At just five years old, Australian Matt Formston was was diagnosed with Macular Dystrophy, a rare eye condition that left him with only 3 percent of his vision.
Rather than let that limit him, Formston dedicated himself to proving that anything is possible. After winning four para surfing world titles, Formston had an even bigger goal — both figuratively and literally: Riding a 50-foot wave at Nazaré.
“As a blind person it’s easier to surf bigger waves,” Formston says in the trailer for The Blind Sea, the film documenting his journey, and premiering on August 15. “People would always say to me: ‘you can’t do that because you’re disabled.’ As time went on I realized I tried all those things and I could do them. So then every time someone said to me ‘you can’t do that’ I’d do it, so my life experience was people will tell you you can’t do something, but if you try you can.”
After years of preparation, and with the help and support of Dylan Longbottom, Lucas Chianca, Joel Parkinson, Layne Beachley and more, Formston found himself behind the ski on a massive day at Nazaré, whipping in on a 50-foot wave that set a new Guinness World Record for the largest wave surfed by a vision-impaired male.
“Written, directed, and edited by award-winning filmmaker, Daniel Fenech, The Blind Sea combines intimate portrait with epic action to produce a film that has to be heard every bit as much as seen,” says the presser. “On his decision to take on Nazaré and the film, Matt Formston says: “To the people who have a disability, I want to show them some of the processes I use to find a way through life’s obstacles. And to the people who don’t have a disability, I want to show them that having a disability doesn’t mean accepting a lifetime of limitations. If I’ve been able to do the things I have with a disability, then maybe we’re all capable of more than other people would like us to believe.”
Related: Watch: Blind Surfer Matt Formston Gets Towed into Nazare