Surfing to Cope

Professional surfer, Brianna Cope, looks like a girl who has it all...but there is one aspect of her life that she doesn’t share. Brianna was born with a birth defect, a deformed hand that she has kept hidden until now. Throughout her childhood, Brianna endured bullying and struggled with her self-image. There was only one place where she felt confident – in the ocean. Surfing became Brianna’s method for coping with her insecurities and feelings of otherness. This film follows Brianna as she embarks on two journeys: her public attempt to qualify for the Women’s World Championship Tour and her private struggle to accept her whole self and speak, for the first time, about a subject that is very personal to her. (Hawaii International Film Festival)