A grommet, in surf lexicon, stands for a surfing newbie, usually a younger person. The Granny Grommets, however, are claiming the term for themselves, ignoring the looming threats of sharks and concerns of their worried offspring to embrace the waves, with bodyboards in tow. The group, based in the coastal town of Albany in Western Australia, was formed in 1999 by Sports Consultant Kim Butterfield and professional surf Instructor Tony Harrison, and has been growing from strength to strength ever since...to date there are nearly 90 members taking to the waves every Friday morning, come rain or shine!

United by their love of the ocean, the group serves as much more than simply a weekly exercise class, for some it’s an escape from caring responsibilities and others a place to feel a sense of identity. The film ultimately reflects on the healing and transformative power community and the ocean can provide for us later in life.

There exists minimal representation of what being an older woman actually looks like and so I wanted to profile older sportswomen who, whilst not winning medals, are in fact doing much more by deviating from what is expected of them - especially within the male dominated culture of surf.

I first came across the Granny Grommets through an online article and after months of trying to get in touch with them (they have no social media presence) I got to know the co-founder Kim and coordinator, Sandra. Through our long Zoom chats, I became aware of how hesitant the group were around publicity and media.They had only recently lifted a 7 year media ban due to the media storm a few years ago that led to infantilizing misrepresentation. To avoid playing into this and leave the film feeling extractive, especially as I was coming from such a different perspective, I brought Granny Grommets members - Kim Buttfield and Sandra Shakespeare - on board to help co-produce the film, recommending who I should interview and what themes they wanted the film to bring out. Sandra’s weekly emails to the group also helped involve the 90 other members, who fed into title recommendations, crewing (our production assistant is one of their nephews) and even musical compositions - the soundtrack features one of the grannies ukulele songs.

This film was made possible thanks to Finisterre ‘s International Women’s Day Film Grant 2023, that awarded 5K to a female filmmaker to make a film about women in surf.

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