Top 10 Best Surf Movies on Netflix | 2025
Subscription-based streaming services are now very much part of our everyday entertainment sources. The wide variety of award-winning TV shows, movies, anime, and documentaries keep us entertained anytime we want to. Not to mention the pretty new and far-between surf movies that you can enjoy. We did some Netflix surfing and found you ten of the best surf movies on Netflix that you can binge-watch. Top 10 Best Surf Movies on Netflix and elsewhere The beauty of the ocean, the excitement of riding the waves, the sport’s humble origins, and surfing’s undeniable attractiveness are what fans who haven’t even stepped on a surfboard love surf movies. As a result, the US entertainment company Netflix has increasingly incorporated more surf movies in its catalogue. Resurface FishPeople Under an Arctic Sky Given Surfwise Surf’s Up Blue Crush Rip Tide Magnetic Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable 1. Resurface Directed by: Joshua Izenberg, Wynn Padula Starring: Bobby Lane, Van Curaza, Martin Pollock Release date: September 1, 2017 Distributed by: Netflix This 26 minutes Netflix-produced documentary managed to pack in so much – the beauty of surfing, the horrors of war, and all the emotions in between. Be sure to have a napkin ready as it takes you on a journey of exploring a unique solution to the growing veteran health crisis. This surf movie on Netflix is a brief but powerful peek at the unadulterated realities many people face as they return home after service. It shows a variety of wounded fighters, but Lane is the through-line. Lane has PTSD and takes loads of pills to get through the day. The film features the beaches of Santa Cruz, California, which is home to the young veterans who, like Lane, suffer the mental, emotional, and physical scars of their combat. Resurface is about how they participate in Operation Surf – a surf therapy program in which veterans are taught to surf and rediscover the sense of joy and hope in life. 2. FishPeople Directed by: Keith Malloy Starring: Matahi Drollet, Kimi Werner Release date: 2017 Distributed by: Patagonia Films Keith Malloy’s Fishpeople is a love letter to the ocean told by snippets of people whose lives have been defined by their connection with the sea. Filmed in golden light locations, including Tahiti, Hawaii, and Australia, the shooting dives above and below the water. Such filmmaking captures shafts of light shooting into the bluest depths, and afternoon sun diffused through packed green walls and thundering of whitewash. Fishpeople is both a heartwarming movie and eye candy. Every character’s riveting and emotional stories were featured best during the sections that focused on their hardships. Despite that, this movie shows the beautiful connection of people to nature, especially nowadays when everything feels like it has turned upside down. 3. Under an Arctic Sky Directed by: Chris Burkard Starring: Chris Burkard, Sam Hammer, Steve Hawk Release date: April 23, 2017 Distributed by: Sweatpants Media The worst storm to hit Iceland in twenty-five years is about to arrive, but six surfers braved to set sail along its frozen shores. Watch this surf movie on Netflix as it tells about how the surfers endured the constant darkness and stormy seas. Their adventure not only had them discover perfect waves but allowed them to make history by surfing under the northern lights. It gave its audience the sense of how Mother Nature is always in charge. While Iceland isn’t necessarily a place you’d think of when you talk about surfing, this movie definitely made it an exciting surfing destination. Anyone will appreciate how the trials and tribulations of the surfers have been documented. 4. Given Directed by: Jess Bianchi Starring: Aamion Goodwin, Daize Goodwin, Given Goodwin Release date: November 12, 2016 Distributed by: APU Productions A humbling and award-winning surf and adventure movie, Given is a visual narration of a six-year-old boy’s visceral experience. The main character, Given, follows legendary surfers Aamion and Daize Goodwin from their island home of Kauai to fifteen different countries. These travels are their quest for surf and fulfillment of a calling handed down through generations. The movie shows wave after wave of stunningly visual sceneries while Given blooms into a tender yet stirring exploration of respect for nature. Given is an inspiring and profoundly moving surf movie on Netflix that offers viewers a humbling contrast of a small voice journeying through a big world as it finds its way home again. 5. Surfwise Directed by: Doug Pray Starring: Juliette Paskowitz, David Paskowitz, Jonathan Paskowitz Release date: May 9, 2008 Distributed by: Consolidated Documentaries, HDNet Films, Mekanism Surfwise is more than just another surf movie on Netflix. This film, directed by Doug Pray, chronicles the fantastic journey of “Doc” Paskowitz, his nine beautiful kids, and his understanding wife, Juliette. It was their life as they lived off the earth while teaching people how to surf. The Paskowitz traveled around the country in a 24’ cramped trailer, with each eating healthy and every kid getting homeschooled. All while surfing every day and staying below the radar from malingering officers. You would think that the dysfunctional upbringing would result in an end game of suicides, failed marriages, or any downers, but no. Watch how, after years after, the nine kids relive their experiences from the camper and how they wouldn’t trade their growing-up years for anything. 6. Surf’s Up Directed by: Ash Brannon and Chris Buck Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, James Woods, Diedrich Bader Release date: June 8, 2007 Distributed by: Columbia Pictures Surf’s Up is a mockumentary of a 17-year old Cody Maverick – a young northern rockhopper penguin who lives in Shiverpool Antarctica with his mother and older brother. Cody yearns to be a professional surfer after meeting the famous surfer Big Z some years ago. In this surf movie, real-life surfers like Kelly Slater and Rob Machado have vignettes as their penguin surfer counterparts. Brannon and Buck did an excellent job parody of surfing documentaries such as the Endless Summer, Riding Giants, … Read more