Chasing Seconds With Jordy Liackman
Chasing Seconds is an independent surf film shot across Australia and Indonesia. From the rugged coastlines of Western Australia to the remote islands of Indo, It's the story of a year spent chasing waves, working long days on the tools, and doing whatever it took to stay close to the ocean and bring this project to life.
There was no production crew. No budget. Just a vision, and the help of friends willing to pick up a camera. The film came together piece by piece: between road trips, shared meals, breakdowns, and those short, perfect windows when everything finally aligned.
But this isn’t just a surf film. It’s about the mission behind it, the risks, the waiting, the dead-flat weeks, and those fleeting seconds that make it all worth it.
Every frame was built from the ground up: edited late at night, shaped by hand, and driven entirely by a love for surfing and storytelling.
If you’ve ever gone all-in on something that mattered, this film is for you.
The Story Behind the film With Jordy Liackman
Chasing Seconds is more than a surf film. It’s a year of my life, stripped back and laid bare. It’s the result of obsession, sacrifice, and chasing a feeling that only lasts seconds, but means everything.
I shot this film completely independently. No budget. No crew. Just me and anyone willing to point a camera my way. iPhones, handycams, drones, whatever I could find. I wasn’t staying in resorts or getting flown to comps, I was sleeping in my car, in a caravan on a WA farm, on mates’ floors. Doing whatever I could to stretch one more week closer to the next swell.
Between 10-hour days on the tools, I chased waves, then stayed up all night editing. This film is me. It’s raw, honest, and built from the ground up. It’s not polished or packaged. It’s the result of chasing waves with whatever gear I had, learning as I go, and pouring everything into something I believe in. I didn’t have a travel fund or a sponsor-backed film budget, just a love for surfing and a stubborn drive to show what it really looks like to go all in.
A couple of years ago, I tried to sail a boat from Sydney to Indo with zero sailing experience, because I believed the risk was worth it. It didn’t work. I got stuck at sea more than once and ended up living on that boat for nearly two years. But even in failure, I found something. I learned that I’ll go further than most to chase what I love.
Eventually, I packed up again and drove 40 hours across the country to WA. I didn’t know anyone, I just knew the waves had what I needed. I rented a $100-a-week caravan on a farm and surfed every single day. That became my base to build Chasing Seconds, living cheap, working just enough to get by and giving everything I had to this film.
What makes this different is simple: this isn’t just another surf movie. It’s the story of the underdog. A film made outside the system, by someone trying to break in. Not for the hype, but because I love surfing too much to do anything else. If this resonates with you, if you believe in backing real stories made from the ground up, then I’d be stoked to have your support. I don’t have a big budget. But I have something that can’t be faked: hunger, heart, and a film that speaks for itself.