female surfers of Iran

The Iranian scenery serves as the surprising backdrop for a new surfing film, which is being shown for the first time in London next month When it comes to filming locations for a documentary about surfing, Hawaii and Australia immediately spring to mind. Or Cornwall, if you're strapped for cash Iran does not. But the Middle Eastern country serves as the surprising backdrop for a new surfing film - 

Into the Sea - which will shown for the first time at East London's Genesis cinema next month. It stars Easkey Britton, the five-time Irish surfing champion and - according to the film's producers - the first woman to surf in the country. The 52-minute French film, directed by Marion Poizeau, recalls that first journey to the country, made several years ago, and follows Britton's recent return to Iran, where she aimed to introduce surfing to female residents.

Iran: not the most obvious surf destination "When we heard about Iran, I realized how little I knew about the place or the people, and most of what I did was shaped by preconceptions fed to me by what we hear in the media, which is overwhelmingly negative," explained Easkey Britton, writing for Ocean Girl Magazine earlier this month. "Family, friends, strangers and even sponsors [had doubts] that we could succeed, that we would even survive. 

"The idea to go back last year did not come from us, but from ... pioneering sportswomen from Iran who were excited by the possibility of learning to surf in their own country. That seemed like a story worth telling: the first surfers in Iran, who are women; a surf history that is being shaped by women! And not just in Iran, but in the remotest corner of the country, in Baluchistan, considered by some to be one of the most dangerous corners of the world. "

The world premiere of Into the Sea will take at the London Surf  Film Festival on October 9, 2014 (9.15pm), at the Genesis cinema in East London. Tickets can be ordered at London's best cinemas and filming locations. 

London's best cinemas - including options for indie screenings and blockbusters - and the city's most memorable filming locations Twenty destinations for 2014: Iran As it was known for beheadings a so called  part of the so-called "axis of evil", Iran may open up its considerable glories to Western visitors this year www.londonsurffilmfestival.com/into-the-sea.