Paul Lazarus is an award-winning director, producer and writer of film, theater and television with more than 30 years of experience. He recently completed a feature documentary called "SlingShot" about Segway inventor Dean Kamen and his work to solve the world's safe water crisis. Below he writes about how he got involved with the project. Above you can watch an exclusive clip from the documentary. In 2006, Dean Kamen told me he was working on a device that could take any form of contaminated water and turn it into safe, potable water. It was in his words: a "point-of-use," "bottom-up," "21st century solution to the 21st century problem" of access to clean water all over the planet. He called it SlingShot, which is reference to the biblical story of David and Goliath. At the time I knew very little about the world's water challenges. Fortunately, I had made over a dozen short...
- 7/10/2015
- by Paul Lazarus
- Indiewire
“A really big person is somebody that doesn’t mind helping everyone else around them be big. A really big person helps everyone else be big and doesn’t use their bigness to help everyone around them be small.” -Dean Kamen- Inventor of the two wheeled standup electric scooter, the Segway
Dean is still alive and inventing products that will help better society despite the rumors that he drove his creation, the Segway, off of a cliff, and died.
The documentary “SlingShot” by Paul Lazarus opens with a stream flowing while a narrator explains that we can empty many of the world’s hospital beds by just providing people access to clean drinking water and distilled water for home dialysis. Fifty percent of all human illnesses are the result of water borne pathogens. The “SlingShot,” which Dean and his team invented, is able to take any type of water, whether it be ground water with metals in it, salty ocean water, bioburdened water, or urine, and make it suitable for drinking.
Learn what Dean Kamen was like as a child, the learning disabilities he’s had to accept, getting back on his bicycle after being bullied, his parental upbringing, his father’s philosophy on life, his own home which is complete with a helicopter garage, steam engines, secret passageways, and a wall of portraits of famous scientists, engineers, and inventors, including, Galileo Galilei, done by his father. Despite being a people person, Dean discusses his own beliefs of whether or not to start his own family, his inventions, his dreams of a time travel machine, his Ted Talks, and the initial stages and larger plans for his innovative “SlingShot,” water purification system, and how it got it’s name.
Will he collaborate with a well known soft drink company which already has it’s product all over the world with the hopes that they will assist the “SlingShot” to also be shipped to other countries all over the world?
An overnight success takes 20 years in the making.
Opens July 10th, 2015 @ Cinema Village in New York City, NY.
Opens July 17th @ Laemmle Theaters in Santa Monica and Pasadena, CA.
Opens July 26th @ PhilaMOCA in Philadelphia, Pa.
Opens in August @ the Center for Contemporary Arts (Cca) in Santa Fe, Nm.
Dean is still alive and inventing products that will help better society despite the rumors that he drove his creation, the Segway, off of a cliff, and died.
The documentary “SlingShot” by Paul Lazarus opens with a stream flowing while a narrator explains that we can empty many of the world’s hospital beds by just providing people access to clean drinking water and distilled water for home dialysis. Fifty percent of all human illnesses are the result of water borne pathogens. The “SlingShot,” which Dean and his team invented, is able to take any type of water, whether it be ground water with metals in it, salty ocean water, bioburdened water, or urine, and make it suitable for drinking.
Learn what Dean Kamen was like as a child, the learning disabilities he’s had to accept, getting back on his bicycle after being bullied, his parental upbringing, his father’s philosophy on life, his own home which is complete with a helicopter garage, steam engines, secret passageways, and a wall of portraits of famous scientists, engineers, and inventors, including, Galileo Galilei, done by his father. Despite being a people person, Dean discusses his own beliefs of whether or not to start his own family, his inventions, his dreams of a time travel machine, his Ted Talks, and the initial stages and larger plans for his innovative “SlingShot,” water purification system, and how it got it’s name.
Will he collaborate with a well known soft drink company which already has it’s product all over the world with the hopes that they will assist the “SlingShot” to also be shipped to other countries all over the world?
An overnight success takes 20 years in the making.
Opens July 10th, 2015 @ Cinema Village in New York City, NY.
Opens July 17th @ Laemmle Theaters in Santa Monica and Pasadena, CA.
Opens July 26th @ PhilaMOCA in Philadelphia, Pa.
Opens in August @ the Center for Contemporary Arts (Cca) in Santa Fe, Nm.
