The Art of Living Well: Five Summer Stories

Five Summer Stories is a 1972 surf film by Jim Freeman and Greg MacGillivray of MacGillivray Freeman Films.
The last film of the genre by the duo, it explores the joy of surfing amid the backdrop of 1970s political and environmental problems.
Heralded as the finest surf movie ever made, Five Summer Stories is a cultural icon, a time capsule from a watershed era when the world was at a critical crossroads and its reflection was clear in the emerging sport/art of surfing.
It’s been called the finest surf movie ever made. The film’s unusual format—a montage of vignettes or stories—perfectly captured a fractured era in which an explosion of creativity and revolutionary change was shaking down the old order, taking the sport of surfing into new and unknown territory.

Although Five Summer Stories went through several (and increasingly popular) incarnations, the fundamental story remained the story of 1972: that the pure, innocent joy of surfing was symbolic of man’s best possibilities on an Earth without war or politics or environmental destruction.

"Five Summer Stories is an experience more than it is any particular story, or message. It reflects a tumultuous era—and distills those complex times into the simple relationship of man and ocean." - Greg MacGillivray

The Art of Living Well series features inspiring films, speakers, and interactive discussions exploring ways of cultivating serenity, meaning, and a deeper connection to one’s self and the world.

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