Local surfer/artist/bartender Kate Barattini is on a roll
Things are really happening for local surfer/artist/Drop-In Deli bartender Kate Barattini. She recently won the longboarding division of the Wahine Surf Contest for the second year in a row. She held her first-ever art show last year, entitled “Animal shred”, a series of surfing animorphs, and plans to add more to the project sometime soon. On top of that, just a couple of weeks ago, she premiered her first film, “Ear to Ear” to a packed crowd on the sand in front of the Tides hotel. Focused on the female surfers of Folly Beach, the movie was simultaneously exciting, goofy, and inspirational, much like Barattini herself.
Always humble, she gives most of the credit for the film to those that helped and participated. I recently sat down with Kate in hopes that some of her boundless energy would rub off on me.
Folly Current: How did you first find your way to Folly Beach?
Kate Barattini: I was born in New Orleans, but my Dad worked for Winn Dixie and that moved us all over the southeast. We moved to Clover, SC when I was 9 and I spent the rest of my childhood there. After high school, I moved here to attend the College of Charleston with the hopes of studying to be a park ranger and becoming the Best Whitewater Kayaker of All Time. I continued to travel up to the mountains when I could to kayak, and tried it in the ocean here but just wasn’t as in to it, so I decided I better learn how to surf. I took a lesson from Jenny Brown (of Shaka Surf School), and ended up moving to Folly because I knew it would make me a better surfer. From that point on I was like “School is cool, but surfing is the most important thing.”
FC: What is your favorite thing about Folly?
KB: The fact that goodness is perpetuated here. People are consistently helping one another; there is always a benefit or a fundraiser or something going on to help each other. Even if you are a crappy person, if you show up on this island it will make you a better human because you feel the goodness and just want to be a part of it. Once you’re in it, it becomes a part of you. All I can say is the Aloha Spirit is definitely alive here.
FC: What inspired you to make the film, and where can everyone see it?
KB: I’m kind of a goofball, and sometimes I hear songs that put pictures in my head. I kept hearing these songs that I thought would be great in a surf movie. I was telling my friend Perng about it, and she suggested I just make it happen! Living in a community full of people doing creative stuff, it gives you the confidence to say, “Hey, I can do this!” I wanted to do an all-ladies surf film, because our women shred, and they’re so fun to watch. Making this film really impressed upon me the importance of sisterhood, and I think we all want to continue getting together to surf and be together like that regularly. The next showing for the film will be October 14th and 15th at the Brickhouse Kitchen for the Carolina Surf Film Festival, and after that it will be available online through vimeo for free!
FC: The next film you make is about what you witness nightly as a bartender on Folly Beach. What’s the name of the film?
KB: Haha, how about “Smiling Faces in Stinky Places!”
FC: What is one thing your neighbors would be surprised to learn about you?
KB: When I was in third grade, I had just started playing piano and was a huge fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. I wrote a letter to God in lime-green marker, asking him to make me more like Elton John.
