She Likes to Watch

A documentary billed as a “Mother Teresa meets Indiana Jones adventure” wooed judges at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival enough to capture top honors in this year’s festival competition.

“Beyond the Call,” by Chicago native Adrian Belic, was named Best in Competition by the festival this week. The documentary features two men from different parts of the country who partake in self-financed humanitarian efforts in some of the most dangerous, war-torn countries in the world.

This year’s festival featured a record number of entries. Forty-two of those were screened and submitted to judges, who selected their favorites in six categories.

Other winners:
· Best feature film, “Hollywood Dreams”
· Best feature documentary, tie, “Our Land, our Life” and “Iraq in Fragments”
· Best short feature, “Rose”
· Best short documentary, “The Damndest, Finest Ruins”
· Best short film, tie, “Mute” and “Sadiq”
· Best student film, tie, “Sadiq” and “Gordo”
· Special jury award for best animation, “The Naked Hitchhiker”
· Special jury award for best foreign film, “Brod Ludaka (Ship of Fools)”
· Audience award – best short film (under 15 minutes), “The Frank Anderson”
· Audience award – best short feature/documentary (16-60 minutes), “The Damndest, Finest Ruins”
· Audience award – best feature-length film (over 60 minutes), “Beyond the Call”

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Here’s something to do next time you’re buying frozen peas and pancake syrup at the grocery store: Count the number of teen magazine covers that feature Arroyo Grande’s Zac Efron. During one recent trip to Rite Aid, I counted seven — which was every teen magazine they had in stock. I even saw a special edition magazine dedicated solely to Efron, the ‘tween dream who once appeared in plays at the Unity Church in San Luis Obispo.

Efron attended last year’s film festival for a screening of the independent film “Derby Stallion.” But in just a year the 20-year-old’s career has skyrocketed, thanks to his role in the Disney Channel’s “High School Musical.” So he was simply too busy to return this time around.

In theaters now, you’ll see him in a preview for “Hairspray,” a summer release with with John Travolta, Queen Latifah and Christopher Walken. And a sequel to “High School Musical” is currently in the works.

When I interviewed him a year ago, Efron was considering a role in a Lifetime TV movie. You can bet he wouldn’t consider that today. In fact, once “Hairspray” hits, I’d expect a blitz of Efron movie roles.

We’ll have more on “Hairspray” in a future Ticket story.

– Pat P.