By Mark Whiteley. Photos Brian Derballa

Every skater kid dreams about getting sponsored, getting free stuff, traveling, making video parts, and living that life. Most kids never get that far and have to figure out something else to do for a job, and even for some who do get that far, when they get there they discover it’s not really for them. Then what? It’s a tough question. Alex Klein found himself in that position after living a nice sponsored skater’s life for years, and he found an answer on the other side of the video camera as a director of documentary films. His first one, called God Went Surfing With The Devil, is just about to come out. Check out what he has to say about his transition from sponsored skater to filmmaker, what the documentary is all about, and how skateboarding prepared him for other parts of life.

God Went Surfing trailer

Give a little skate-related history of yourself for those who might be unacquainted.

I grew up in San Francisco. I first got sponsored by Western Edition and FTC, and then later rode for City skateboards. Now I live in Los Angeles.

You had legit sponsors, skated with the cool dudes, were getting coverage in the mags and putting out video parts—for most skaters, you were living the dream. What made you give that up?

Getting to skate and travel and film was really fun for a lot of years. I met a lot of good people that way and got to see some interesting parts of the world. Then at some point, maybe around 24 or something, I just started to become more interested in writing and filmmaking, and began pursuing that more and riding my skateboard less.

How did you first get interested in making films? You graduated from UC Berkeley as an English major and had plenty of published writing under your belt in skate world, so why change formats?

That’s a good question. I definitely wasn’t one of those film buff kids growing up. I really only got interested in movies in the last few years or so. I think I’m really interested in storytelling in general, and film is such a layered form of storytelling, since it combines dialogue and plot and visuals and music all together on a gigantic screen. There’s a tremendous richness to the cinematic experience, and I’m attracted to that.

As an American skater, what drew you to undertake a documentary that revolves around surfing in the Middle East?

I went to Israel in 2004 with Cairo Foster, Kenny Reed, Jerry Hsu, and Brian Uyeda. Kenny and I stayed with this guy Arthur Rashkovan in Tel Aviv. I got to be good friends with Arthur, and we kept in touch over the years, and in late 2007 he told me about this group “Surfing 4 Peace” that he was involved with, that was sending surfboards into Gaza. It seemed like an important story, as well as a completely ridiculous one. That kind of snowballed into the documentary about how surfers deal with the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Talk about the experience of actually being in Gaza, Israel, and Palestine while making this documentary. What was day-to-day life like?

In Israel our day-to-day was pretty relaxed. We’d wake up late, eat some pita and hummus, meet up with the surfers, and do some interviews or travel with them during their regular-life days. We went to the beach a lot. It was pretty easygoing. The South of Israel was more intense, since the towns we were in often came under rocket attack from Palestinian militants. People were more on edge there; you could hear mortar shells exploding in the distance, hear Apache helicopters firing machine guns. Gaza was even more intense. The entire country is dangerous and fighting is constantly breaking out, both against the Israelis as well as between the rival Palestinian clans. Lots of Hamas gunmen everywhere, sniper posts, martyr posters, jihadi murals. Constant reminders of death and aggression.

Did you feel you were in danger?

In the South of Israel it feels slightly dangerous, but there are lots of bomb shelters everywhere, and you just try to run to those when the alarms go off. In Gaza, there’s more danger. We got in trouble with the authorities there because they thought we were spying. It was our last day in Gaza, and right before we were going to leave, we got arrested by several Hamas guys and taken to jail. But probably the most dangerous thing occurred later that day, after we’d been released from jail. We were crossing back into Israel, and we weren’t sure of the procedure. We didn’t realize you needed to phone ahead before crossing this “no-man’s land.” We started walking across it, then stopped and turned back because something felt wrong. We found these German aid workers and asked them what to do, and they showed us this little booth that we needed to go to, to call ahead. If we hadn’t turned back, we most likely would have been shot. That’s what happened to the director of the HBO documentary “Death in Gaza.” He was accidentally killed—on camera—by Israeli soldiers. It was really tragic, and yet that kind of stuff happens with regularity in Gaza. Everyone shoots first, and then shoots some more, and then maybe calls in an airstrike for good measure. There’s little to no question asking at any point in that process.

How were the surfers and other people you interacted with?

Everyone was amazingly friendly and helpful. The Palestinians we met were all highly educated—like, they had Master’s degrees and PHDs—and very generous. The surfers especially just want to surf and travel and meet new people. The attitude is the same as skaters, they’re like one big brotherhood, with no interest in violence.

When will the film be done and where will it be released? How can people see it?

We’re finishing up post-production now, and hopefully we’ll get it into some film festivals later this year. We have a website that we’ll post more updates on: Godwentsurfing.com

How do you think that life as a skater has assisted or effected what you do in your life outside of skateboarding?

helped me out in so many ways. For starters, the three guys I made the film with are all friends I met through skateboarding. Beyond that, skating teaches you so much about filming and editing and music, just from watching so many videos. Most skaters know a lot more about this stuff than they probably realize, which is useful if they ever want to pursue a career in media at some point. More importantly than all that is the amount of perseverance skating gives you. Skating is so hard, it requires you to fail so many times before you succeed, and that’s such a valuable lesson that most people never get. Most people in this world give up really easily on things, but you can’t do that if you skate. I honestly believe that if you can learn to kickflip, you can learn pretty much anything.