Cynematik

On the first night of the last Sundance Film Festival in January, Lions Gate bought OPEN WATER, the $130,000 home movie by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau for $2.5 million. A film editor by trade, Mr. Kentis (and Ms. Lau) collaborated on GRIND (an early Billy Crudup/Amanda Peet feature) in 1997. Now in wide release, the film gets a positive NY Times Review. Lions Gate also has a website but (rant) it’s one of those Flash sites that are so irritating. It runs slowly and has remarkably little content of poor quality because it’s all being shoved on the right side of the screen. I actually preferred Chris Kentis’ small, homemade site.

I didn’t see the film at Sundance but will surely see it in the theater. A few years back, I went Scuba Diving in the Sea of Cortez. On our first dive, the visibility was 7 feet! I could barely see my hand at the end of my outstretched arm. The scariest part of the trip was being in the water with 12-year-old Alec. Whatever fear you might have for your own safety is NOTHING compared to having your child in the water. And, he was fearless. He loved being above us, flying like Superman. By the third day, visibility improved along with our feeling of safety. That was shattered when our diving boat was boarded by the Mexican Navy (did you know the sailors carry Uzi’s?) and searched for drugs. What an unforgettable trip!

On a lighter note: The National Neighborhood Day Short Film Contest was announced. The festival will be juried by Academy Award winner Terry Sanders and RISD professor/filmmaker Mike Majorors. Deadline is March 15, 2005. The POV of the festival can be surmised by the Margaret Meads quote on the home page: “Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”