Corona x Parley: Street Surfers

Big wave surfer Frank Solomon finds an underground community of surfers in the place you’d least expect: Johannesburg - South Africa. For anyone that has cruised the streets of Johannesburg, the site of the city’s ‘street surfers’ is as much a part of the landscape as is that of the high rise metropolitan skyline. Frank Solomon, a big wave surfer and marine activist from Cape Town South Africa, travels to meet two exceptional men, Thabo and Mokete, who indirectly serve the environment through recycling as a means of income. This is the untold story of new friendships, shared experiences and common interest between individuals that are worlds apart. Client: Corona x Parley Agency: King James Production Company: Eyeforce Director & D.O.P.: Arthur Neumeier  
Producers: Christiaan Coetsee & Mascha Spaans Editor: Bjorn Baay Sound Tech (JHB): Renier van Niekerk Sound Tech (CPT): Simon Rice JHB Fixer: Jacob Motsamai Cast: 
Frank Solomon, 
Mokete Mokete, 
Thabo Mouti.

“I think very few people know that places like this even exist.”

Frank Solomon

We all depend on the oceans. Water is what sets our planet apart from its celestial neighbors. It is what makes life, as we know it, possible. We earthlings are all connected to the same blue ecosystem, and we each have a unique relationship with the sea — a personal connection shaped by experiences, memories and stories. We also each have a unique relationship with trash.

Those who live by or on the coasts are the first to see the impact of society’s plastic addiction. If you regularly swim, sail, surf or work in and on the water, you’re well aware of the polluted state of our oceans. It’s no coincidence that seaside communities are early to act on marine threats. But ocean activism isn’t restricted to the coasts. Leadership is needed inland and upstream, where plastic begins its journey to the sea.

How can we drive solutions in landlocked cities and communities? One approach: by telling the stories of people who are on the frontlines. 

In collaboration with Corona x Parley and our joint mission to Protect Paradise, big wave surfer Frank Solomon and the filmmakers at Eyeforce take the movement to South Africa with a series spotlighting those who work to protect the oceans and end marine plastic pollution.

Devland, Soweto, is an informal settlement in Johannesburg that hosts an underground community of ‘surfers’ championing activism hundreds of kilometers from the waves. Waste-pickers known as street surfers collect up to 90% of the recyclables from households in South Africa, all while struggling to make ends meet. In Street Surfers, we follow Frank as he meets Mokete and Thabo, and explore an untold story of new friendships, shared experiences and common interest between individuals that are worlds apart.

Corona x Parley ambassador and surfer Frank Solomon presented Street Surfers at La Casa during Corona J Bay. Watch it above.

Learn more about the partnership and ways to get involved at

CoronaxParley.com and ProtectParadise.com

@franksolomon @eyeforce @corona

#ProtectParadise

#CoronaXParley

---

READ MORE