Like a majestic fireworks show, the Santa Cruz Film Festival will be closing next Saturday with its own glowing grand finale. And the premiere of the much anticipated surf documentary “Ruffo” — centered on the life and times of once professional surfing icon Anthony Ruffo of Santa Cruz — may leave behind a similar amount of scorched ground.
The film not only shines a powerful beam on Ruffo, whose struggles with methamphetamine addiction have been well documented, but it will also shed light on the darker side of the surf culture here in Santa Cruz and within the surf industry as a whole. This week, I had a chance to sit down with the film's director, Rocky Romano, and preview some of the 100-plus hours of footage in an uncut version of his documentary.