- 7/1/2015
- by Sharon Abella
- Sydney's Buzz
The 2014 Boston Film Festival has unveiled its awards recipients, following its 30th program that ran September 24-28 in Theatre 1 at the Revere Hotel Boston Common. The biography ‘Wild,’ drama ‘White Rabbit’ and the documentary ‘Zemene’ led the films that were honored by the festival. This year’s Boston Film Festival Award winners are: Best Film: ‘Wild’ Best Actor: Nick Krause, ‘White Rabbit’ Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon, ‘Wild’ Best Supporting Actor: Sam Trammell, ‘White Rabbit’ Best Supporting Actress: Britt Robertson: ‘White Rabbit’ Best Documentary: ‘Zemene’ Best Director: Paul Lazarus, ‘SlingShot’ Mass Impact: ‘Widowmaker’ EcoFilm: ‘SlingShot’ Best Cinematography: ‘Zemene’ Best Music: ‘The Winding Stream’ Best Editing: ‘Zemene’ Audience Favorite: ‘Playing for [ Read More ]
The post 30th Annual Boston Film Festival Announces Filmmaker Award Winners appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post 30th Annual Boston Film Festival Announces Filmmaker Award Winners appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/14/2014
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
The Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition has announced Rafel Duran Torrent from Barcelona, Spain, as their grand prize winner. Torrent has been awarded $100K for his short film "Cyborg Foundation." You can watch the winning film below. The cash prize was presented to Torrent during a ceremony at the Sundance Film Festival. As part of Focus Forward's collaboration with the fest, Torrent will get to participate in a Sundance Institute ShortsLab of his choice in 2013. The runner-up awards were presented to Jared P. Scott & Kelly Nyks (“The Artificial Leaf," USA), Paul Lazarus (“Slingshot," USA), Kim Munsamy (“Bones Don't Lie and Don't Forget," Guatemala), and Callum Cooper (“Mine Kafon," UK), whose combined winnings totaled $200,000, the largest cummulative cash prize ever given to short documentary films. Twenty films were chosen as finalists in the competition from more than 600 submissions from 69...
- 1/24/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Barcelona-based filmmaker Rafel Duran Torrent has been awarded the grand jury prize in Ge and cinelan’s Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition. Torrent received a $100,000 cash prize and a collaboration with the Sundance Institute ShortsLab at a special awards ceremony at the Sundance Film Festival Tuesday. Jared P Scott & Kelly Nyks, Paul Lazarus, Kim Munsamy and Callum Cooper were given runner-up awards that combined total $200,000. The winners were chosen from more than 600 submissions from 69 countries. “We were impressed with the integrity, quality, and creativity of the submitted films,” said jury member Caroline Libresco. “Our deliberations went on for over a week by email and phone—it certainly wasn’t easy deciding how to award the prizes. From a programmer’s point of view, I found it heartening to see that so much great work is being made by filmmakers all over the world, including many at early points in...
- 1/22/2013
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Spanish director Rafel Duran Torrent has won the $100,000 cash prize in the Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The awards, the most lucrative ever given to short documentaries, went to five different shorts, with the top one being Duran Torrent's "Cyborg Foundation." The director will also be invited to a Sundance Institute ShortsLab program of his choice this year. Runners-up were Jared P. Scott and Kelly Nyks for "The Artificial Leaf," Paul Lazarus for "Slingshot," Kim Munsamy for "Bones Don't Lie and Don't Forget" and Callum Cooper for...
- 1/22/2013
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Ge and cinelan today announced the five Jury Prize winners of its $200,000 Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition: Callum Cooper (Mine Kafon), Kim Munsamy (Bones Don’t Lie And Don’t Forget”, Paul Lazarus (Slingshot), Jared P. Scott & Kelly Nyks (The Artificial Leaf), and Rafel Duran Torrent (Cyborg Foundation). The Grand Jury Prize of $100,000 will be announced at a live Awards Ceremony on January 22 during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The jury for the Competition includes Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer Caroline Libresco, actress Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill), and award-winning filmmakers Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA), José Padilha (Elite Squad), Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost), Floyd Webb (Daughters of the Dust), and Peter...
- 1/7/2013
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition Names Five Jury Prize Winners; Grand Prize Announced at Sundance
The five jury-prize winners of the $200,000 Focus Forward Filmmaker competition have been announced. The Grand Jury Prize of $100,000 will be announced at a live awards ceremony on January 22 at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Full list of names and projects below. The five jury prize winners are: Callum Cooper (“Mine Kafon”) Kim Munsamy (“Bones Don’t Lie And Don’t Forget”) Paul Lazarus (“Slingshot”) Jared P. Scott and Kelly Nyks (“The Artificial Leaf”) Rafel Duran Torrent (“Cyborg Foundation”) In the Focus Forward "Short Films, Big Ideas" competition, participating filmmakers submit three-minute films featuring stories about people or organizations whose innovative efforts in medicine, computer science, robotics, engineering, green energy, or other fields of art and knowledge have had a significant positive impact on humanity. Last fall, a selection of 95 semifinalist...
- 1/7/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Jeff Favreproduction: A Beautiful View, Son of Semele Theatre; Robots vs. Fake Robots, Powerhouse Theatre; Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, Geffen Playhouse.Playwriting: David Largman Murray, Robots vs. Fake Robots.Direction: Don Boughton, A Beautiful View; John Doyle, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre; Tiger Reel, Cartoon, Art/Works Theatre; Elise Robertson, The Women, Circus Theatricals.Music Direction: Sarah Travis, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Scenic Design: Simon Higlett, The School of Night, Center Theatre Group, Mark Taper Forum; Christine Jones, Spring Awakening, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre; Anthony Ward, My Fair Lady, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre.Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa, The School of Night; Richard Jones, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.Costume Design: Anthony Ward, My Fair Lady.Sound Design: Dan Moses Schreier, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.Perfomance In A (Primarily) Straight Play:Gregory Itzin,...
- 3/11/2009
- backstage.com
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