by Nina Welch

Born in Chicago, Josh Greene moved to San Clemente with his family in 2009 at age nine. As a San Clemente local he has a passion for surfing, and his surf break of choice is Sano. Fittingly, his Bar Mitzvah was held at the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center twelve years ago. 

When he was gifted with a digital-lens-reflect (DSL) camera at his religious initiation ceremony and being one of the few Jewish high school students in San Clemente, a filmmaker with stories to tell was born. “I gravitate towards stories that connect with me on an emotional level, and I especially want to share stories that are being overlooked or under-appreciated by others,” Josh explained. 

As a San Clemente High School student, he helped establish the first video production class taught by John Bisch. After winning its inaugural film festival, he further pursued his life’s work at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, majoring in Film Production with a minor in screenwriting. He also traveled and competed with the USC Surf Team. While there, Josh met Jack Lattin on the first day of school in their freshmen year. Together, they spent their entire undergraduate experience collaborating on dozens of projects. This culminated with ‘Waves Apart,’ which won Best Student Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase. 

The idea for Josh’s documentary short took off when he learned years later that his parents had arranged for the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center to store away the swastika-engraved surf boards that were on display to avoid disturbing the partygoers. With the curiosity of a writer, Josh discovered that the sport’s history is full of Nazi imagery. Well-known Malibu surfers would paint swastikas on their boards in the 1960s which helped coin the phrase “surf nazi.” These rebel surfers were in opposition to other serious surfers who in those days called themselves “surf Nazis” as a way to signal their intense dedication to the sport. 

 

With this information Josh decided to combine his two passions and delve into that dark history. The result is a 25-minute documentary, ‘Waves Apart,’ which chronicles the history of antisemitism in surfing. Completed before his graduation from USC in May 2022, a highlight in the film is Josh’s poignant interaction with surfing legends Shaun Tomson and Israel “Izzy” Paskowitz. 

‘Waves Apart’ had its world premiere at the Oscar®-qualifying Santa Barbara International Film Festival and was also nominated for a Student Academy Award®. 

Following graduation from USC, Josh and Jack Lattin formalized their creative partnership in establishing Landport Productions LLC. Josh oversees all business and creative operations and participates in every step of a project’s production, from ideation and principal photography to delivery and distribution. Along with award-winning films, the company is focused on creating branded content with video projects that have received millions of views online.  According to Josh, they are developing independent narratives and documentaries that they plan to release under the Landport banner. 

The two met at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Their friendship grew over their shared storytelling sensibilities and interests. Both aspiring filmmakers had made films addressing racism and antisemitism within their respective communities. They worked directly together to create a film that confronts both forms of hatred. “I like films that take a stance,” says Josh.

Luke Harris (Black) and Josh Greene (Jewish) co-directed this film with diverse perspectives. The film brings to the screen their distinct backgrounds to challenge stereotypes. In the film, Reverend Amos C. Brown makes a simple yet profound statement. “People hate each other because they fear each other. People fear each other because they don’t know each other.” With Luke and Josh’s common experience portrayed, the film showcases the similarities between racism in America and antisemitism in Europe. A good symbol of unity between the Blacks and Jews represented in this short film is the march from Selma to Montgomery across the Edmund Pettus Bridge led by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the end of the film, Josh and Luke showed their solidarity when they put up signs over the LA overpass freeway. As Josh holds up a sign that says, “Honk if you love Black people,” and Luke’s sign reads “Honk if you love Jewish people,” the sound of endless honking reverberated along the I-105 freeway. 

Josh was always into writing as a kid even before he was immersed in film. He is currently writing a novella in the style of Ernest Hemingway. His documentary filmmaker influences are Bruce Brown of Endless Summer and Michael Moore of Bowling for Columbine fame. Like Moore, Josh is the first-person narrator in his docs. Another of Josh’s influences is Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed Knives Out and Glass Onion. Like Josh, Rian went to San Clemente High School and his first film, Brick, was shot at the school. Josh’s aspirations are to make a San Clemente film about teens hanging out at the beach and call it Grom. “To start off I’ll need location and funding. If Rian Johnson can do it, I can do it too,” Josh exclaimed. 

Along with surfing, filmmaking, and writing, Josh has become a content creator for Peaceful Progressive, an online political platform. According to Josh, the Peaceful Progressive videos on TikTok have received over 25 million views over the past six months.