Seaside Reef sits at the south end of Cardiff State Beach, a left-hand reef break just off Coast Highway 101 in San Diego County. On September 12, the parking lot beside it stops being a parking lot. Fencing goes up, a stage goes in, and the asphalt becomes a beachfront venue a few steps from the water.

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That is the opening move in eight days of surf film, live music, art, and surf contests along the north county coast, all of it running under the name Sessions Surf Festival.

The filmmaker behind it

Taylor Steele was born in San Diego County in the seventies and started filming his friends on these beaches as a teen, selling tapes out of his truck at coastal surf shops. His 1992 VHS film Momentum set a generation of surfers loose on a punk soundtrack, and his production company introduced Blink-182, Pennywise, and Jack Johnson to a surf audience.

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In 2019 he founded Solento, an organic tequila made in Jalisco and named for the idea of slowing down. Two years later he started a film festival under the same name, in Encinitas, to put full-length surf films back in front of an audience sitting in a room together. The first ran in September 2021.

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It has traveled since, to Fort Lauderdale in late 2024 and to Australia's Gold Coast in 2025, which ran again this past May. The name has changed too. What was the Solento Surf Festival now runs as Sessions Surf Festival, though the tequila remains a founding partner.

New in 2026

Two things are new this year, by the festival's own account. The Seaside Reef lot is being built out as a full beachfront venue for the first time, and the art exhibit has stretched from a single opening night into a six-day run.

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Only two things cost money: the opening Saturday music event and the three film nights at La Paloma. Sunday's beach session is free, and so are all six days of the art exhibit.

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The film nights are the heart of the festival. La Paloma Theatre opened on South Coast Highway 101 in 1928 as one of the first houses in the region wired for sound, and the City of Encinitas's own historical evaluation credits it with a second kind of significance: it began showing surf films as surfing took hold locally and became the only theater in the area to specialize in them.

Who is showing up

Music. Osees headline Saturday at Seaside Reef. Unwritten Law play the same day, a band whose music ran on the soundtrack to Focus back in 1994, alongside Bully, Yoke Lore, Mt Warning, Jack Shields and the Mojave Rush, and Emily Afton.

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Surfing. Shelter, which Steele co-directed with Chris Malloy, came out in 2001, which makes Friday's 25 Year Reunion screening exactly what the title says. Its cast comes back with it. Caity Simmers and Stephanie Gilmore lead Saturday's ProCasual, and Tanner Gudauskas, Torrey Meister, Tosh Tudor, and Ryan Huckabee all sit on panels across the three nights.

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Film. Chris Malloy hosts Friday's panel. Macario de Souza, the Australian director behind Bra Boys, brings In Pieces Together. Jack Coleman, Nick Liotta, and Nate Laverty all have films in the run.

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Art. Jason Woodside is the festival's 2026 artist. He grew up surfing in Saint Augustine, Florida, spent about twenty years in New York, and has worked with the surf label Vissla for close to a decade. His design for this year is built around the sun and the shade it throws.

The week, day by day

Saturday, September 12: Music Session at Seaside Reef

• Noon to 10:00pm, ticketed. Seaside Reef, at the south end of Cardiff State Beach.
• Seven acts, headlined by Osees, with Unwritten Law, Bully, Yoke Lore, Mt Warning, Jack Shields and the Mojave Rush, and Emily Afton.
• The parking lot and a section of beach are fenced off as the venue, with partner activations and art installations through the day.
• VIP tickets include a beachfront sauna and cold plunge with Tylo, shaded lounge seating, and a separate viewing deck.
• Tickets are through TicketWeb.

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Sunday, September 13: Seaside Reef Surf Session.

• 8:00am, the Countdown Cup begins, with coffee and morning food.
• 10:15am, a heat between local firefighters and lifeguards.
• 11:30am, beach bars and food vendors open.
• 1:00pm, the Gromathon.
• 1:30pm to 4:00pm, live music.
• 4:15pm, awards.
• 4:30pm to 6:30pm, a sunset music session to close.

