How does a mentally ill person drown himself in a few feet of water on a crowded Memorial Day beach in full view of numerous emergency responders - and no one does a thing to save him?
Winner of "BEST DOCUMENTARY" @ New Hope (PA) Film Festival (2016) ; SPECIAL JURY AWARD @ Houston (TX) WorldFest Film Festival (2016)
REVIEWS: "I was stunned by your doc. The outrage still lingers!" (Paul Sloop, Short Films Programming Manager, CLEVELAND (OH) INTERNATIONAL Film Festival (2016) //"'Are we our brothers' and sisters' keepers?' Or put another way, is selfishness a gross aberration of human nature? I think it is. But watching this superbly crafted movie gave me pause. A man drowned in shallow water as onlookers stood by. What does this say about them, about us, about the capacity for us to unite and create a society where people care about each other?" -MIchael Steve Smith, Author, Attorney, Co-host, Law and Disorder Radio (WBAI / Pacifica Radio Network)// "Shallow Waters is a lyrical and haunting documentary that asks penetrating questions about the value of human life and what has become of the social contract. As good as independent media does, it tells us not what to think but tells us what to think about. The public drowning of Raymond Zack was a deeply disturbing incident. As we gently unpeel the layers of what happened that day at an Alameda beach, the ramifications bear deeply on what it is to be human in the 21st century." -Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director, Media Alliance// "The Public Death of Raymond Zack captures with great poignancy the complexities, uncertainties, and vulnerabilities that mental illness triggers for the individual, and more visibly, for society at large. The narrative storytelling is compelling and skillfully crafted, and its message is clear: something has got to change." -Renata Sago, Reporter / Anchor, WMFE - FM / Orlando (NPR)
MUSIC: "MAYBE" Performed by THE CHANTELS. Written by Richard Barrett "BUKOM: A CITY THAT BREEDS CHAMPIONS" Performed and written by KOKOMON CLOTTEY "METAMORPHOSIS" 1 & II Performed and written by PHILIP GLASS "A CHILD IS BORN" Performed by Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Written by Mel Lewis "A PAGHJELLA DI L'IMPICCATI" Performed by "A Filletta" Traditional / Corsica https://youtu.be/FU-wBJ4r3f0