometimes brings the world's largest waves to coastal communities. The freak ocean storms and massive surf El Niño Oscillation and is associated with a band of warm ocean water and huge surf. Major El Niño led to an upsurge of interest from the scientific and surfing communities, and recent years have observed especially intense El Niño events causing massive surf exceeding 50 feet and damages exceeding billions in losses. So violent have been recent storms that an estimated 16% of the world's reef systems are thought to have died. To the surfer, storm surfing the massive waves generated by storm systems is the ultimate test and experience. Walls of Water is a memorable surf ride-along short film capturing epic surf during the 2016 El Niño storm in the Pacific Ocean.—author

The film is about a surfer tackling some epic El Nino waves off the coast of California. This is a guy who honors the ocean and the environment and his care is definitely on display in Walls of Water. The ocean shots are stunning. It's clear that the ocean is treated as another character in the film, perhaps even the star.—Garon Cockrell, Pop Culture Beast