The waves weren’t that big that April afternoon in 2013 — maybe 8 feet. But Chad Campbell remembers how fun they were: lively, capricious, rolling in continuous sets under clear skies a mile off a remote island in Fiji.

“I was with three friends; one of them was celebrating his birthday,” recalled the longtime Kona resident. “We anchored our boat and surfed for three hours. At sunset the whole scene turned a pale bronze yellow. We surfed until it got dark, then we toasted the birthday boy with beers on the boat. Surfing moments like that are really special.”

Thanks to the Kona Surf Film Festival, an annual Big Island event that Campbell founded with the help of friends and family, landlubbers can experience the exhilaration of surfing even if they’ve never ridden a wave and think a leash is for a dog, a barrel is where wine is aged and carve is what’s done to prime rib and turkey.

Campbell, a surfing instructor and film/video editor, caught his first wave at age 6. He counts himself lucky to have surfed in exotic locales around the globe, from Sri Lanka and Indonesia to Chile and Norway.

“It sounds cliche but surfing is a lifestyle,” Campbell said. “Putting surfing ahead of other things can be problematic, but it’s a great way to live; it’s a very free way to be.”

When he wasn’t in the water, Campbell relived the thrills by watching surf movies as often as he could. He thought about making one, and in 2000, partnered with fellow surfing enthusiast Anders Carlson, he finally did.

Running 67 minutes, “The 5th Symphony Document” features 18 top wave riders, including world champion Kelly Slater and Kona native Shane Dorian. Filmed in Hawaii, California, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, it wound up winning Surfer magazine’s Movie of the Year award in 2001.

“We wanted to screen it at home in Kona, so we teamed up with the Aloha Theatre in Kealakekua for the world premiere in June 2001,” Campbell said. “It was a big success, and after that I thought, I love surf movies, and I know how to put on a screening — why not start a filmfest? The Kona Surf Film Festival has been going on ever since.”

Because of the event’s solid reputation, Campbell receives some unsolicited films each year. In addition, he and his committee keep an eye out for other possible inclusions; when they come across a movie that looks promising, they contact the filmmakers and preview it. They aim for a good variety, and their final selections reflect that.

About 200 people attended the inaugural Kona Surf Film Festival in 2003. This year Campbell is expecting a crowd of a thousand to watch 16 movies originating in countries as far away as India, Japan and Portugal. In the lineup are comedies, documentaries and action films ranging from two to 60 minutes in length.

“View From a Blue Moon” is the first surf film shot entirely in state-of-the-art 4K resolution. It follows John John Florence, who hails from Haleiwa and is currently ranked 14th in the world, from his “backyard” on Oahu’s North Shore to renowned surfing spots in Tahiti, Africa, Brazil and Australia.

Jeremy Joyce and Rob Lockyear, two childhood friends from England, spent 10 days in Iceland shooting footage for “Freezing.” It’s a humorous account of their surfing adventure there in snow, hail and subzero temperatures.

In “Fortune Wild” a small group explores Haida Gwaii, a chain of islands off the coast of British Columbia. On their expedition they surf, camp, forage for food and meet residents who remind them about the importance of treating nature with reverence and protecting beautiful wild places.

Campbell is pleased that the Kona Surf Film Festival has become a forum for participants to share ideas about environmental issues and to kokua (help) worthy causes. When Altres became its title sponsor five years ago, it was able to increase its community support.

Proceeds from raffle ticket sales for surfboards, skateboards and other products have assisted various nonprofit organizations; this year’s beneficiaries are the Hawaii Wildlife Fund (wildhawaii.org) and Innovations Public Charter School (ipcs.info).

“As big as the festival has become, it’s still a grass-roots, family-friendly, down-to-earth event,” Campbell said. “It’s a great chance for visitors and kamaaina to enjoy a slice of authentic, modern-day Hawaii and to celebrate surfing, which was born in Hawaii, and that is really cool.”

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.