Cape Cod Times

I was interviewed by a reporter from The Cape Cod Times the other night. Check out this article!

WOODS HOLE — "Running Funny" is Anthony Grippa's first feature film and Woods Hole Film Festival is his first film festival.

The 25-year-old filmmaker from Hoboken, N.J., was excited to show his movie and meet people who are actually interested in what he is doing.

"My friends back home don't always get it," Grippa said. "And it's great to talk to people who are doing the same thing."

Grippa is the personification of what the Woods Hole Film Festival is all about — an independent filmmaker eager to meet and talk with other filmmakers, according to executive director Judy Laster. The festival, now in its 16th year, offers a place for independent filmmakers to come together, talk shop and have an audience. According to Laster, getting an audience is regarded as the highest validation for filmmakers, because most of them work in anonymity.

"Festivals are like art galleries for films," Laster said. "It's about bringing people together and helping them to bring their work to the next level by providing an audience."

There was no shortage of audience on opening night Saturday for the special screening of the 1971 feature documentary "Blue Water, White Death."

It was a reunion of the original crew and a tribute to the film's late director and producer Peter Gimbel, who set out on a 12,000-mile journey to get the first footage of a great white shark underwater. In 1971 most people didn't know much about sharks and it was a major box office success, earning $6 million, which is the equivalent of about $40 million today.

Jim Packer, president of worldwide television distribution at MGM, came from Los Angeles for the opening speech of the re-launch. Packer told the audience he promised old family friends Ron and Valerie Taylor, who are in the film, to get the documentary digitally remastered and distributed on DVD.

Last March he found the negatives buried in a vault at CBS in a legal mess. "It was my pet project," Packer said. "And I am really proud that a whole new generation can see this great adventure."

Artist Deborah Davidovits was impressed by the documentary. She didn't come particularly for the special screening though. "I came for the whole experience," she said.

Davidovits made the animation "Shadow Plays Volume 4" that was screened in the firehouse last night.

"I didn't know what to expect," she said. "But so far the crowds in the audience are bigger and the gatherings smaller."

The opening night party, with entertainment by the Last Minute Swing Band, was indeed not that busy, but Judy Rosenblum, a teacher from Miami, said she had an amazing night.

"The beauty of Woods Hole is that there's always something going on," she said. "I came here by chance and this film festival is the perfect way to spend your night."