Sombrio
60 minutes. Release date: January 2006
Produced and Directed By: Paul Manly
Or you can send a cheque or money order for $30 (includes taxes and shipping) to Box 1093 Stn. A, Nanaimo B.C., V9R 2B2 with a return address and we’ll mail you a DVD.
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SOMBRIO is a an hour long documentary about the eviction of a diverse community of surfers and squatters that existed on the West Coast of Vancouver Island for more than thirty years. It centers on a family with ten children who grew up surfing on the beach and captures them and other residents over a two-year period, revealing their personal stories and convictions as they come to terms with their impending eviction. Sombrio presents a portrait of a vital subculture in BC’s history and challenges our notions of what it means to be a self-determined citizen.
“If I have a right to life I have a right to living space… I wasn’t born with dollars in my pocket. I shouldn’t have to chase the big buck all my life just for a place to live.” Barbara Oke.
“Ghandi said ‘live simply so others may simply live’ that’s a good quote for me… I’m living simple” David
BACKGROUND
Since the 1960’s, Sombrio Beach, a picturesque paradise of rainforest and beach on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, BC, has been home to a unique community of “squatters” living in a funky array of beach shacks. A magnet for surfers, social misfits, those who simply wanted off the modern grid, or to live a simpler life, the Sombrio community was an experiment in cooperation, anarchy and self-sufficiency. This ended in 1997 when the government evicted the squatters after the integration of Sombrio beach into the greater Juan de Fuca provincial park.
“Sombrio Beach” is about a sense of place and brings together the threads of sustainable lifestyle, history and ownership of land, and the stories of creative individuals who dared to live by their passion, skills and ingenuity away from the consumer world. The images of the ocean are stunning and the prowess of virtuoso surfers simply amazing. Carole Roy Ph.D Instructor Canadian Studies Trent University
Through rare and intimate interviews that were obtained through an established trust, combined with beautiful cinematography, Sombrio reveals a candid and poignant look at life, a contemplation and weighing of values, in the globalized postmodern world.
PRODUCER STATEMENT
Sombrio is a project that is very close to my heart. I started camping on the beach over twenty five years ago when it was an hour long hike from a gravel logging road which ran along an isolated stretch of coast. The summer of my first visit was the same year that the Johnson-Oke family was getting established there. As a regular visitor to the beach, I have seen the changes over the years from logging and a closer access road to the influx of visitors and residents. I first got to know Rivermouth Mike, Steve and Barb after spending an unplanned week on the beach in 1992 reflecting on life. Mike set me up with an abandoned cabin and some cooking utensils, he introduced me to many other members of the community. After that, every time I camped on the beach I would camp between Mike and Steve and Barbs places. My daughter would play with Steve and Barbs children the whole time we were there. I always joked that Sombrio was my back up plan if I couldn’t cope with life in the fast lane anymore.
Sombrio is an important story because it was an example of self-sufficient living in the modern age. Most of the people living there had ideological reasons for doing so. They wanted to create a smaller footprint and disengage from the world of excessive consumption. Although it looked like easy street in the summer, living at Sombrio was not always easy and required perseverance and a lot of daily work. I admired Steve and Barb for their convictions and strength, raising ten children on the beach. They lived in a condition of poverty by western standards but compared to living in poverty in a rental unit in the city, they lived very rich lives on the beach. The authorities were aware of the community at Sombrio for many years but ignored it because it was out of the public eye. There were never serious problems with the community but once the government became interested in creating a park, the community was re-branded by the media as a bunch of rowdies and freeloaders. I made ‘Sombrio’ not just because it is an interesting story but because I also wanted to give the people in the community the respect they deserved.
Click Here to see the Trailer:
Sombrio Trailer 3.9 mb
Sombrio Trailer 7.5 mb
44 Comments so far
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What can I do to See this film? The story weighs heavily upon my heart.
When is the DVD coming out? Looking forward to it :)
Sombrio never leaves my being.
I too have made my annual pilgrimages to this spiritual place for soul searching, reflection and contemplation.
Why must we be forced to conform when nature beckons us all in a very primal way?
Please inform us where this documentary is available.
Paul, this docu-film is fantastic! I am so greatful that you were successful in creating a spectacular and entertaining film that, from a technical viewpoint, did not once lag in pace, yet was very moving, with heartwarming, vivacious Folks sharing their Stories, as well as some extremely sad Truths of the important lifestyle and history of the people of Sombrio Beach. Thank you so much!
