Dayla Soul is a filmmaker from Hanalei, Kauai. She has surfed all of her life. Today she lives in Pacifica, California, with her wife, and their daughter.

Dayla lives to surf and to make a difference in community.  “It’s not just about the waves,” Dayla says about her vision as a director.  It’s about what women dream for themselves, and taking dreams seriously.

Dayla is best known for her debut documentary film – It Ain’t Pretty (2016) – about the women who surf big waves at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. The film is turning out to be a major presence in surf culture — so far it’s won 5 audience choice awards and has done a world tour in festivals in Portugal, France, Poland, New Zealand, Canada, and throughout the US. Find it on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, Youtube and Comcast cable.

In addition to speaking at many film screenings, Dayla is giving talks in venues like Surfrider Foundation and Save the Whales about topics such as surfeminism, women in sports, ocean preservation, and issues of access to surf culture and beach spaces.  Her photography and film segments have been featured on Outside TV, Comcast GameON, CBS, ABC, Mode TV, and often in San Francisco papers and radio.

Among other new projects, Dayla is working right now on a pilot program with The San Francisco Ocean Film Festival for high schools in the Bay Area.

As a Steering Committee member, Dayla brings a lived sense of community — it’s not rhetoric, Dayla brings people. Somebody is always catching a ride in her truck, coming along to events.  When It Ain’t Pretty premiered to a sold out, SRO audience at the Great Star Theatre, the film didn’t just showcase this community of hard-surfing women. It also is building a big wave feminist surf movement every time the film is screened.  It is making new networks and bonds between surfers, musicians, local supporters, and waterwomen all over the world.  

Official Trailer