If you're wondering who did the artwork for the Canadian Surf Film Festival, you can click on over to Tyler Warren's site here. Tyler is a California-based surfer, shaper and artist who has been turning out some incredible work in the last few years. He's spent some time in the water in Canada, and we're definitely digging his vision of our country—two friends surfing alone at some perfect tree-lined point. One has to wonder if it was inspired by this Yassine Ouhilal shot that ran in our Spring 2009 issue, with Tyler out in front and Christian Wach styling along behind:

The doors of Tribeca swung open on Friday night for a screening of the new Julian Wilson fllm, Scratching the Surface, presented by Quiksilver Canada, Oakley and Red Bull. The bar on Granville Street in Halifax was packed by the time the show started at 10 p.m., and local photographer Zak Bush was on hand to snap some shots of the crowd.

Raph Bruhwiler talking story with some of the local crew.

Noah Cohen. That kid likes the ladies.

Rusty Long has been cruising the Nova Scotia coast and stuck around for the premiere.

A few days earlier Raph and Nico Manos were getting shacked silly at a secret spot on the Hurricane Igor swell.

Noah and Scotty Sherin, getting a bit loose after a few rye and gingers.

The crowd tuning in to Julian Wilson on the big screen. Dean Petty seems a bit distracted, though.

When it comes to the party, Halifax doesn't really hold back.

Some lovely lasses.

Eastern Shore ripper Roman Husiuk...

...and photographer Yassine Ouhilal was on hand as well.

Quiksilver's John Rainnie and Nikki Richards.

—Thanks to Quiksilver Canada for the photos.

With only a few weeks to go until the Canadian Surf Film Festival, we thought it would be a good time to check in with Keith Maddison, one of the four founders of Canada's first surf-focused cultural festival. The festival's Official Launch Party kicks things off this Saturday, September 18th, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Victor's Bar and Grill in Halifax. The full program of the CSFF will be announced at the party, and the event will feature a pre-festival panel discussion with filmmakers Eva Madden and Yassine Ouhilal. For more about the Canadian Surf Film Festival, see the CSFF website here or the Twitter feed here.

Was there a specific inspiration for the Canadian Surf Film Festival, or did it just seem that the time was right to bring the idea to life?

Yassine Ouhilal had a short surf film accepted into the Atlantic Film Festival [in Halifax] in 2009. So throughout the AFF, we kept talking about how much fun it would be to do a surf film festival in town. We went out for lunch afterwards to discuss it and ran into Ricardo Salcedo, who mentioned that he and Walter Forsyth had talked about doing the same thing a few years back. The four of us connected, and it went from there. Walter had been screening surf films in town for years.

The New York and San Sebastian surf film festivals have gotten a ton of attention in the last few years. Were they a model for what you wanted to do with the Canadian festival?

We definitely did a lot of research on what the other festivals were doing. But we also wanted to make this a very East Coast event—and what I mean by that is that any festival on the East Coast is a huge party. Whether it's film, music or theatre, the underlying theme is that this is a celebration, so let's have as much fun as possible doing this while acknowledging the hard work of artists. Ricardo has been to the New York Surf Film Festival, and he's good friends with the Executive Director. They've been a great help and have been very supportive.

It's easier than ever now to access film online, and within a few minutes you can find pretty much anything you want on YouTube or Vimeo or iTunes. In contrast to that, to just watching films at home, what is it about the shared and collective film experience that you guys see as being really valuable and worthwhile?

What we're really trying to do is to create 'the' surfing event for Atlantic Canada. And one day, for all of Canada. The focus is on films, which are as vulnerable as any media to piracy, but we've been working really hard and connecting with different surfing-related groups in Nova Scotia—surf schools, surf shops, the Surfing Association of Nova Scotia—to let people know that it's mainly about celebrating surf culture through the medium of film. Watching a surf film on your laptop isn't at all the same thing as going to a festival to watch it. Festivals have a buzz and are a fun experience. People want to be a part of it. The CSFF will follow that tradition, and hopefully turn some heads.

For those who haven't been to a film festival before, can you describe how the festival will work? What are some of the aspects that you're most excited about?

Again, attending a film festival is different from going to a Hollywood film at your local theatre. We'll have guest speakers, panels, filmmaker Q&As and prizes. And we'll be showing films that most people would never have the opportunity to see on the big screen.

In the long run, what sort of effect do you think a film festival will have on Canada's surf culture?

We're hoping that this will eventually become the number one cultural event for surfing in Canada. The sport is still growing super fast in this country, especially on the East Coast. I think a lot of surfers are looking for an event where they can all come together and talk shop, so to speak. Most surfers aren't into competitions, but they still want to get out there and get involved.

—Photo: Frame Grab from Idiosyncracies, directed by Patrick Trefz.

Wondering what the East Coast of Canada has looked like on these recent hurricane swells? Check out this clip with Alek Parker and Ben Bourgeois joining local stalwarts Nico Manos, Neal Durling and Logan Landry for a few waves from the Danielle swell.

Restless Josie is Josie Boulding, an independent journalist who roams around the world and records her adventures on video. Her YouTube channel has in-depth interviews with Raph Bruhwiler and Peter Devries—both pieces are around the seven-minute mark, and both are well worth the time. I really like Josie's style—it's casual and conversational, and she seems to have a really solid and genuine interest in the subjects she covers.

(p.s.: If you're into beach sports other than surfing, check out Josie's interview with Martin Reader, a beach volleyball player who hails from Vancouver Island and is a truly outstanding athlete.)