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Show SatSunMonTues, June 15-18, 2002 Tje Park Record C-3 Maui Film Festival: a laid-back aflair I By TERI ORR Record guest writer Everything moves slowly on Maui except Barry Rivers' mouth. The director of the three-year-old Maui Film Festival which opened June 12, Rivers is quick to talk about the healing and redeeming nature of film. Not all films mind you. He acknowledges "all too often the lowest common denominator denomi-nator of our collective wisdom not only passes for entertainment but also generates record-breaking box-office numbers." Barry's festival festi-val doesn't show those films. He chooses films for his festival (and his year-round film series) that are life affirming. Barry looks like a California boy who has spent most of his adulthood adult-hood in the Islands. Which could almost be true. He and wife and partner Stella, stopped in California after . their graduations from Amherst nearly 30 years ago. His video work, "Run to the Sun" was featured in the U.S. Film and Video Festival here in Park City in the early '80s before Sundance took over and renamed the event. But this overgrown surfer-looking man holds a doctorate in education and at the end of the reel he wants people peo-ple to have learned a thing or two. A thing or two about the world around them, about themselves, about their perceptions. Film, as a tool to educate and illuminate, is how Barry teaches nowadays. When he moved to Maui 25 years ago, Barry still thought he would have a career helping make films. He worked for ESPN and CBS Sports and helped capture island competitions from surfing to golf. But when the work began doing pieces for Entertainment Weekly or Hard Copy, Barry got out. "That damsel in distress stuff became formula-like and I didn't want any part of it." About five years ago Barry said he decided to "Fire up a weekly film series." The response was so great it led him to create a festival. "Unbeknownst to them, American Express, Visa and Master Card underwrote the first festival. I just put everything I could on fny credit cards. About $150,000. "And "everything" turned out to be so much more than the films. "From the beginning, the hotel industry here has been luori? an d blacii (1 . I', (i c ) IT X, 1 1 f PHOTO COURTESY OF UTAH MUSIC FESTIVAL James Cook will help kick off the Utah Music Festival season this weekend (see C-2). The festival still has openings for its upcoming youth workshops. For more information, 658-4943. tremendously supportive. Also the food and beverage folks have been terrific. They could see right away the benefits of doing this." But the complicated part became Barry's idea of showing films in Wailea outside and on the driving range of the famed golf course. To install the 50-foot wide screen Barry had to drill down into the lava rock base some 10 feet. The holes had to be three feet wide to install foam sleeves where the support of the screen would rest. He named it Celestial Cinema. The investment has paid off. The Opening Night Gala which featured a kind of food festival combined with an "important" "impor-tant" film, all happened outdoors under the stars. This year Opening Night included includ-ed a private reception hosted by Chef Jason Seibert of Spago. And the premiere film "Searching for Debra Winger," directed by Roseanne Arquette, showed how she got Jane Fonda, Sharon Stone, Frances McDormand, Gwyneth Paltrow and others to talk about how it is to be a woman aging on screen. But there will be films featuring fea-turing Deepak Chopra and the Dali Lama. Films about soccer in Scotland, films about shaman in the rain forests of the Amazon. It is a rich, five-day festival featuring more than 35 films and 12 shorts at five separate locations. And while there are three indoor theaters of several hundred seats, Barry just couldn't resist a second outdoor "screening room." On a beach at Wailea he shows 16 millimeter silent films. He calls this Sand Dance. The first year the whole event, because of generous sponsorships from airlines, lodging, food and the like, cost him around $35(),(XK) to produce. This year it is a million dollar project. It attracts celebrities worthy of any festival. And this year he too, has a Piper Heidieck award called the Silversword, after a sacred plant of the island, which will be presented to Clint Eastwood. They will screen Eastwood's own print of "Unforgivcn," during the festival. Barry and Stella and their three adult children also decide at the end of the festival just where each year's proceeds are most needed. The past two years the charities have included includ-ed a rehab center, a women's support sup-port group and some local environmental environ-mental issues. The little festival has done something rather life affirming affirm-ing itself, it has given back to the community that supports it. To the tune of more than $150,000. "More than ever before, after Sept 1 1, I am convinced there is a need to concentrate on life affirming affirm-ing stories. There is a kind of "seaweed" "sea-weed" or "see me" cesspool that exists out there. If we can make a little difference on our rock in the middle of the ocean, that's good enough for me." Barry Rivers is still a teacher at heart. For further information on the event you can find it in cyberspace at mauifilm festival, corn. How to Buy or Sell Park City Real Estate After The Olympics PARK CITY - The 2002 Winter Olympic Games were a tremendous tremen-dous success. Now many arc asking "What impact will this world-wide exposure have on the Park City and Deer Valley real estate market?" "Will people line up to buy property prop-erty in Park City and, if so, what will happen to real estate values and when?" A new report has just been released that forecasts the impact of the Olympic Games on the Park City and Deer Valley real estate market. This report identifies several factors that determine whether prices rise, fall or remain unchanged following the Olympic Games. Careful analysis has been given to the history of real estate values prior to the Olympics and the anticipated buying and selling activity that will immediately follow the Games, as well as what is expected 12 to 18 months after the Olympics. This report will assist both buyers and sellers of Park City property as they consider their options and how to best maximize their real estate investment. To hear a brief recorded message about how to order your free copy of this report, call 1-800-225-9390 and enter ID4367. Vou can call any lime, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 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