The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 18, 2005, Page 8, Image 8
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Hannah must sort through her mother's past after her father's death in the film "Rosenstrasse."
The film is one of four in the Nickelodeon Theatre's Jewish Film Festival beginning Saturday.
Nick prepares to celebrate
Columbia's Jewish heritage
By BK KENNEDY
THE GAMECOCK
When the term "film festival"
is mentioned, one usually thinks
of the sexy Parisian locales for
Cannes or Park City for
Sundance. Or perhaps one
conjures images of South By
Southwest, where movies take a
backseat to music.
One film festival one might
not think of is right here in
Columbia.
The Fifth Annual Columbia
Jewish Film Festival will run
Saturday through Thursday at
the Nickelodeon Theatre. The
only of its kind in the state, the
festival began in 2000 when
Arline Polinsky and Lyssa
Harvey approached the
Nickelodeon on behalf of the
Columbia Jewish Cultural Arts
Program of the Columbia Jewish
Community Center. They were
met with open arms by Anne
Ramen, Nickelodeon executive
director.
The festival will feature three
acclaimed films, "Rosenstrasse,"
"Le Grand Rôle," and "Broken
Wings," as well as a
documentary.
"Rosenstrasse" is set in
present-day New York at a man's
funeral, but requires the man's
daughter to trace back to 1943
Berlin where Jews were separated
from their Aryan husbands and
wives, and learn about what her
mother won't tell her, and find
the woman who saved her
mother's life.
"Le Grand Rôle" tells the
story of a man who finally
achieves a big acting break, only
to find out that his wife has
become gravely ill. He uses his
support system of friends to
deal with the biggest role in his
life.
"Broken Wings," the winner
of nine Israeli Academy Awards,
is about the life and love of a
family dealing with everyday life.
A mother goes back to work after
her husband's death, leaving her
17-year-old daughter to play
mother to the rest of the children.
The film shows a side of Israel
one doesn't get from evening
newscasts.
The documentary "Mixed
Blessings" explores bringing up
children in a Jewish-Christian
family. A panel discussion with
Russell Haber, director of USC's
Counseling and Human
Development Center, will
follow.
Advance festival and single
day passes are between $38.50
and $44.50 and will get viewers
into every film, as well as
advance reservations. Individual
tickets are between $5.50 and
$7.50.
Comments on this stoiy? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc. edit
Movie renews sweet styles
By DAVE FERMAN
KRT CAMPUS
GRAPEVINE, Texas — As
Napoleon Dynamite would put it,
a sweet deal has fallen into Randall
Sowa's lap.
For four summers in the 1980s,
Sowa hawked T-shirts with a
helicopter image on them designed
by a pal, Phil Goettl.
Each summer there was a
different design, and each summer
Sowa sold a couple of hundred
shirts to the rough-and-tumble guys
who explored —with dynamite —
for oil and natural gas in remote
areas of the American West.
Two decades later, the geeky,
quirky, tetherball-loving
Napoleon, title hero of the wildly
popular cult movie, showed up
onscreen wearing these same shirts.
Now Sowa, 51, a Grapevine,
Texas, resident who works in
aircraft maintenance at Fort
Worth Meacham Airport, figures
he'll soon be able -to buy all the
tater tots he wants.
Since the film's release last
spring, his family has sold several
thousand of the Napoleon
helicopter tees online. And now
the shirts are for sale in 600 Hot
Topic stores in malls in all 50
states and Puerto Rico.
Gosh!
"I'm into this as long as I want
to be because it's not going
anywhere for a long time," said
Sowa, who runs
www.noridershirts.com with his
wife, Sharon, and daughter Emily,
15. "It just dropped into my life.
It's so much fun."
The film, made in 2003 by the
husband-and-wife team of
Brigham Young University
students Jared and Jerusha Hess,
has grossed more than $45 million
in theaters alone and sold more
than a million DVDs in just over
three months.
The unexpected success of the
film has meant that numerous
lines of dialogue have become pop
culture nuggets loved by teens and
college students.
From local high schools to
university campuses, T-shirts that
read "Vote For Pedro" or "I caught
you a delicious bass" have become
common — many also sold online.
Scott Morton, men's T-shirt
buyer for Hot Topic, said he
assumes Sowa's helicopter shirt
will be in demand.
"Napoleon Dynamite stuff has
been a phenomenon for us," he said.
So how do these old helicopter
shirts factor in?
Jerusha Hess picked up one of
the Sowa/Goettl shirts at a thrift
store in Salt Lake City while
shopping for the wardrobe that the
actor playing Napoleon, Jon
Heder, would wear.
Sowa and Goetd had no idea any
of this was happening until July,
when a friend from the 1980s called
him and told him he saw Napoleon
wearing one of the shirts.
