Beyond Litmus

By Andrew Kidman & Jon Frank

“When Jon Frank and I began working on Beyond Litmus,” Andrew Kidman says about this film and book project, a 2018 follow-up to his watershed film, Litmus, “it had been 25 years since we’d finished the original. Remaining friends, we’d gone our separate ways. The same could be said for the characters that appeared in Litmus. Jon and I remained committed to our love of surfing, documenting what interested us. Derek Hynd drifted in and out of our lives. He was the constant. He took his fins off and in 2017 was diagnosed with cancer. I called Jon and said, ‘I think it’s worth having a look at what’s transpired in the last 25 years.’ I said, ‘I think we need to interview Derek in case we lose him.’

“I went around to Derek’s place and had a discussion with him about the possibilities of making another film. He wanted to sit down and do the interviews, suggesting we call the project Beyond Litmus. The first interview we conducted with Derek was post chemo. A succession of interviews followed, these interviews became the narrative for Beyond Litmus, directing the course of the film and what follows in this book.”

The book features interviews with Hynd, Justin Bullock, Dale Egan, Ryan Burch, Terry Fitzgerald, Tom Curren, and Jon Frank.

Click here to watch the Beyond Litmus trailer