Waterfront Finale: Top Five Jurors' ShortList film "T-Rex" to screen once more tonight

At the first year of the Waterfront Film Festival at ArtPrize, the OnScreen's short film documentary, "T-Rex," received a nomination in the top five Time-Based entries on the Jurors' Shortlist. Following the attention garnered from this juror selection, Waterfront Film Festival was able to bring back another screening of the film for this Saturday night, 7 p.m. at Michigan House (40 Pearl Street NW). The screening is free and open to the public on a first come, first serve basis, with approximately a 65 seat capacity. 

The film features the true story of female boxer, Claressa "T-Rex" Shields, in her journey to the 2012 Olympics as the first woman to represent the United States. It follows Shields in an intimate documentary showing her background growing up in Flint, Michigan and all the struggles she overcame from her personal life to the stress of the Olympic podium. Breaking boundaries and overcoming barriers, Shields went on to win gold.

With a remarkably inspiring story matched with expert filmmaking, this OnScreen entry for ArtPrize stands out on the Jurors' top five but also a crowd favorite to many who watch the film. "T-Rex" screened on Friday, September 25 at the Ladies' Literary Club where each of the Waterfront Film Festival's entries were hosted. The film was first screened to an audience of over 400 students, then a second time to the general public.

"I was sitting outside of the Ladies' Literary Club on the sidewalk while 'T-Rex' was showing, and I heard a roar out the theater that sounded like something coming from the actual sporting event, but it was the people in the theater responding to the film," says Waterfront media coordinator, Patrick Revere.

Several of the filmmakers as well as director Zack Canepari will be at this screening. This event is the finale to the OnScreen portion of ArtPrize Seven.

This is the first year the Waterfront Film Festival participated in ArtPrize. The past 16 years have been on the lakeshore, with the last two years in South Haven and the previous fourteen in Saugatuck.

"This is exactly what Waterfront has been wanting to do for at least half of its history, which is to expand to other areas and turn it into a regional festival, rather than a single beach town," Revere notes. "It fits in great [with ArtPrize] and gives us a whole new audience."

Twenty-two films were produced and entered into ArtPrize. The Waterfront filmmakers will present awards determined by outside jurors for the Best Feature, Best Documentary, and Best Short Film at the ArtPrize Final Awards Ceremony on October 9. Each of the films are also eligible for public voting.

Those wishing to see the final screening during ArtPrize are encouraged to arrive early tonight to secure a seat for "T-Rex," vote code 61761.

"I think it's fantastic that we have Michigan filmmakers involved, and a Michigan subject in the film, and it's playing at The Michigan House," Revere says. "It's an honor to be there, and we're happy to be able to show it to the public, especially free of charge."