A coastal indie flick ready for the big screen

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

In 2002, Huntington Beach promoters promised a big Surf City

International Film Festival, offering a special award for best

environmental film.

We don’t think that particular film festival took place, but a

smaller festival, Films Up! Movies and Munchies, was held at the

Huntington Beach Beer Company last summer. It was mainly for local

filmmakers, many of whom were in their teens.

That festival wasn’t in the same category as the Palm Springs

International Film Festival held last week. Now in its 15th year, the

Palm Springs festival featured more than 200 films from 63 countries.

The festival attracts acclaimed foreign films, many in contention for

the Oscars.

As usual, Vic didn’t attend. He used the lame excuse of having

classes to teach. In fact, he really doesn’t have the patience for

marathon viewing of foreign and independent films. He’s missing a

wonderful experience. Foreign and independent films make you think.

They’re not wrapped up tight with nice pat Hollywood endings. I

suppose that’s another way of saying they often have no discernible

plot.

Although these films can be depressing, they’re usually

thought-provoking and memorable. After seeing nine films in three

days, I can pretty much sum up what the foreign filmmakers are trying

to say as follows: “Conditions in my country are bleak. We live in

squalor and people are mean to each other.” Really, it was a lot more

fun than it sounds.

In foreign films, the characters smoke a lot. You have to pick up

on symbolism to interpret the movie because the dialogue doesn’t

spell it out for you. If your idea of a fine film is Sylvester

Stallone dangling shirtless from a crumbling cliff in subzero

temperatures, followed by an explosion and a car chase, then you

might not like a foreign film festival.

The highlight for me this year was an environmentally themed

documentary, “The Inheritance: A Fisherman’s Story.” This

Australian-Hungarian entry is one of 12 films in contention to be

nominated next week for an Academy Award for best documentary.

Made by an Australian filmmaker, the story followed the life of

Balazs Meszaros, a Hungarian fisherman whose livelihood was ruined

when cyanide spilled from an Australian-Romanian joint-venture gold

mining operation in 2000. The cyanide traveled downstream and

destroyed the fish and other wildlife in the Tisza River in Hungary.

Because the Australian mining company had followed Romanian law, they

have not accepted responsibility.

The film documented how Meszaros turned from fisherman to activist

as he tried to get the Australian gold mining company to compensate

the fishermen for their lost income, indeed their lost careers.

Meszaros’ move away from fishing to environmental activism resulted

in his financial ruin, yet he persisted in the battle. The movie came

to an end with Meszaros still working without pay as president of the

local fishermen’s co-op, attempting to get compensation for the

members. The story will not be resolved until the court battles are

over, a process that will take years.

The Tisza River ecosystem is slowly recovering, but in the

meantime, the fishermen have no fish to catch. Conditions along the

river are bleak, the fishermen live in squalor and the mining company

and government officials are mean to them.

After describing this and several other movies to Vic, he decided

that we could probably make our own movie starring local

environmental activists. We would begin filming at the enclosed patio

at Woody’s Diner in Sunset Beach. It’s grim enough to serve as an

appropriate set. A group of us would gather at the tables, dressed in

worn-out sneakers, faded jeans and threadbare sweatshirts. That’s

pretty much the extent of my wardrobe anyway. We could discuss the

hopelessness of trying to save what little is left of what used to be

an incredibly diverse and productive ecosystem here in Huntington

Beach.

Unfortunately, if we want to be taken seriously at an

international film fest, all the characters would have to smoke. The

camera would follow cigarette smoke from an extreme close-up, then

pan to the ceiling, showing the layer of smoke, then outside showing

the exhaust of idling SUVs along Pacific Coast Highway. This could

symbolize deteriorating air quality, which would be a metaphor for

loss of innocence or loss of hope, take your pick.

Environmentalists argue around the table. Someone wants to restore

wetlands with muted tidal flushing, and someone else wants full tidal

flushing. Someone wants to restore mesas with coastal native plants

that used to be here 200 years ago, and someone else wants to face

the reality of global climate change and bring up plants from Mexico

because ecosystems are shifting northward. Someone complains about

PCBs in our local environment, while someone else shouts about

bacteria on the beach. People argue about what issues are most

important and how best to proceed.

Someone gets agitated enough to knock their coffee on the floor.

The camera follows the spilled coffee as it goes into a floor drain,

then pans outside to the beach. This symbolizes pollution of the

ocean. The camera leaves the people arguing endlessly in the diner

and focuses on trash at the Bolsa Chica. Shorebirds search for

something to eat among the bits of Styrofoam and other plastic trash.

The credits roll.

We think it’s a great movie concept. Conditions in the natural

environment are bleak. Wildlife lives in squalor amid industrial

pollution. Environmentalists can’t agree on what to do and are mean

to one another. Film festival buffs would love it.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].