We Are Royale Provides Opening Titles for Black Surfing Doc ‘Wade in the Water'

Creative production company We Are Royale (WAR) has created the opening titles for the documentary feature Wade in the Water: A Journey Into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture. Directed, written, and produced by David Mesfin, Wade in the Water made its US premiere to a sold out audience at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 12th. 

Piloted by historical experts and community leaders in the BIPOC surfing movement, the documentary reclaims the 1,000-year-old tradition of Black surfing. Braiding historical accounts with modern-day testimonials, the film dismantles the racial barriers of conventional surf culture, delves into the overlooked history of Black surfing’s legacy, and honors its current movement – inspiring the next generation of Black surfers.

Inspired by the water deity Mami Wata in African mythology, the lush animated sequence tells a story of ancestral reconnection through surfing. A spiritual awakening emerges from WAR’s painterly vignettes, which combine elements of African folk art and a touch of Basquiat. 

The sequence is rich with water metaphors derived from the African diaspora. The Negro spiritual title of the film was a key entry point for establishing the metaphorical framework. Canonized in the Songs of the Underground Railroad, Wade in the Water took on a secret meaning as Harriet Tubman instructed enslaved African Americans on the run to hide in the water so as to mask their scent from the dogs tracking them. The title sequence, however, reclaims water as a symbol of redemption and empowerment, as Mami Wata calls on the surfer to return to the ocean. 

“We were drawn to the spiritual aspect of David’s film and the relationship between surfing and Black identity,” remarks WAR creative director Norn Jordan. “So, this idea of baptism by water emerged. At the start, visually, everything on the surface of water feels light and uncomplicated; but when the surfer duck-dives under the wave, the ocean materializes into a darker, more complex world. We used imagery of serpents and shackles breaking apart to visually hint at the baptism that comes through Mami Wata’s reveal.” 

“When you duck-dive, there’s a brief moment when you almost lose consciousness and become one with something bigger than yourself,” adds Mesfin, “and that feeling really speaks to the larger theme of Wade in the Water – being Black and reconnecting with your past and your identity through the ocean. WAR’s title sequence brilliantly encapsulates this idea with an Afro-centric visual narrative that celebrates surfing as a source of empowerment and healing. It’s a powerful piece of art in and of itself.” 

WAR used archival surfing footage to authentically capture the surfing moves in the animations. The team also looked at art and stories from the same source material Mesfin used for the film, which included books like AFROSURF by Mami Wata Surf Brand (South Africa), Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson, and Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era by Alison Rose Jefferson. The iconography of Mami Wata and the serpents emerged from these books, as well as allusions to Sankofa, a West African bird symbol, whose name literally translates to, “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.”

“The symbolism of the Sankofa was a big part of the documentary’s message; this idea of looking to your past to move forward,” concludes Mesfin. “We chose to use it more subtly, incorporating it into the Mami Wata character at the end when she blows a kiss to the surfer, freeing him from the weight of the water and back to the ocean’s surface.”