UC Irvine's revelation that it would host free “water-and-film” events Friday night and Saturday morning and afternoon immediately produced visions of a giant kiddie pool plopped in front of a movie screen erected in the middle of Aldrich Park.
When it was further disclosed that the first flick screened would be the 131-minute-long Chinatown, visions of pruny appendages danced in your water-logged reporter's head.
As it turns out, these films will not be shown in H2o, they are about H2o–or the critical lack of it.
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The two-day event–which features free movies, popcorn and expert discussion–is aimed at raising awareness of how water
issues affect people locally and regionally.
The dreamed-about giant inflatable pool is now coming to Aldrich Park, but a giant inflatable screen is. That's where Chinatown screens at 8 p.m. Friday, and Flow and Rivergrass are shown beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.
There's free lunch (!) from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Saturday before everyone gathers in the UCI
Student Center's Crystal Cove Auditorium (bldg. 113, grid E8 on the campus
map) to hear a panel of experts from the university, the Metropolitan Water District
and the Irvine Ranch Water District will discuss water issues.
For instance, did you know that about
20 percent of people worldwide do not have reliable access to clean
water? You'll learn about this and more over the two days brought to you by the UC Center for Hydrologic
Modeling, UCI Earth system science professor Jay
Famiglietti, Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of
Hydrologic Science Inc. president Rick Hooper and film researcher Linda Lilienfeld.
Participants are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs. Parking is available for $7 in the Student Center
Parking Structure, on the corner of Pereira and West Peltason drives.
More information is here.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.