Legendary surf and skate film-maker Thomas Campbell’s new film Yi-Wo has been ten years in the making.
I’ve had the good fortune to see Yi-Wo a few times now, and can confirm that this long-awaited release is a wondrous, challenging and completely artistically uncompromising piece of work that confirms TC’s position as one of surfing’s most idiosyncratic and influential voices.
And personally, I appreciate that. As we discussed during our conversation, in times of social and political turmoil such as these, the role of art becomes ever more important. Especially a work like Yi-Wo, which rejects immediacy, defies easy characterisation, and asks many questions of the audience.
So when Thomas got in touch to ask if he could come back on the podcast to talk me through the decade-long creative process that went into the making of this instant classic, I was in. See below for a sneak preview.
If you’ve listened to my first two chats with Thomas, during which we delved into his creative process in great detail, you’ll appreciate this conversation as a complement to those previous exchanges.
I’ve started a Looking Sideways book store! Yep, inspired by the fellow book geekery of my Looking Sideways listeners and readers, I’m now listing my favourite books of the year on the new LS bookshop here.
Buy anything from here and you’ll be supporting independent UK book stores (ie not paying for Jeff Bezos’ next rocket), as well as helping finance Looking Sideways (I get a 10% commission) in a really simple way. Big up reader Tim LeRoy for giving me this idea.
Related: want to discuss any of my selections, or share any of your own 2025 reads? Click here.
Here is the culmination of ten years of ‘sitting in the chair’, as he likes to say, an active demonstration of where TC’s curiosity, principles and artistic integrity have led him; and a brilliant summation of the fact that, in the end, creativity is about making decisions, putting one foot in front of the other, and seeing where it leads you and your audience.
The actual surfing, as performed by long-time Campbell collaborators Alex Knost, Jared Mell, Lauren Hill, Dave Rastovich, Karina Rozunko, Nick Melanson, Ryan Burch and Joel Tudor, among others, is also as incredible as you might expect.
As ever, it was a great privilege to get such an insight into this unique artist’s creative process, and in this conversation we discussed the creative process behind the film, why Yi-Wo is at heart a political statement, why art should make the audience do some work, his glee over the incredible soundtrack, and why he couldn’t have made this movie ten years ago.
Yi-Wo premieres over the weekend of October 3rd to 5th - follow Thomas on Insta here or vis his website here to get the details.