Sowa, being no fool, put
together a Web site and began
selling the shirts, some to soldiers
in Iraq and to fans of the movie
from as far away as Alaska.
He says he's had to warn two
competitors against copying the
artwork, which he and * Goettl
copyrighted.
"I went to the movie to see the
T-shirt, and I loved it," Sowa
said. "It's a funny movie. And I
knew there would always be kids
who would want to go see it. It's
fallen into the culture of young
people."
Sowa and Goettl say the shirts
began as nothing more than a way
to earn a little extra money. In the
early 1980s, they both worked for
the company whose logo is the basis
for the design, Air Services
International. Sowa was a mechanic,
and Goettl drove fuel trucks.
At the time, oil and natural gas
in states such as Montana,
Wyoming, Utah and Colorado
was hot. The guys doing the
exploring were called "juggies."
Juggies would conduct seismic
exploration in remote areas. As a
result, they went to and from work
in helicopters. The juggies were a
proud bunch, and they wanted
their own T-shirts. So Goettl
designed them.
"My artwork has always had a
lot of aviation stuff," said Goettl,
now a graphic artist and
cartoonist in Vancouver, Wash.
"We just wanted something the
guys working the seismic could
relate to and get their attention.
And the logo promoted the
company."
During the four summers, only
about 1,000 shirts were sold. The
chance of one of them showing up
in a thrift store where Jerusha Hess
was looking for wardrobe is, give
or take, a billion to one.
But it happened, and the two
guys that made them all those
years ago are as surprised as
anyone.
Goettl said he has asked his 16
year-old daughter Julia exactly
why Napoleon Dynamite is so
popular.
"They like the dialogue and the
funny scenes," he said. "It's hard to
explain. Her friends talk about it at
school, and even the grade-school
kids around here think it's funny.
They can quote the dialogue just
like the older teens and re-enact
scenes. It's happened before —
fads happen."
liifjhi
PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Randall Sowa, center, of Grapevine with daughter Emily Sowa, 15, left, and wife Sharon Sowa, have
turned Randall's vintage shirt design into a major business after the popularity of "Napoleon Dynamite."
Movie
Listings
I
For the iveekend of
March 18
Dutch Square Mall Ζ
Movies Times
Robots
Constantine
Hitch
Cursed
Be Cool
Ice Princess
The Ring 2
Million Dollar Baby
Oiary of a Mad Black Woman
The Pacifier
Hostage
The Passion Reçut
7:00 7:30 9:10 9:45
1:00 3:50
1:50 4:30 7:00 9:30
4:20
1:20 4:00 7:15 9:50
1:30 4:00 7:10 9:30
7:30 9:00 9:30 10:00
1:00 3:50 6:50 9:40
6:40 7:20 9:15 9:50
1:40 4:20 7:30 ?:40
1:20 4:20 7:10 9:45
1:30 L:-;:;
Regal Cinema 7 /
Movies Times
The Aviator 1:15 5:00 8:30
Hitch 1:10 4:10 7:10 9:55
Cursed 2:30 4:40 7:3010:00
Are We There Yet? 7:20 9:45
Because of Winn-Dixie 2:25 4:45 7.15 9:40
Ice Princess 2:20 4:50 7:25 9:35
Pooh's Heffalump Movie 12:15 2.15 4:35
Million Dollar Baby l-.oo 4:00 7:00 9:55
Columbiana Grande Cinemas
Movies
The Phantom of the Opera
Robots
Constantme
Finding Neverland .
Man of the House
Be Cool
Sideways
Ice Princess
Hotel Rwanda
Hostage
The Wedding Date
Times
8:00
7:45 9:00 9:30 10:00
1:05 4:05 7:05 9:50
1:45 4:20 6:55 9:20
2:50 5:10 7:30 10:15
6:45 7:25 9:25 10:15
1:10 4:10 7:15 10:05
2:45 5:10 7:30 9:45
1:55 4:35 7:20 10:10
12:55 3:50 7:10 10:20
2:55 5:05 7:40 9:55
Carmike 14
Movies
Times
Are We There Yet?
Because of Winn-Dixie
Cursed
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Hitch
The Jacket
Meet the Fockers
Million Dollar Baby
The Pacifier
Racing Stripes
The Work and the Glory
1:30 4:15 7:15 9:40
12:45 4:10 7:10 9:40
1:00 4:20 7:20 9:50
12:30 4:00 7:15 10:00
1:15 4:10 7:00 9:50
1:15 3:45 7:00 9:30
1:00 4:20 7:00 9:45
1:00 4:00 7:00 9:55
5:45 7:15 8:00 9:45
1:10 4:20 7:20 9:50
1:20 4:15 7:10 9:45