“What Gerry said,” adds Stacy, “you don’t know what a film is about until you show it to people. Most of the time when people see the film they pick things out and see things that you’re not even aware of. Gerry, as the person in it, and me as the filmmaker will go, I never thought of that. I didn’t see that emotion or I didn’t pick that up, and that’s rewarding to us.”
With the movie tour done, Gerry Lopez has left Australian shores. As much as he’s enjoyed showing the film and reconnecting with a vast surfing land he first visited 50 years ago, he’s also enjoying the idea of life going back to normal. He needs to surf.
“Oh yeah, this tour has really cut into my surfing time. But it's really great to see that people are enjoying the movie and that maybe it's having a little bit of a positive impact on them. The Dalai Lama said that we're only visitors on this planet, we're only here for 80 to 100 years, and we need to do something good, something useful, with our lives. And finding peace within yourself and then sharing that peace with others, when you contribute to other people's happiness is when you learn the true goal, the true meaning of life. And I think that I listened to and looked at that quote for a lot of years, maybe 20 or 25 years, that's about how long ago since I first saw it. And it's really kind of starting to make more sense to me. To contribute to other people's happiness. I think I said something in the movie about, I'm moving into the teacher phase of my life, and I think that's what the Dalai Lama was talking about.”
Watch The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez for free here.