“It’s not an adversarial environment for her,” said filmmaker Stephanie Johnes of surfer Maya Reis Gabeira’s relationship to the water and waves. “She’s working with the ocean to do magical things.”
In February 2020, Brazilian surfer Maya Reis Gabeira surfed a 73-foot wave (the height of a seven-story building) in Nazaré, Portugal. Not only did Maya surf the largest wave ever surfed by a woman, she surfed the biggest wave in the entire 2019-2020 winter season.
Big-wave surfing—or the quest to ride the biggest waves in the world—leads surfers and captivated onlookers to flock from all over the world to the brutal, and sometimes even fatal, waters of Nazaré. Gabeira’s success has not come without significant setbacks. In 2013, she survived a wipeout on a 50-foot wave that left her underwater for several minutes. Her climb back into the big wave spotlight—which took four years and included three back surgeries—came with significant criticism from the public and surfing communities.
Ten years ago, while working as a cinematographer on the documentaryVenus and Serena, filmmaker Stephanie Johnes heard a call for female directors to profile female athletes. Maya and the Wave tells a story of working with, not against, the ocean, and doesn’t shy away from the intensity of the sport. The documentary ultimately triumphs as an intimate—and often brutal—portrait of Maya leading up to her breaking the Guinness World Record for largest wave ever surfed by a woman.
In an interview with Ms., Stephanie Johnes details what it is like to be an elite female athlete in a male-dominated sport.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Eliza Powers: Something that I think was really compelling about Maya and the Wave was the extreme physicality of it—the extreme fitness regimen and surgical history Maya has had with her injuries. The film opened my eyes to this almost invisible, extreme physical demand of surfing.
Stephanie Johnes: To be a truly elite surfer is terribly physically punishing. And I watch Maya with a huge amount of respect. She is a different kind of person with a different kind of attitude, and she really absorbs and accepts the fact that physical suffering is part of high performance. And so sometimes you feel amazing when you’re performing at the top level as an athlete, and sometimes you’re really suffering and in terrible amounts of pain. I was really quite in awe of her tolerance for physical pain, but I think that’s the mark of an elite athlete.
Powers: There was one point when she was getting back surgery, and the camera panned on the mallet that the surgeon was using, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s brutal.’
Johnes: Yeah, that was a huge surgery. Her body went through a lot, and still is, you know, but that’s one of the many remarkable things about her.
Maya is a different kind of person with a different kind of attitude, and she really absorbs and accepts the fact that physical suffering is part of high performance.
Stephanie Johnes
Powers: A huge component of the film was Maya’s 10-year relationship with Red Bull. I was wondering if you could speak to the pressure on female athletes to sell an image.
Johnes: When a company sponsors you, you’re associating your image and your activities with their brand. And they’re paying you for a certain level of performance. They want to have the media exposure that the life of an athlete can offer. For an athlete to have a sponsor, it’s really wonderful in a lot of regards, because their bills are paid and they can do what they love and live their life. But on the other hand, it’s a lot of pressure. And in extreme sports, you’re in harm’s way. It’s life and it’s life and death.
That was a great relationship for Maya for a really long time. And then as you can see in the film, the pressures started to take a toll and then she was just devastated when they decided not to support her anymore.
Powers: I wanted to ask you about the title Maya and the Wave. I think a lot of times in sports documentaries or the “man versus nature” story, there’s this theme of conquest, or conquering. He or she is going to “beat” this wave or this mountain and I felt, when I was watching the film, there was more of a relationship with Maya and the ocean.
Johnes: I’m so happy you said that. That’s really nice that you took that away, because I think in a male approach to that situation, it would be a more of a conquesting type of attitude. But Maya really brings her feminine skills to surfing, and that is a lot of intuition, which is, they have to really be in tune with the ocean and read the waves, which she’s very good at. I mean, most surfers are good at that.
Her happy place is being in the ocean. It’s not an adversarial environment for her. She’s working with the ocean to do magical things. I’m glad that that works, because we really went around and around thinking about what the title should be.
One of the advantages that female extreme athletes have is their emotional side. They have the intuition, and they work with nature and with people in a different way than men do.
Stephanie Johnes
Powers: The water was such its own character in the film: At one point, it’s described as an avalanche. The constant movement makes it so powerful, compared to other sports documentaries about a rock or a hill or a ball.
Johnes: Yeah, the water has a lot of personality. It’s so wild, and it does have a lot of character. And it’s the greatest expression of Mother Nature; it’s so powerful and energetic. Maya’s just being in tune with the ocean. I think that one of the advantages that female extreme athletes have is their emotional side. They have the intuition, and they work with nature and with people in a different way than men do. It’s more collaborative, it’s more thoughtful, it’s maybe a little more sensitive. And so that really is an advantage for her in the sport. It’s not just about brute force, brute strength, just using muscle alone to accomplish something. Maya’s an incredibly smart human being.
Powers: It’s such a reactive story, such a relationship story—watching the wave, predicting, reacting to it.
Johnes: That’s interesting too, you’re just making me realize it’s very dynamic. In climbing, the rock isn’t moving. It’s not changing shape. You can choose the rock, but the waves are such an interesting challenge, because they have to see it in the distance and choose, is that the one or not? Just based on all their knowledge of how it’s going to form and approach. And then once they’re on it, it’s a constant maneuvering of, “Are you going to go down, or which way are you going to go?” and how to work with the mountain as it’s moving. So it takes a lot of very fine tuned sensitivity to pull that off and also not die at the same time.
Powers: This feminist and triumphant movie subverted the conquest, conquered the narrative. Of course, a woman would have such a perception and intuition to work with this wave and work with the ocean.
Johnes: There’s plenty of films about male athletes, male surfers. I felt like it was important to show someone who’s doing something that not many women do. I hope that it will resonate with women who have similar challenges of not being in the most welcoming environment when they’re trying to accomplish a goal.
Powers: Most women reading Ms. are not extreme surfers, but the story of persistence in a male dominated-field is extremely universal. And that’s what’s really inspiring about watching this movie—the emotional weight and persistence.
Johnes: What I hope that the film accomplishes is to connect with people who are not necessarily surfers or even athletes, but who have felt that feeling of isolation when they’re trying to do something extraordinary or trying to do something in a male-dominated environment. The film bears witness to the fact that that’s extremely challenging and met with resistance, but in the end, you can triumph. You can see your goals through.
Sometimes I think we experience gender bias in very subtle ways. And I really relate to that as a filmmaker, because while being a filmmaker is naturally very hard, I think it’s been harder for me as a woman. A lot of times it’s just because we’re not in the boys club. You don’t need to be a surfer to watch the movie, or even an athlete. It’s an archetypal story of a female experience.
Maya and the Wave will be theatrically released in the U.S. on Sept. 13.
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