I.too, would like a dvd of Sombrio.
I used to go there in/89 to /93,till I moved up island, and have many photos. I recently met Mike at a sooke folk night and can he play a mean guitar! Their treatment was shameful.Plese post when the docu can be purchased and where.
I have copies of the festival version of Sombrio on DVD for sale. Send me an email at paul@manlymedia.com and I can arrange to send you one.
cheers
Paul
Dude! Well done.Let me Know How I can Purchase your Movies.I film Motion too.Need help Let me volenteer.Find me on myspace. D
I would like to get in contact.You did a great job and have a deep tallent.Find me at my e-mail or on myspace (LA DONNA PIETRA FILMS.)
i was one of the lucky ones that got to see sombrio…at the garage showroom and i can’t even gather my thoughts! mr. manly did such an incredible job! i would just like to say thank you!
peace and love
I worked on the Juan du Fuca trail when the homesites and campsites were ‘returned’ to nature. I had the good luck of volunteering to be the photographer on the Parks project which was the final push to the extinction of Sombrio as a community. I felt you may be interested in a number of the images showing the last days of an era.
There is supposed to be a show on Sombrio tonight on TV. I can’t find it in the schedule, perhaps on CBC or Outdoor or News. I wrote a note to myself re: July 13 @ 8:00 PM but can’t remember the channel. Can you help me I would really like to see this program Thanks
I just veiwed this program last night July,12,07 on the knowlage network and man it hit close to home. I live in Abbotsford B.C. and I heard about Sombrio and the surf so I had to go and check it out. This was on thanksgiving weekend 2003. I went to the Island solo just me and my board and after driving that far and walking down that path I never knew there ever was a community living down there, I thought this was so awsome I would love to live hear. Now that I seen this doc. I am really unhappey with the goverment thay should have just let them stay. Thay were there four so long rights act or not and thay were on private property . Why could’nt thay build the park around them thay were there first!!! I dont think the public would have cared. I would haved love to live at sombrio. Thanks Troy P.S I want to get a copy of the Sombrio doc.
I just watched the Documentary last week. Are there any updates on some of the people that lived there?
I just viewed your documentay on the Knowledge Network. Wow!!! As others have said, the pull to nature is so strong. I envy the residents of the community. They were able to experience a life on their own terms (albeit too short) The move away must have been heatbreaking. In your attempt to leave less of a foot print on the earth, you have have left one on my life. Thank you.
being a child of parents that lived on beaches up & down the island in the 60’s & 70’s I found this film very close to home. I lived at wreck bay as a baby, & used to visit sombrio. rivermouth is a great guy, & I wish I saw more of him. the government has done this too many times to people that want to live their own way. I think it must have to do with jealousy, why should people live free when I hate my job & have a $500,000 mortgage. people always mess with others when they percieve that those others are getting something that they are not.
Hey i would love to see this video,I lived on sombrio for a few years before me and my boyfriend doug moved off the beach.We lived beside Barb and steve but on the other side of them not in bewteen Mike and Steves.
you lived in Lindas old Cabin i guess.
it was very peaceful there and i surely miss it.
but i have to ask you if you have seen any spirits there ,I did and quite a few.
indians use to go there to heal way back when.
Mike is very cool we use to hang out but then again we knew every one on the beach.
well i hope you had a good time and expierience the peace and solitude and good people.
Steves goats use to break in to my cabin and eat and sleep on my bed once too many times, it cost steve thats for sure.we ended up eating their billy goat.
i now it sounds mean but their billy was mean..
anyways sombrio was one of the most beautiful beaches i have ever lived on.
Then i ened up moving to Bear Beach which i lived there all by my self until my friends invaded my space.
well thats another story.
anyways i left sombrio in 1989
Deneze
What a wonderful piece of work, Paul Manly! Powerful and (naturally) disturbing, but also inspiring to a huge degree. Thank you so much for telling the story of Sombrio!
I had the honer of spending 4 summers down there, and parts of winters. Just the trailer alone brings tears to my eyes… Thank you for covering such an important story. I’ll order your film as soon as I can.
I had the pleasure of spending one of those summers on the Bearch with Mister Ruhr and would also like information on purchasing the film.
