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Out of Place is an insider’s perspective of the small underground community of surfers in Cleveland, Ohio. Theirs is a life of shared dedication for the water and to waves that rarely come. In the backdrop is a Great Lakes city trying to recover from a legacy of lost industry, lost jobs and a river pol-luted enough to catch fire. Still they persist despite harsh weather and gray skies. For them, the golden era of surfing is right now. And it’s happening on Lake Erie, five hundred miles from the nearest ocean.

Out of Place recently premiered at the New York Surf Film Festival, Tribeca Cinemas. There it won the Audience Award for Best Feature presented by Jet Blue and the Dominican Republic, chosen over several other films with much larger budgets and waves. The film, shot digitally, has been a nine year project of Co-Directors Scott Ditzenberger and Darrin McDonald, Writer Tom Heinrich, Editor/Producer Kurt Vincent and Marketing Manager Chris McIntosh.

Despite the lack of the postcard perfect weather and waves that make the surfing image a billion dollar industry, there exists a kind of welcoming, throwback culture in Cleveland. “The common bond is the passion for life on the water,” says surfer Vince Labbe. “In many ways, it’s a lot like how California was in the 1940’s and 50’s where everyone knew each other, and you were just glad to see cars pull up to the beach with boards on the roof.”