Stoked over ‘Stacked’

“My goal is to become a world professional surfer because I love it. I am 13 years old and I’ve been living in New York since 1997, therefore I consider myself a New Yorker,” pro surfer Balaram Stack, now 20, wrote in a letter seven years ago. The letter is held by his mother, Mary, in a heartwarming, inspirational image that opens the new documentary “Stacked,” about the venerated “hometown hero” and his involvement in the Quiksilver Pro New York last year.

“Stacked” was shown at the first-ever Surf Movie Night on April 13, hosted by the Long Beach Surfer’s Association, SMASH (Surf-Movies-Art-Shaping-History) and Unsound surf shop.

A standing-room-only crowd of surfers and fans packed Long Beach Cinema to see four documentary films — including the highly anticipated premiere of “Stacked” — made by local surfers.

“It is an incredible film documenting Balaram and his entry into the Quicksilver Pro, but it also has a little larger message about the Long Beach community and the contest here,” said Tyler Breuer of SMASH, who organized the event. “Bal is probably one of the first New York pro surfers to really make it big. It’s really exciting.”

The film was directed by Patrick Cummings and E.J. McLeavey-Fisher, two surfers who said they decided to shoot a documentary about the Quiksilver Pro N.Y., the largest and most lucrative surfing event ever held on the East Coast. The competition, won by Australia’s Owen Wright, attracted roughly 100,000 spectators to Long Beach. Stack qualified as a wild-card entry and immediately became a fan favorite.

“The possibilities of the story were pretty strong regardless of how it came out,” said McLeavey-Fisher, “and just the fact that it’s such a small story and [Balaram] is still a young guy representing his town against the biggest surfers.”

The 15-minute film, culled down from over 40 hours of footage, follows Stack and chronicles the excitement the event generated. “We didn’t know Balaram beforehand, but we knew of him just from this kind of surfing prowess,” Cummings said. “… [W]e didn’t know him personally, so we had the idea to do the story about him.”

“Stacked” met with cheers from the audience for Stack, who could not attend because he is surfing in Indonesia.