I lived on Sombrio Beach for 6 months when I was 16 yrs old, I lived beside the family with the goat and lots of kids. to the right of the cabin was “Bonnie and Clyde” from toronto, they fed me “fuck soup” ( goose necks and barnacles. My neighbor ” Kenny” used to welcome the damn sea lions everymorning at 6 am! I will never forget hearing Oy Oy OyOy from them!!! Best time of my life, and will alwats remember hiking to sombrio!!!!!
As a youth growing up on the Island often dreamed of living off the land. The idea always seems so perfect to me, and made sense. But, I never had the conviction. I admire the people that lived there, and I think this is a great film.
This is such a sad story and a Sad outcome for the families.
I just finished watching the film of your life on Sombrio Beach on the Knowledge Network….I wish I had lived there to share in your pleasure and experience the freedom. It was a very emotionally moving film….so sorry to hear that not all that lived there are alive today. Thank you for sharing your story!!!
what ever happened to david?! he quotes my favorite ghandi quote:)
The film Sombrio makes me realize what slaves we all are to the government bureaucracy. As a Registered Psychiatric Nurse who trained at Riverview Hospital in the sixties, I see how my profession has deteriorated at the hands of the bean-counters in charge. In some hospitals in B. C. RPN’s have been reduced to administering vast amounts of pills, and signing off papers with checkmarks, to cover the backs of the bean-counters. Narrative charting, which is something of an art, has disappeared in some hospital settings, and is in fact VERBOTEN! I never thought I would see this day. The big drug companies have got the doctors, and that means the hospitals, in their pockets. Their wealth and power and influence is beyond belief.
I also just finished watching this for the first time. An incredibly uplifting story until the end, when it became rather sad. I came to live in Canada in 2000 (from the UK) - because Canada seemed more open and friendly and not part of the rat-race. I hoped that the end of the show would be the Government allowing them to stay, as they were doing no harm. Sadly it poroved that my experience was typical - since I have lived here I have found it (the Governement) is just the same as everywhere else. Sad!
I watched your film “Sombrio” last night from my living room in suburbia. I felt like selling everything and changing my entire life. It affected me deeply; I wish it were longer. The ending was especially disturbing - how could one family lose so many children? I wanted to know more about them and how they are coping with such loss. Please make a follow up film - I felt as though I knew these people. I couldn’t help but see the irony of it all - these peaceful families who were bothering no one get evicted, but the downtown east side of Vancouver is crawling with drug addicts and we give them safe injection sights and let them occupy the most expensive area in all of Canada. For free. And they contribute absolutely nothing to anyone. Strange days, indeed.
I saw the film on the Knowledge Network two nights ago. I too felt deeply affected. How could the gov’t make those families move from a place they have lived in Peace for over 30 years. It sickens me…
I learned to surf there in early 90’s. Mike helped me alot and showed me how to repair dings in my board. I also recall Steve and his kids and helping out a fire there with the chain gang on the buckets. I heard trajedy struck his family a few years ago too…..I now live in Australia, NO MORE BIG WETSUITS!
Government Bureaucracy - anything in the name of efficiency. In Nanaimo, there is a serious plan to buy the old Balmoral Hotel, in the seedy south end of town, and turn it into housing and programs for the mentally ill, as well as a drop-in centre for the homeless. This shows just how marginalized the mentally ill are now. Would planners ever consider coupling services for the homeless in a Cancer Centre, or a Surgical Unit? Those patients might speak out about it, whereas the mentally ill probably feel so stigmatized now, that they won’t. Programs for both the homeless and the mentally ill are desperately needed, but this plan shows how mentaly illness is stigmatized like no other health problem is.
Wow! I spent a few years living near that area from 92-95. west coast highway, just south of Jordan river. I visited Sombrio and loved it.
You are an incredibly gifted film maker! I watched it twice in a row.
Totally worth the purchase price! Professional and then some! Quick delivery too! Thank you……….MGH
I recently dug up spme pictures from my time espent on the beach with the Oke family and have posted them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10530773@N08/2827143103/ and have blogged abpout them here: http://theorangekid.blogspot.com/2008/09/sombrio-documentary.html
I met my husband Art at Sombrio at New Years 1996. We spent our ‘courting’ time in his ‘home’ in the parking lot and he moved into the city with me on Mother’s Day. We were married that July and remain happy together.
