Activists turning to video

Posted on Thursday, August 18, 2005

COCONUT GROVE

Activists turning to video

Local activists are now using video to step up their protest against big retailers who want to move into the Grove. Meanwhile, Home Depot has finally filed its Max Strang-designed plan with the city.

BY LAURA MORALES
llmorales@herald.com

Grove activists are finding creative ways to carry on their fight to keep big box stores out of the neighborhood.

Members of The Grove First are putting the final touches on a documentary which condenses the evolution of Coconut Grove's unique environment and the threat big retail stores could pose to it.

Don't Box Me In: A Coconut Grove Story recounts the origins of the current Home Depot furor, the growth of the anti-big box movement in the village and the clashing views of residents and local leaders.

''This is a serious attempt to record how this issue has affected our community,'' said Grove First leader Marc Sarnoff. He added that, due to the insanity of the situation, some of the City Hall meeting footage will elicit laughs.

Richard Fendelman, a 1969 graduate of the University of Miami's film school, is directing the documentary. He and brother James, known around town as the Flying Fendelman Brothers, co-owned the Grove Art Cinema on Grand Avenue, which closed in 1989.

''It's actually kind of creating itself,'' Fendelman said Monday of the Depot film. ``I have to be careful to show the story exactly as it's happening.''

In addition to footage from public meetings, the film will feature interviews with several of the Grove residents and activists who have been regular fixtures at Home Depot-related events.

Production on the film began in early June, Sarnoff said, and the group expects to have it finished in about two weeks.

About 3,000 copies of the film will be made.

Copyright 2005 Knight Ridder

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