AND TWO IF BY SEA, the Justin Purser-directed documentary profiling the lives of CJ & Damien Hobgood, becomes widely available after charting at No.3 in documentary films overall on iTunes. After packing theaters nationally while rounding the international festival circuit this summer, the award-winning film was acquired by 1091 for distribution. It is now available to rent on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, Xbox, VUDU, and other digital platforms.
This is the debut feature from Justin Purser, a filmmaker and surfer who knows the sport and its culture from the inside out. Purser uses his unique perspective not to create a ‘surf movie,’ but to dive deep into the identity struggle between two athletes at the top of their game, as they fight to outperform one another and each establish a legacy of their own.
The film was a labor of love for Purser, a director of commercials and music videos and one of the original creators behind Maker Studios (acquired by Walt Disney Corp.) that pioneered the now-ubiquitous model of influencer marketing. Purser’s two-pronged approach to directing the work, then building the campaigns surrounding it, has proved effective time and time again. AND TWO IF BY SEA has been rated 5 Stars on iTunes and Amazon, along with garnering a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Always one to cast his nets in genres far and wide, Purser is also a founding partner of Olio Creative, a Venice-based collaborative studio with a focus on color grading.
“It’s been a long road crafting this film, but it has always felt like the timing of everything was meant to be,” says Purser. “From Daniel Tosh agreeing to narrate the film, when he is known to be incredibly selective in projects he agrees to be a part of, to the final scene of the film coming together the way it did.”
AND TWO IF BY SEA chronicles the lives of CJ & Damien Hobgood, two of the most decorated surfers in the history of the sport, who both rose to fame as the only identical twin pro surfers to ever qualify for the elite WSL World Championship Tour. The Hobgoods’ sibling rivalry and struggle to each establish their own identity fueled their careers, but in turn, ripped their personal and peripheral relationships apart.
The film is Executive Produced and narrated by Daniel Tosh (Tosh.0), directed by Justin Purser and written by Chris Gessner, Carly Hallam, and Justin Purser. Geoffrey J. Clark and Lisa Lapan of Something Kreative produced the film, alongside Purser and the Hobgood’s production company, Sink Or Swim Films.
Watch the film here