The first few years we returned frequently to Sombrio but as events unfolded Art lost the heart for going down there. We built a rock cairn for his canine companion - Grunt in July of 1997 and it was always still there each time we returned…. I wonder now what I would see should I return…
Me and my boyfriend watched the documentary on pbs. this summer. at the beginning of it we looked at each other and decided that we were moving there it seemed so peaceful and serene. We wanted to raise our 2 year old daughter there and teach her how to live of mother nature. Our minds were made up we had always dreamed of moving to B.C. from our little hometown in Ontario, Since our vacation to Vancouver and Victoria in 2003. When we found out that the inhabitants of Sombrio were all evacuated and that it was taken over by the government we could help but cry. It seemed so perfect for us. I truly feel for all the families that were forced to leave there homes and play by the governments rules. Specially since there was no harm done they were a peacefull community. Is there anywhere else like Sombrio left???
I don’t know if I can watch the film, but I will order it all the same.
Reminds me too much of our summers at Long Beach, Bamfield, Tofino in the seventies . . . back when we were free and loving Canada, BC and our natural habitats.
Don’t grieve too long, people - defeat the lie. Get rid of this confounded government and its ideology - or we shall all go down.
I recall spending many an early morning learning how to surf at sombrio,
I would love to thank all the beautiful people that helped, those here and those not.
I remember bringing food to share, songs to sing, and stories to tell,
I will always remember taking part in a very special moment
this documentary brought it all back
I cried the day the RCMP showed up…….
my family and I just camped at Mystic Beach and then spent a few days in a cabin at Port Renfrew. We were shown this documentary by the guy that owned the cabin we stayed in. We found it sad and interesting. Being a mother myself, I can’t even fathom the loss of the Oke/Johnson family and especially the Mother. My heart goes out to her. We stopped at the Rec center in Port Renfrew for some directions and saw one of the Oke daughters there. I hope they have been able to find some peace in their lives.
it was just a fluke i came across this site,wow some nice stories,i first went down there with some good buddies in the late 70s and early 80s i actually met steve and barb and i recall 2 of the kids ching and hobo i think i was there off and on for years to come we use to walk down the long trail it took about and hr and half i think it was absolutley amazing a lot of my buddies stayed down there for years,i think again they were knowen as the beven 7,but once again it all a little foggy but for what i do remember i ask god to not let me forget,gods speed to all,,,
Wow, what a tragedy. It even makes me wonder why they would broadcast it on PBS like one person wrote. Such tragedy and crimes against human nature. Are they trying to make people numb? I have only seen the trailers and read storys and seen photos, but would love to watch the whole 60 minute documentary. I will keep an eye out for it…
I came across this movie last night. Powerfully narrated, beautifully filmed and masterfully edited. Amazing piece and the story was not one I knew though I’ve camped on Sombrio and lived in Victoria for 10 years. Thank you.
Saw this film last night, and will recommend to my friends. It really illustrates the human level of decisionmaking, both by individuals and by government. I admit, my original sentiment regarding this story (before seeing this film) was of indifference to the individuals, sort of a “Who cares, they’ll just disperse and the problem will be gone” (which is the root of the problem, of course). I was really struck by the lucid reasoning that the inhabitants had for making the decisions to inhabit that beautiful space. It’s unfortunate that the Canadian government was not able too see their way through to allowing those families to stay despite the creation of the park. It would have enriched the whole experience of visiting the beach. I hope those people have found a worthy lifestyle wherever they ended up. My sympathies to the Oke family.
Excellent documentary. Very thought-provoking. In particular re: aesthetics and oppression implicit in “park” concept. Extraordinary to think of crops and houses burning so that hikers can think they are in wilderness. The truth of human habitation and imbrication in nature is swept out of sight. Trail and city are the same thought; which means that thought is impoverished if they come to be understood as opposites.
When I first started watching the film on K network this week, I thought, perfect! I need this place! If I could just go there for a while, I might be OK. But as I watched, it dawned on me that the past is past and this is all gone. It begs the question now, how are we all to be free? BC has changed so much, especially Vancouver Island. We used to be able to go anywhere and be in the bush or the beach. Now, there are big yellow iron gates everwhere. We live in a giant gated community.
Hi…thanks for this great film…I was shocked to see a picture of myself and Dennis, the man I lived with down on Sombrio when I was 16 in the film …it was a wonderful couple of years… now a Grandmother…go there often in my mind and in body when I can get there :)…Peace
My big brother Glenn (aka, Sasquatch) took me to Sombrio in 1983 or ‘84. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before- we slept in a treefort made by a friend of his named Michael, ate raw oysters and blackberries- I will never forget that magical place. I’ll watch the video in hopes that it is able to show how amazing it really was.