BILLABONG ODYSSEY BIG WAVE MOVIE

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 Billabong Odyssey Big Wave Movie Hits Theaters November 7;Feature Film Documents Search for the World's Largest Surf October 2003 (Newstream) -- Big wave surfing is coming to the big screen like never before. The feature film release "Billabong Odyssey" documents the dramatic life-or-death adventures of a team of surfer/explorers who search the seven seas on the quest to find and ride the biggest wave on the planet.

"Billabong Odyssey" was filmed over the course of two years in 35mm and high-definition 24p digital formats in the wild waters of California, Washington, Mexico, Hawaii, Spain, France, Australia, Tahiti and at the notorious Cortes Bank, in international seas 100 miles off the North American coast.

Using a combination of high-tech weather forecasting and high-powered watercraft, the Billabong Odyssey project has led the way in finding new breaks and expanding the limits of extreme surfing performance to conquer waves with faces of 60 to 70 feet and beyond. Since 2001 the Odyssey team has been standing by when huge storms form anywhere in the world, ready to race to intercept the massive swells they generate--with film crew in tow.

"Billabong Odyssey" stars an array of renowned big water characters, including Southern California's Mike Parsons and Brad Gerlach. The calculating ex-world-tour pros join forces with their rivals, Santa Cruz wildmen "Flea" Virostko, "Barney" Barron, "Skindog" Collins and Josh Loya, to train in rescue techniques and to work together to find the biggest wave of all. (The contrasting lifestyles of the two groups were the subject of a controversial 12-page feature in Vanity Fair magazine).

Also joining the Odyssey and profiled within the film are tow surfing pioneer Ken Bradshaw, women's world champ Layne Beachley, Hawaiian waterman Brian Keaulana and hydrofoil surfboard innovator Rush Randle.

"While the surfing action is amazing and terrifying, it's the personalities of the surfers which is the centerpiece of the film," said producer Vincent Leone.

Adds director Philip Boston, "They're most like the adventurers of earlier eras who go bravely into the unknown and return home with astonishing tales. What they're doing is like climbing Everest or breaking the sound barrier for the first time...no one really knows what's waiting for them out there."

The discovery of Cortes Bank, a remote and forbidding mid-ocean sea mount located 100 miles off the coast of San Diego -- and its subsequent exploration as a big wave surf spot -- was merely the starting point of the Billabong Odyssey concept.

Explains Bill Sharp, who conceived the original Project Neptune expedition to the Cortes Bank, "Anyone who was intrigued by the adventure and personalities of the Cortes expedition will be engrossed by the Odyssey film, which tracks the amazing evolution of big wave adventure exploration over the last two years."

The Billabong Odyssey movie follows the surfers' exploits at well-known breaks like Jaws in Maui, Hawaii to Maverick's in Northern California, Todos Santos Island off Mexico and Teahupo'o in Tahiti, along with the stories of all-new discoveries along the coasts of Europe and Australia. Also depicted are moments of seafaring drama like the Odyssey's unprecedented rescue training program in conjunction with the US Coast Guard's Motor Lifeboat Station, conducted in the raging seas at the mouth of the Columbia River at Cape Disappointment, Washington.

"Billabong Odyssey", an Arenaplex release, will open in select markets nationwide on November 7, 2003. Warner Home Video will release the DVD version of "The Billabong Odyssey" in 2004.

Details about the Billabong Odyssey film and project can be accessed through the official website at www.BillabongOdyssey.com. Visitors to the site can view the movie trailer and learn about the various expeditions and personalities that are featured in the motion picture.

An Arenaplex release of an Arenaplex presentation in association with Estudios Mega. "Billabong Odyssey". Music Composed by Dorian Cheah. Music Supervisor: Niki Gascon. Editors: Todd Busch, Andrew Marcus, Lars Woodruff. Co-Producers: Will Taylor, Jay Van Hoy. Associate Producers: Rosaldo Cavalcanti, Jorge Guimaraes. Executive Producers: Ivan Cheah, Alvaro Otero. Produced by Vincent Leone. Directed by Philip Boston.