Dylan Sloan is returning to Maui and he’s brought a gnarly surf movie with him.

“Genesis” is a DIY surf documentary that captures Sloan and Luke Guinaldo, both pro surfers, on a trip to Indonesia marked by towering ocean waves and unexpected twists of fate on land.

Sponsored by Hurley, “Genesis” had a California premiere in July at the US Open of Surfing. On Saturday, the film will have its local premiere at South Maui Gardens, representing a homecoming for Sloan and the filmmakers.

Sloan, who is Maui-raised, started surfing at 5 years old in Kihei, where he was trained by his mother, a former surfer. Once Sloan was able to handle bigger waves, he moved onto Ho’okipa, and he became a skilled athlete at age 12.

Among his many accomplishments, Sloan has won the Legends of the Bay at Honolua Bay and the HAS at Lahaina Harbor, and he was voted Best Local Male Amateur Surfer in Maui Time Weekly for four consecutive years. The Maui-based waterman regularly makes his presence known at National Scholastic Surfing Association and USA Surfing events.

Guinaldo, who is based in Huntington Beach, California, is known for his ample online content as well as being a high-scoring competitive wave rider. Guinaldo and Sloan make a fun pair, as their back-and-forth is every bit as engaging as witnessing them making miracles happen in high surf.

Directed by Austin DeSousa, “Genesis” is unlike most surfing docs, though the format bears a resemblance to “The Endless Summer” (1966) and has a similar approach of presenting a surfer’s journey into new territory with awesome surf footage.

We watch as Sloane, 17, and Guinaldo, 20, both Hurley-sponsored surfers, as they make their way through Indonesia and struggle to get from one location to another. The stops at the beach and visions of the pair tearing up the surf are what we expect, and the footage is as spellbinding as one would hope. Yet, the master stroke is that DeSousa wisely includes the unpredictable complications that occur along the way.

Sloane and Guinaldo’s trek to the island of Nias and their tense run in with locals demanding more money than agreed upon are especially memorable. In between the vignettes is the surf footage, which is always beautiful. In slow-motion, the shots of Sloan and Guinaldo shredding atop mountains of waves and gliding through tubes are positively trance inducing.

Part travelogue, part buddy comedy, “Genesis” takes hold as an odyssey of discovery and stands out from most surf documentaries — this isn’t just a continuous surfing montage. Guinaldo’s introductory sequence shows him waking up in paradise and sprinting through Eden (yes, the title is meant to be taken literally). It’s a stunning, out of left field sequence.

The techno, hip hop and rock tunes are often unorthodox and a perfect fit for the imagery. My favorite is the use of Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face,” set to the slow-motion footage of surfers riding the waves during magic hour, one of the most dazzling visions I’ve encountered in a surf movie.

DeSousa’s cinematography is sublime, and I was always engaged by their travels, which is often plagued by surprising complications, sometimes small (handing out stickers to locals doesn’t go as planned) and at other times, downright scary (standoffs over money and potentially being stranded are made tense by the you-are-there immediacy of the footage).

My only complaint is that “Genesis” is too short at 44 minutes. DeSousa really captured something special here. I encourage him to make a longer cut, as this is already a standout entry in the surf movie documentary category and, if expanded, could emerge a classic.

As is, “Genesis” is a blast. Sloan’s return to Maui comes with his career on the rise and a movie that demonstrates his wizardry on water.

“Genesis” is showing at 6 p.m. Saturday at South Maui Gardens in Kihei. Sloan, Guinaldo and DeSousa are scheduled to appear. This is a free event.

Barry Wurst II is the founder of the Hawaii Film Critics Society and teaches film classes at University of Hawai’i Maui College.