THE MOST FEARLESS is a feature documentary.
Nasima was a seven-year-old Bengali beach-girl when she first saw famed Bangladesh surfer Jafar Alam riding the waves. Immediately, Nasima was hooked –seven years later she would ride the waves as a surfing legend herself, an iconic trailblazer and role model for a new generation of girl surfers.
A brilliantly natural surfer, young Nasima quickly broke through surfing gender-stereotypes and found her freedom, voice, and fearlessness out on the waves. But in Bangladesh, women don’t swim and they certainly don’t surf. And for every young girl looking up to Nasima, twice as many adults considered her a whore – or worse. Now, approaching marriage age, Nasima struggles between her beloved surfing independence and the cultural mores slowly drowning her.
Even as Nasima spreads her surfing-evangelicalism to girls throughout her community, the expectations whirling around her build the perfect storm. Slowly, Nasima tries to accommodate what she can’t change. Against all her own advice, she marries the boy who is attracted to her surfing but who ultimately can’t reconcile his perceived loss of manhood and power with her celebrity and passion.
As conflicts escalate, Nasima clings to her only happiness: being on the water. But under great pressure from both grown up responsibilities and the enormous weight of her Bengali heritage, a looming tidal wave has grown. With the eyes of a new generation of female surfers locked squarely on Nasima, one question remains -- Can the first fearless surfer-girl legend pave the way for a new wave of The Most Fearless?
This project is currently in post production.
Role: Editor
