July 11, 2008 - CAMP Film

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth

CAMP Film

Summer Means Outdoor Film Screenings

Even though drive-in movies are becoming a part of our cinematic history, outdoor screenings are becoming increasingly popular. Many are provided in make-shift venues such as city neighborhoods where films may be projected against the side of a building, sometimes with a sheet (hopefully at least queen-size) serving as the screen, and sometimes just against the brick surface providing what designers would call a "textured quality." Non-metropolitan communities are screening films in parks where audiences can bring chairs, blankets, and food for a relaxing evening outside.

Here in coastal southern Delaware, the Rehoboth Beach Film Society is a part of this growing trend. Now in its third year, the Film Society is partnering with the City of Rehoboth in hosting Cinema By the Surf. This outdoor film event provides a unique experience of watching a film under the stars with rolling waves providing gentle background sound. Each summer three films are screened, one in June, July, and August. The July 10 screening of Hairspray (still to happen when this article was written) should have the audience swaying to great music. Hopefully you were there. If not, you still have a chance to see:

Thursday, August 21: The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep

Many lonely children yearn for a pet to call their own. In The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, based on a novel by Dick King-Smith, little Angus (Alex Etel), finds not only a pet, but a best friend as well, after the mysterious egg he stumbles across hatches a creature unlike any he's ever seen. Adorable and full of mischief, his new companion, Crusoe, who looks something like a cross between a dinosaur and a snail, immediately adds spice to his drab life. [2007, Runtime: 112 min., Rated: PG]

(Location: Rehoboth Beach Bandstand. Seating is free and available on a first come-first serve basis. Screening is at Dusk.)

Although we wanted to have a Cinema By the Surf in the City of Lewes, the canal-front park is still being developed. As an alternative, the Film Society is hosting Cinema Under the Stars in Stango Park behind the Lewes Library. The following films will be screened without charge and will start at dusk.

Thursday, July 24: Surf's Up

Surf's Up is a 2007 American Academy Award nominated computer-animated mockumentary film produced by Sony Pictures Animation and distributed by Columbia Pictures. This story follows a teenage rock hopper penguin named Cody Maverick from his hometown of Shiverpool, Antarctica, where all of the other penguins think he's nothing but a surfing fool, to the "Big Z Memorial Surf Off" on Pen Gu Island. Young Cody is determined to win the most important competition in the world of penguin surfing in honor of "Big Z," a deceased surfing legend whom he has idolized since childhood. But the waves in Pen Gu are different than in Shiverpool, and the competition is steep. The current champ, egotistical Tank Evans, isn't just about to let this little penguin knock him from first place without a fight. When Cody wipes out and encounters Geek, a recluse aging former surfer, living in the jungle, he learns some important lessons about life and surfing, and even teaches Geek a thing or two.

Stars the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder among others. [2007, Runtime: 85 miuntes, Not rated]

Thursday, August 14: Storm of '62

The '62 Storm describes the damage made by the powerful winter nor'easter that struck the Atlantic coast in March, 1962. During a period of three days, whole communities were flooded and destroyed, and lives were lost. Using archival photos, home movies, and interviews with those who survived, The '62 Storm re-lives Delaware's greatest 20th century disaster and the weather events that spawned it and refelects on the possibility of a similar storm occurring along the Delaware coast in the near future [2007, Runtime: 56 minutes, Not rated]

Bring your chairs to Stango Park and don't forget the insect repellant!

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 18, No. 09 July 11, 2008