Haagua, an Indigenous Surf Film
Haagua Official Movie Trailer. An Indigenous Surf Film Produced by Native Like Water, Directed by Octavio Coutiño Aceves and Marc Antony Chavez. Touring WINTER 2025 at major film festivals worldwide. An Indigenous surf film that celebrates the timeless bond between humanity and the ocean. “Haagua” follows a group of Native American surfers as they revive ancestral traditions, blending cultural resilience with the cultural art of surfing to honor the past and inspire the future. .
2025 Haagua Film Festival World Tour
It has been a very active year as Haagua makes its way over the globe. From Winning the Award for Best Photography at Paris International Film Festival to the Indigenous Social, Political, Cultural Impact Award at the Latino and Native American Film Festival,
Haagua Official Movie poster
The story of Haagua has allowed NLW to illustrate our culture widely. Gaining 1st Place at the Mexico Surf Film Festival and Winner of the Oceanic Global Film Festival, Haagua is currently playing from Greece to the Yukon. See the building list of Festival Laurels below, as we recognize the communities that share our story. Please contact us for private screening in your community as Haagua begins its community impact tour.
“Haagua” explores the profound bond personified by Great Great Grandmother Ocean played by Jacinda Townsend (Cahuilla) and her unborn son, played by Shuuluk Leo-Retz (Kumeyaay). Through voices from the past and prayers for the future, the film traces the enduring memory of survival that connects generations. Surfing emerges not merely as a sport but as a rediscovery of cultural practices and a revival of an original way of life. This cultural regeneration comes to life through the journeys of featured Indigenous surfers, including Andy Nieblas (Acjachemen), David Flores Ramos (Coastal Sierra Nahua), Kaliko Kahoonei (Hawaiian), Shuuluk Leo-Retz (Kumeyaay), Amon B. Chavez (Nahua-Carib), Reg Macarro (Payomkawichum-Ojibwe), Liam Walsh (Payomkawichum) and Marc Chavez (Nahua-Xicano). Together, they embody a modern resurgence of ancestral wisdom, blending tradition with the rhythm of the waves in a story of resilience, identity, and connection.
