Daily Egyptian Spring 05
Campus hold to screening of documentary inspired by Simon
William Ford
Daily Egyptian
Jim Thebaut will introduce his film "Running Dry" at 7 Wednesday night at the Student Center Ballroom D.
A California filmmaker will bring his personal version of Paul Simon's legacy to SIUC tonight when he shows a film he made that was inspired by Simon's work with the world water shortage.
The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute will sponsor a screening of the film "Running Dry" at 7 p.m. at the Student Center with a brief introduction by the film's producer and director Jim Thebaut.
Thebaut, a former environmental planner, said he was interested in the world water shortage, but it wasn't until he read Simon's book "Tapped Out: The Coming World Crisis in Water and What We Can Do about It" that he decided to make a documentary.
"I read his book, and it certainly had an influence on what we accomplished," Thebaut said. "I remember reading his book thoroughly and just pulling a lot of information out of it."
This will be Thebaut's third trip to Carbondale as he has come twice before, the first in 1999 for a water desalination conference where he first met Simon. Matt Baughman, assistant director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, said the institute contacted Thebaut because they thought it would be appropriate to play host to a screening of the film in Carbondale.
"We just thought we'd call him up and ask him if he would come do that," Baughman said. "He said yes immediately."
The film already has had screenings in Beijing and Washington, D.C., and Thebaut said he plans to take the film to India, South Africa and some other countries he used in the filming. Baughman said the screening at SIUC will not only give students but also friends and family of Simon a chance to see a film they would normally have to travel thousands of miles to see.
Sheila Simon, Simon's daughter and Carbondale city councilwoman, said she thinks she is the only member of her family who is yet to see the film. She said she is not surprised Thebaut decided to make the film because of the importance of the issue, but she never expected her father's books would be represented in this way.
"My brother and I used to tease him mercilessly because his books were never a big commercial success," Sheila Simon said. "Our standard joke was, 'Who is going to play you in the movie?' So now we have a movie, and my brother and I are having to eat our words."
Simon's book, which he wrote in 1998, deals largely with the fact that the human race is growing at such a rate that they are consuming water faster than it can replace itself. He wrote that this shortage will continue to the point of disaster if drastic measures are not taken.
"It is no exaggeration to say that the conflict between humanity's growing thirst and the projected supply of usable, potable water will result in the most devastating natural disaster since history has been accurately recorded, unless something happens to stop it," Simon wrote.
In his travels to countries such as India, South Africa and Israel where people are facing water shortages, Thebaut said he found Simon's warnings to be true - water shortage has become a crisis.
"When you've got a child dying every 15 seconds from water-related diseases, that's a crisis," Thebaut said.
Thebaut said the film is the first and central piece to a public education program he plans to put together to create a greater awareness of the problem. He said he plans to continue having small screenings of the film and eventually release it on video to sell for educational purposes. He said a better education about the issue will be needed to find a solution.
"When I first spoke to Paul, I talked about putting together a massive public information education program, really alerting the world to the crisis," Thebaut said. "I remember talking about the fact that the fox had already got into the henhouse and we really have to deal with the issue."
Thebaut said to rid the world of the water crisis, governments around the globe have to get involved and work together to better use their water resources. "I think all over the world what we need is public policy," Thebaut said. "We have to move a lot of different directions in the world in order to solve this problem."
Last update: Wednesday, May 4, 2005 at 2:00:32 PM
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