Sancho Rodriguez

About This Project

Sancho Rodriguez was born in Irun, a border town in Spanish Basque Country, just a few kilometers from France. It was the beautiful Basque coast that inspired Sancho’s lifestyle. Thanks to his brother, Telmo, he caught his first wave at nine years old. At 14, he met his friends Paco, Peta, and Poti, as well as his older uncles, Jos, Kaka’s, and Iñigo, who would lead this group of young surfers to adventure in their Renault 5. Step by step, they discovered the best Basque waves: Hendaye, Guéthary, Lafitenia and Mundaka. Then, through cinematographic influences like “Endless Summer”, which he saw thanks to his friend Roger Mansfield in Cornwall, and the inspiration of Andrew Kidman’s “Litmus”, his future lifestyle began to take form.

Sancho Rodriquez has been organizing the San Sebastian Surfilm Festival since 2003. It is the biggest surf-culture event in Europe and the world’s oldest surf film festival. It takes place in the beautiful city of Donostia – San Sebastian. Apart from the lineup of surfing films, the event hosts expositions, sustainability actions, and concerts. The charisma of the Surfilm Festibal and the quality of its lineup have turned it into a world-class event and a real meeting point for the surfing world.