From the Sep 16, 2004 issue of The Star
Documentary Film Lures Awards For Elam
by Tim Croft
As documentary filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus worked in his Blountstown office last Friday afternoon, his creation, his paean to Florida's liquid treasures, was providing a postcard from the Sunshine State for folks in Missoula, Montana.
Such is the year that Stoltzfus has enjoyed since he birthed his film, Liquid Waters: Aquatic Preserves of Florida, in February.
A showcase of stunning palette, the hour-long film features a dozen of Florida's 40-plus aquatic preserves, the first segment of the film beaming a spotlight on the pristine waters of St. Joseph Bay.
With appearances by Tom Parker, Jr., and Danny Raffield, the segment, like the entire film, is a loving, gorgeous portrait of the wild and natural areas that represent the paradise Gov. Jeb Bush spoke of recently when explaining the only silver lining to this hurricane season.
And Stoltzfus can now attach a moniker all filmmakers hope to slap across the top of their work - "award-winning."
"I'm pleasantly surprised," Stoltzfus said. "It's an honor."
The film, underwritten in large part by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, has earned a laundry list of awards and entree into film festivals, a list Stoltzfus said has just begun:
The film was one of two - the other directed by a City College of New York student -from a field of 158 films named "Best of the Fest" during the 2004 Independents' Film Festival, sponsored by the Education Channel.
The awards ceremony and a theatrical screening will be this Saturday in Tampa.
The film was featured last week at the International Cultural Film Symposium: Exploring our Relationships with the Natural World, in Missoula, Montana.
Living Waters has been accepted into the Asheville (N.C.) Film Festival in November. The Asheville Festival is one of the country's top film festivals.
The film will be screened next month as part of the Orinda Film Festival in San Francisco, a festival which showcases the artistry of independent filmmakers, particularly emerging filmmakers.
Living Waters earned Stoltzfus a Telly Award, a national honor for video filmmakers and producers.
The film also won a Louis Wolfson Award, handed out by a Miami-based foundation for excellence in images; photographic, video and film.
"It's been an interesting year," Stoltzfus said. "It has been a honor, but what's really an affirmation of the work is all the responses we've had from people who have seen the film.
"It's exposure. And what really helps is when you can say your film is award-winning."
And far beyond what he aspired when he began the project more than a year ago.
In truth, the awards, the festivals, are largely icing for a film deemed a success the moment it was aired in Tallahassee early this year.
"The folks at the DEP are very happy," Stoltzfus said. "Our target was getting it on all the PBS stations in Florida and getting a copy in the hands of every legislator and elected official."
Bush and the Florida Cabinet received their own screening several months ago.
The film has been aired on PBS across the state.
Stoltzfus is eyeing three or four more festivals which have Living Waters under consideration for their marquees and is seeking avenues to expand even further the reach of his masterpiece melding of message and picture.
He hopes to achieve the same apex with his next major project, a documentary about the Apalachicola River and Bay.
Partnering with the Apalachicola Bay and River Keepers (ABARK), Stoltzfus said private donations are already coming in for the project.
The concept for the film, chronicling the majesty and history of the river and bay, sprung from a conversation with Sen. Bob Graham, long a champion of the river and surrounding environment.
Clyde Butcher, the famed photographer of the Everglades who collaborated on Living Waters with Stoltzfus, has signed on for the project.
So too has musician Sammy Tedder and Richard Bickel, famous for his photographs of Apalachicola and the folks who ply the sea for a living.
One companion to the film will be a coffee table book of photographs by Butcher, who will capture the landscape of the river and bay, and Bickel, who will snap the people for posterity.
Stoltzfus hoped to begin principal film work on the project in November.
