| Summary: | Like hula, surfing was viewed as immoral by European missionaries to Hawai'i, so it had languished until the early twentieth century when the first tourist hotels appeared in Waikiki, and a small band of watermen began to earn their livelihood from surfing instruction and providing outrigger canoe rides for tourists. Award-winning documentarian Caroline Yacoe portrays the current Waikiki Beach Boys as preservers of surfing culture. A surfer herself, Yacoe combines archival footage, interviews with former and current Beach Boys, and music performed by Beach Boy musicians such as the Waikiki Sunset Jammahs. Co-producer and narrator Francine Mikiala Palama reveals both the hard work it takes to become a Beach Boy and how the tradition is passed on. The narration also tells how the 'Ambassadors of Aloha' found romance and a 24-hour party for themselves and for the tourists. Says Beach Boy Woody Brown: 'We're giving them a point of view from the ocean. Looking at the island is a lot different, showing them things they don't see from the land.' This documentary is a cinematic love song to the Waikiki Beach Boys, using archival footage, interviews and music to show how the 'Ambassadors of Aloha' preserve the surf culture and teach it to visitors.
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