Staten Island Catapult

Infobox Film
name = Staten Island Catapult

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caption = Theatrical poster
director = Gregorio Smith
producer = SMITHKRAFT Productions
writer = Screenplay:
Gregorio Smith
Story:
Gregorio Smith
starring = Joe Grappone
Lesley Evans
Jaime Mercado
editing = Gregorio Smith
runtime = 51 minutes (Director's Cut)
country = United States

"The Staten Island Catapult" is a 2005 documentary about a disgruntled commuter and his proposal to build a catapult that launches individuals from Staten Island to Downtown Manhattan in 5 minutes. The film was written and directed by independent filmmaker Gregorio Smith.

The film won a Verrazzano Award for Best Documentary Short at the inaugural [http://www.sifilmfestival.org Staten Island Film Festival] (2006).

Plot summary

Dom Giotti, founder of the Staten Island Catapult Development Committee (S.I.C.D.C.) maintains that the commuting needs of Staten Islanders have long been underserved by a cost-prohibitive dichotomy of bridge or boat. In his opinion the outermost New York borough is a trove of history and culture that remains largely untapped due to a lack of mass transit alternatives.

To that end, Dom proposes a “seminal transit alternative” for the Staten Island community. Under the rallying cry “Where mass transit has failed…physics shall prevail!”, Dom spearheads an initiative to build a large-scale catapult that launches commuters back and forth from Staten Island to downtown Manhattan in 5 minutes, an idea he got from his friend Kenneth G. Pringle.

Although his vision is initially met with bemusement and doubt, Dom soldiers on and eventually develops a prototype.

Bootleg This Movie

Bootleg This Movie is a 2007 documentary short written and directed by Gregorio Smith. This unofficial sequel explores the worlds of both video piracy and self-publishing, as the director creates a bootleg or pirated DVD of Staten Island Catapult and hires an actress to sell it on the streets of New York City.

External links

* [http://www.statenislandcatapult.com Official Website]
* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0481626/ The Staten Island Catapult] at the Internet Movie Database