Brett Connellan’s documentary Attacking Life – which captures his inspiring journey to recovery after a life threatening shark attack – is debuting on Stan this Thursday 9 March after three years in the making. 

The local surfer started as a motivational speaker four months after the 2016 attack on Bombo Beach and has been telling his story ever since. It wasn’t until Brett and friend Sam Tolhurst made an introductory video for his talks that they decided his story deserved a full feature in order to do it justice.

While his motivational speaking tells the story through his own perspective, the documentary offers new angles from his parents, the people who saved his life on the beach, his surgeon and physio.

It features the Moloka’i 2 O’ahu challenge Brett conquered last year, which involved a 54km ocean paddle between two islands in Hawaii.

“A lot of the things that I experienced throughout the recovery applied to the paddle itself as it was both a physical and mental challenge,” Brett says.

“It was also a good way to prove my attitude towards sharks which is one that is filled with respect and is very positive despite what's happened.” 

With a single minded goal in life to use his experience to help others, Brett hopes the documentary will do just that.

“When people go through challenges in life, it is easy to focus on the negative. I want to get people to look at struggle differently,” he says.

“Whilst it’s easy to look at a negative experience like a shark attack, for me it was more of a positive experience especially looking back on it with the things I’ve learnt and the experiences I’ve gained.”

While watching his story, Brett wants others to draw out their own experiences and use them as an inspiration to overcome the challenges that lie ahead. 

“Everyone has their own version of that shark attack. People should seek inspiration from their own stories and not necessarily mine because I’m just a regular person that something very irregular happened to,” he says.

You can hear him talk at Werri Beach as part of Gerringong’s SurfLife Music Festival on 1 April.