[films] Chile to California: Surfing the Dream Wave // SF

Chile to California: Surfing the Dream Wave

Cine Chileno in San Francisco presents: Viejo Perro and El Diario de “El Gringo.”

Cine Chileno in San Francisco presents the documentaries Viejo Perro and its spin-off El Diario de “El Gringo,” screening together for the first time.

Special Guests in Attendance:

Filmmaker Rodrigo Farías Moreno

Cecilia Tello, sister of legendary Chilean surf pioneer Lucho Tello

Consul General of Chile in San Francisco, Patricio Cabezas Logan.

Two documentaries that explore the roots of Chilean surf:

Viejo Perro — the rise of surfing in Chile.

El Diario de “El Gringo” — the story of how three California surfers, Gary Schuberg, Pat Dennis, and Jim Crane discovered the world-famous wave “El Gringo” in Arica, Chile, in 1977.

These events are part of a California tour connecting Chilean surf culture to an American audience.

PROGRAM:

2:00 | Doors open

2:30 | Welcome & introduction

2:45 | —​Film: Viejo Perro

3:25 | Intermission

4:00 | —​Film: El Diario de “El Gringo”

4:45 | Q&A with ​filmmaker Rodrigo Farías Moreno and Cecilia Tello

5:30 | Closing remarks & mixer at Chile Lindo (next door)

Producer: Paula Tejeda

Founder, Chile Lindo—San Francisco Legacy Business l 2025.

Viejo Perro

Following is the translation of a newspaper clipping of Cecilia Tello and a friend trying out the first surfboards in Chile, at a time when the sport was still virtually unknown in Chile.

“At Playa Larga, between Quintero and Las Ventanas, these two young women, along with many others, practice “surfing” every Sunday—an adventurous water sport that consists of gliding over the waves on “fiber boards,” like the ones shown here. One doesn’t always make it back to shore in perfect shape, but it is precisely the risk that gives surfing its appeal. Both young women pose here with a smile alongside their hawayanas boards.”

El Diario de “El Gringo”

The story of how three California surfers, Gary Schuberg, Pat Dennis, and Jim Crane discovered the world-famous wave “El Gringo” in Arica, Chile, in 1977.

(Left to right) Jim Crane, Gary Schuberg, and Pat Dennis — the ‘Gringos’ after whom the renowned wave is named.