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Searching for Montauk is about an extraordinary day of surfing for an ordinary guy. We follow Jake Burghart from the snowy streets of Manhattan out to the empty winter beaches of Long Island. You don't need a plane ticket to go somewhere new, just a desire for something different and the motivation to get you there. This film takes a completely different look at surfing, one where good old-fashioned exploration trumps today's hyperbolic extreme, and defeat is as much a part of the path as is success. This is a story about a guy not only searching for a wave, but for the lost art of backyard adventure.
Jake Burghart started surfing when he was seven years old, by ten it had consumed his life, and by 18 he was over it. Around the same time, Meredith Danluck was already living in New York City, making art, and showing internationally. Jake left the beach for film school, then moved inland to join a punk band. It was here that Jake hooked up with Against Me! and was dragged back into the world of filmmaking via five weeks on the road. The result was We're Never Going Home, a very honest look at the band in their transitional period from indie to major. Meanwhile, Meredith was DJing multiple songs at the same time at parties that went until the wee hours of morning, traveling around the world showing big sculptures, and making music videos for obscure German electro-noise bands. Jake re-fell in love with surfing then moved to New York where he hooked up with Vice, and cut The Vice Guide to Travel. Meredith made a movie called Michael Jackson, Jesus Christ...Coca-Cola that made a lot of people, including Michael, really uncomfortable, and subsequently garnered her a cult-like following in Japan. The two finally collided when Jake told Meredith several lies over even more cocktails, convincing her to bring him on as DP for her Garbage Island shoot. After a month sailing across the Pacific they landed in Hawaii and hit the ground running. Meredith immediately learned to surf on the North Shore, and has since had the most accelerated surfing career ever. They renovated a van to be their East Coast beach house, and when not on the road they spend the rest of their time between New York City and Venice, California. Garbage Island is still receiving awesome accolades, the recently completed Red Bull Rider's Cup is ruffling the feathers of the competitive high-school surf scene, and currently the two are chest deep in a documentary centered on the Professional Bull Riding Circuit. Somewhere in the middle of all these projects, they took Valentine's Day off to make a little movie about being alive and feeling excited, called Searching for Montauk.