Local film makers and the heroes they filmed were honored by the My Hero Project at the Laguna Hero Fest May 29 at [seven-degrees].
“This was the first Hero Fest that specifically honored local film makers and heroes in and around Laguna,” said project director Wendy Milette. “There was a real sense of a community celebration.”
Among the honorees:
Coastline Pilot columnist James Pribram and the film “Eco-Warriors: Guardians of the Surf;”
Shawn McGillivray, for his film about the late Joey Masella, a youngster with a rare and fatal disease;
Laguna Beach High School student Addie Rubin, who produced with Milette a film on Friendship Shelter that honored founder the Rev. Colin Henderson;
Adam Kaufman, a Thurston Middle School student whose film debut focused on fellow student Luke Stevens, who lost his family home in the Bluebird Canyon landslide;
Laguna College of Art & Design student St. George Thompson, who produced “Gary Birch: Multimedia Guru” about the former LCAD dean;
A Laguna Beach High School production about Make-a-Wish Foundation and Tori Begen, a two-time cancer survivor and now a foundation activist;
Laia Hensen of the Community Learning Center for its peace program;
Dorothy Meyers for her participation in the Laguna Laughter Club founded by Jeffrey Briar;
A film about the Laguna Beach High School Surfriders Club that tests beach water for pollution directed by Milette, a former Laguna Beach public school teacher who now teaches film making at LCAD.
The Hero Fest was partially funded by a grant from the Arts Commission.
My Hero Project was founded by Jeanne Meyers, Rita Stern and Karen Pritzker in 1994.
“We began the project because we had children, and we wanted to provide them with role models in contrast to the negative violence in the mass media,” Meyers said.
DVDs of the event will be made available to city schools. Segments of films are expected to be shown on KOCE, dates to be announced.
“Our goal is to make the Hero Fest an annual event,” Meyers said.
Page created on 10/10/2011 12:00:00 AM
Last edited 10/10/2011 12:00:00 AM