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The two contests. The Countdown Cup runs men's and women's divisions and asks surfers to change fin setup every round: quads, then thrusters, then twin fins in the semifinal, then single fins in a thirty-minute final with no wave limit. Boards are the entrant's own choice. Registration is through Liveheats. The Gromathon is free for ages thirteen and under, a three-part scramble of sprint, paddle, and a wave. Bring a soft top and check in with the beach marshal by noon.

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Monday, Sept 14 through Saturday, Sept19: Art Sessions. Free.

• Hotwater Gallery, 6880 Embarcadero Ln, Carlsbad.
• This is the one event of the week that is not on the 101, so plan the drive.
• Work from eleven artists across six days, with live music, food, and drinks on site. Jason Woodside's work opens the run on Monday the 14th.

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Thursday, September 17: Film Sessions, night one.

• La Paloma Theatre, 471 S Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas
• In Pieces Together, directed by Macario de Souza, followed by a panel with Blake Johnston.
• Unmakeable, directed by Tucker Wooding, featuring Torrey Meister, with a panel joining Meister and Wooding.
• Kinder, directed by Nate Laverty, featuring Mathea and Sanoa Olin, with a panel with Laverty.

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Friday, September 18: Film Sessions, night two.

• Shelter: 25 Year Reunion, directed by Chris Malloy and Taylor Steele, featuring Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Shane Dorian, Taylor Knox, Donavon Frankenreiter, and Jon Swift. Panel with Malloy and guests.
• Blue Sunshine, directed by Darcy Ward, featuring Liam O'Brien, Yago Dora, Louie Hynd, Toby Mossop, Jason Jameson, and Hinata Aizawa.
• Silent Sound, a film by Yves Wagner directed by Levi Slawson, with a panel with Slawson.

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Saturday, September 19: Film Sessions, closing night.

• ProCasual, directed by Jack Coleman, featuring Caity Simmers, Stephanie Gilmore, Bryce Young, Ryan Burch, Kobe Hughes, Derrick Disney, Leah Dawson Lopez, Justin Adams, Jaleesa Vincent, Tosh Tudor, and Frankie Harrer. Panel with Simmers, Burch, and Dawson Lopez.
• Maps to Nowhere: In the Current, directed by Nick Liotta, featuring Soli Bailey, Tosh Tudor, Balaram Stack, and Enda Curran. Panel with Tudor and Liotta.
• HUCK 2, directed by Micha Cantor of Erratic Nerve, featuring Ryan Huckabee, with a panel with Huckabee.
• Problematic, featuring Tanner Gudauskas and Taylor Knox, with a panel with director Alex Kilauano and Gudauskas.

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Tickets for all three film nights are on SimpleTix.

What the week gives back

Three of the eight days cost nothing. In 2025 the festival also ran its bar for a cause, with proceeds from the margaritas at La Paloma going to the Surfrider Foundation.

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Outerknown, the Carlsbad label built around organic and recycled fibers, leads this year's presenting partners, alongside Solento, Sun Bum, Strive, and The Flow Trip. SeaTrees is also on the list, the ocean restoration program run by the California non-profit Sustainable Surf, which works with scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography on the kelp forests off La Jolla.

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The most substantial film on well-being in the program may be Thursday's. In Pieces Together follows Blake Johnston, the Australian surfer who rode for more than forty hours off Cronulla to mark ten years since his father's death by suicide, and who has spent the years since pushing men in particular to talk about their mental health. He will be at La Paloma for the panel.

If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day by call or text.

Before the week starts

Saturday's music session is on TicketWeb and the film nights are on SimpleTix. Sunday and the art exhibit need nothing but showing up. Surfers can enter the Countdown Cup through Liveheats, and groms can sign up on the sand.

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Encinitas has been watching surf films in the same room on the 101 since long before this festival existed. For one week in September, the whole coastline joins in.

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All photography courtesy of Sessions Surf Festival.