When Canadian-American filmmaker Geoff Browne first decided to visit Tarkwa Bay, a popular beach in Lagos, Nigeria, it wasn’t because he wanted to make a film there. He had seen Nigeria listed as a location on a shirt for The Endless Summer, Bruce Brown’s 1966 surf film, and was amazed to discover that there is surfing in Nigeria.
This was what triggered him to book a surf lesson in Lagos. He booked it with a pioneering surfer and instructor from Tarkwa Bay, Lagos, Godpower Pekipuma, aka GP, via Instagram. Geoff didn’t do research before showing up for the lesson. He and GP had agreed to meet under a bridge. He took Uber there and got dropped and was expecting something like Venice Beach in California but saw nothing like that. He didn’t research Tarkwa Bay’s actual location.
When Geoff finally connected with GP under the bridge, they walked further, and he made him realize they had to take a boat to get to Tarkwa Bay. As soon as Geoff met GP, he could feel he was a warm and great person, so he knew he was in good hands. They both entered the boat and took the surf lesson at Tarkway Bay.
“Tarkwa Bay was just like a slice of heaven. Even when we pulled in there, just look at, you know, people hanging out on the beach, playing soccer, and barbecuing fish. It was just such a culture blast of this amazing kind of surf community outside one of the most populated cities in the world. And that in itself really stood out. And then I did the surf class with Godpower. I just felt so excited, really, to be surfing in Nigeria and West Africa. I had no idea that there was surfing there,” Geoff said in an interview with Rolling Stone Africa.
The filmmaker had a great experience at Tarkwa Bay and felt connected with GP after realizing that The Endless Summer film that drew him to Tarkwa Bay was what inspired GP to start surfing in the first place. Geoff wanted to share what he saw at Tarkwa Bay, let people know about GP’s story, and share behind-the-scenes footage that tourists don’t get to see, making him decide to film at Tarkwa Bay—not just any film, but something people can relate to.
“Everyone’s very welcoming, and it was just a great feeling. I kind of want to share this experience with people because no one that I had known had ever spoken about surfing in Nigeria. And I thought that I wanted to tell my friends about that. I want people to experience that. It’s such a special place with amazing food. And meeting GP and hearing his story about surfing and the community, I thought, wow, I just really want to do a story there. I’d love to do a film there,” he said.
This led to GODPOWER, a 16-minute narrative film that eventually won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film at Dances With Films in Los Angeles. The story is from GP’s life. It follows Godpower, a surf instructor in Tarkwa Bay, as he hopes that a tourist’s booking will earn him enough money to buy a birthday gift for his son only to find out that the gift that matters can’t be bought. Geoff wrote, directed, and shot the film. He cast real members of the Tarkwa Bay community, including Godpower himself and his real-life son Isaac.
“When you see Godpower, he’s just got this striking look,” Geoff said. “He’s lived this life that I knew I could just point a camera at him and he wouldn’t have to say anything, and you would just feel it.” In Geoff’s words, the production was a “community film,” as everyone in Tarkwa Bay was supportive of it.
Rolling Stone Africa also had the opportunity to speak with GP, and he shared with us the realities behind the film’s story. GP owns a surf school, and he has spent years teaching people to surf while creating opportunities for young people in Tarkwa Bay. With the GODPOWER film, he wanted the world to see what he was building through surfing. He wanted people to discover Tarkwa Bay, and he wanted the film to create possibilities for his family and the young surfers coming behind him.
For every student who pays to learn at his surf school, Godpower revealed that the fee helps cover a free lesson for a local child. His hope is that one of those children might eventually represent Nigeria at the Olympics. “I believe one of the kids in the community will represent Nigeria in the Olympics,” he told Rolling Stone Africa.
At the 29th Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles, where GODPOWER won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film, the festival jury described the film as “universally human” and “a cinematic gift.” Geoff shared with us that the award was gratifying not simply because it recognized his filmmaking, but because it validated the time and trust invested by Godpower, his family, and the Tarkwa Bay community.
“I didn’t want to waste all of their time. I wanted to make sure that if I was doing this and promising that I would do a good job, there would be some results,” Geoff said. Those results are now opening another significant door.
Following its Grand Jury Prize win, GODPOWER will have a weeklong theatrical run at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles from September 18 to 24. The run is an Academy Awards-qualifying theatrical engagement, putting the film in position to be submitted for consideration for the Oscars. GODPOWER was also accepted into the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Lagos, where it will be screened from November 1 to 7.
Geoff plans to make GODPOWER into a 90-minute feature film, expanding the world and characters introduced in the short. He hopes the film creates tangible opportunities for Godpower, from new acting roles to greater support for GP Surf School and international awareness of Tarkwa Bay. “I hope it opens up opportunities for him that neither of us can imagine,” he said.
GP also wants audiences to discover his surf school, to see the young surfers of Tarkwa Bay, and to recognize that Nigeria has a surfing culture worth knowing. The film’s success has already given him hope, which he said he needed.
Watch GODPOWER trailer below:
