Ozzie Silna, the Daddy Warbucks of the last City Council Election, having contributed substantial monies in support of Proposition O (recommend a $15 million bond measure) recently pulled together a meeting of the most improbable group of people, many who are seldom in the same room together without their boxing gloves on. The event was held at the Serra Retreat, those in attendance represented diverse groups from within Malibu — The Yes on O Committee, The Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy, PARCS, the Malibu Township Council, educational and recreation groups, Malibu Senior Citizen’s Club, several homeowner groups, and others without declaring affiliations.

The plan is to unify these groups in order to: (1) Pass the $15 million bond measure in order to purchase vacant land to be used for parks/wetlands, ballfields, and a multipurpose community center. (2) Raise additional funds through private contributions as an adjunct to the bond measure. (3) Reach out to governmental agencies for matching funds where applicable.

There is no question that the best interests of Malibu would be served if this united effort would result in these measures being achieved — so let’s all get behind this very worthwhile effort.

Norma Levy

I am writing this letter anonymously, as I don’t want it in any way to appear self-serving instead of genuine.

I recently appeared for the first time in front of the new planning commission and I feel very encouraged about the city’s direction in this area at least. What a change — the discussion by all members was fair, thorough, substantive — both sides were treated with respect. My hats off.

Anonymous

When the Malibu Film Festival rolls out the red carpet on Feb. 23, there is going to be some real star power in town. But in this city, which moguls like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron call home, the limelight will be on several Malibu filmmakers toting a reel of their first film, wearing adjectives like new, up-and-coming, independent and talented.

Tom Rice and his feature “The Rising Place,” which has already collected prestigious awards including Best Picture in the Atlantic City fete, and the fifty-thousand-dollar-honor of Best New Director at the Heartland film festival in Indianapolis, is stirring up a buzz before the Malibu fest even begins. But before any of the festivals and the accolades, Rice had to get the ball rolling.

For his first feature film the 25-year-old auteur left New York and his job behind-the-scenes on Broadway to go back home to Jackson, Mississippi. Rice had already purchased the rights to a novella that contained some of the characters he had written into his script about interracial love during the second world war, so he started banging on every door in the town to gather his modest budget (somewhere around $850, 000). “It was crazy, I really didn’t know how to do it,” said Rice. “I met with lawyers and we just started selling shares.”

They got closer and closer to lifting “The Rising Place” off the ground. Then it was all about momentum. Independent film actresses and talented character actresses started calling. “It really was just like a snowball effect, you know,” recalled Rice. “I got Laurel [Holloman] (“Committed”), I got Beth [Grant] (“Speed”), then we were just going.”

Then the ball really got rolling: Billy Campbell, from TV’s “Once and Again,” Frances Fisher, “Titanic,” and Tess Harper, “Crimes of The Heart,” came on board. Four time Oscar winner Mark Berger did the sound design, Conrad Pope composed the score and Grammy award winner Jennifer Holliday added a few tracks.

And what they all created in the process is what some say is a remarkable film. “You would never know it isn’t a $15 million movie,” said actress Beth Grant. “It really is so wonderful, and so is Tom.”

Next up for Rice is a pair of features he wants to produce with his new company, Flatland Pictures, but meanwhile, the ball is still rolling for “Rising Place.”

“We’re not even finished yet,” said Rice. “We still have a few things to do with the credits and all. ‘The Rising Place’ is a good movie. Something with a message of redemption, something people want to see nowadays.”

Katrina Bronson, who will be presented with the festival’s Emerging Director Award, wanted to tell a story about children, about the power of children; she wanted to tell a story about family, about the beauty of families.

With the short film “Righteous Indignation,” Bronson, daughter of actor Charles Bronson, tells a poignant story of “a hardened man transformed by the vulnerability of a little girl, ” according to press releases.

But the actress/writer/director/producer knew she was going to need a bit of luck to get there. She was starting off with a blessing. Academy Award-Winner Quentin Tarantino, of the maniacal film “Pulp Fiction,” mentored her through the process. He would go through her shot lists with her — the shots she needed, the schedule she should work on. “It was great,” said Bronson. “He even lent me his camera, the camera he shot ‘Jackie Brown’ with. And he gave me advice.”

Bronson came to Tarantino three days before she was scheduled to start shooting with a problem. “I had a problem with the lead actor. [Quentin] told me to fire him: ‘Just fire him, right now, call, you don’t have time to deal with that. You need people who want to be there.’ You know that crazy voice of his.”

Bronson knew she had to fire the actor and eventually did, but she was left with a problem — no lead actor.

Tarantino told Bronson that he could get the script to a buddy of his, Michael Madsen. The scruffy leading man, maybe best known for his role in Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs,” was perfect for the role, but Tarantino thought he might be in Canada.

But luck came to the rescue again for Bronson. Madsen called and said he liked the script and he would commit to the role. Then, Brian Austin Green, from the TV show “Beverly Hills, 90210,” called. He had gotten a copy of the script through a mutual friend of Bronson’s, and said there was a role he was interested in.

It all came together for Bronson in a happy ending, with “Righteous Indignation” soon to be screened at the festival.

Not everything ends so happily, though, as Malibuite Bara Byrnes knows. “A Bittersweet Tale of a Hollywood Failure” is Byrne’s own story of acting, drugs, drinking and fame, which she said she is telling to exorcise her own past and to warn others in the future.

The short documentary film, a collage of Byrne’s starring roles woven through a one-woman show she performed on her birthday in 1996, takes us into the gruesome worlds of Hollywood and addiction. Writer/director/producer Byrnes narrates to tell us those details of her life not readily apparent on screen. At one point she tells us that the stack of cash she is holding in her hand, designated as blood money in the movie, is not real, but that her breasts, maybe the focus of the shot, are indeed the real thing.

She also tells sincere and sometimes raw stories. Stories about herself — her relationships with Sinatra and the like — but also stories Byrnes hopes have lasting and profound themes. “Hollywood really is this place where fame does awful things to you, where you are ‘Who’s Arm You’re On,’ ” said Byrnes.

Acting and drugs are “a lot alike,” said Byrnes. “You are just so in the moment,” so much so “that you can really lose control.”

Byrnes said she has told her story to communicate with every 18-year-old girl intoxicated with the dream of Hollywood, to watch out, it’s not all glitter and gold at the end of the Hollywood rainbow.

Will Oxx’s and Dave Barlia’s “Above a Frozen Sea” is a vivid documentary of a different sort of intoxication — the rush and thrill of cliff jumping. The filmmakers have found a way to push the rush of extreme sports into the evocative realm of visual art, and their short film is all adrenaline and all fast-pulse.

Oxx and Barlia, both professional aerial cinematographers, venture north, above the Arctic rim (where the sea is literally frozen) to find a stunning backdrop for their leaps of love. And it is intense, immediate filmmaking with these guys at the helm. They pack the camera, and so the viewing audience, on their helmet as they hike up a 10,000 foot cliff — and jump off.

“What we’re trying to do is take you on the trip,” said Oxx. “You see what we see, the camera is our eyes, and when we look down off the cliff, you feel it too, your stomach moves. It’s so exciting.”

Citing the similarities between cliff jumping and filmmaking — preparation, practice and endurance — Oxx knew that “Above a Frozen Sea” would be a long but worthwhile trek.

The film was shot, cut and sound edited entirely by the two former Mountain Dew commercial videographers. And the hugely popular recording artist Moby was so impressed with Oxx and Barila he lent them his music for the soundtrack.

In the end it was all worth it. “I am totally fulfilled, I have reached my ultimate goal [with this film],” said Oxx. “A lot of festivals are saying that ‘Above a Frozen Sea’ is a great movie, but really, we were just having fun. It’s all about fun.”

Your publisher’s columns are always entertaining, although they usually must be read with an understanding that very few facts upon which you base your opinions are accurate. The divisiveness this week’s column intends to foment deserves a response so that Malibu residents have the record straight.

When describing a meeting at Serra Retreat to discuss the possibility of the community working together on a bond measure that would help purchase open space now slated for development, you stated that the meeting was attended by “the most improbable group of people, many who are seldom in the same room together without their boxing gloves on.” Then you include me in the list of those who attended.

While I did not attend this meeting and can, therefore, not confirm the attendance of any of the others you list, I can say that absolutely your premise about the boxing gloves is completely off the mark. Laure Stern and Dierdre Roney, two of those mentioned as attendees on the list, have been in the same room with me on several occasions, as we all belong to the Malibu Youth Coalition, which is dedicated to working together to support the young people in our community and their needs. We have never had any need for boxing gloves, and, in fact, Laure Stern and I also worked in harmony on a successful solution for the Point Dume Natural Preserve and its management. There are several others on your list of “attendees” at the meeting who I know have worked together in successful collaborations in this community.

While I could not attend the meeting about the bond measure, I would have been quite happy to be in the same room with all of the people your column mentions were in attendance, and I assure you that none of us would have though about boxing gloves. We have much more in common than you might think — all being dedicated to preserving the quality of life in our community.

The divisiveness that has been spread in this community has only been so incited by the Malibu Bay Company, its agents, and your newspaper. Hope springs eternal that the bitterness that is stirred up during elections and debates about issues crucial to the future of Malibu will end.

However, given the high stakes, tremendous profits and personal gains to be made by both the Malibu Bay Company (MBC) and your newspaper by increased advertising from the businesses MBC would need to lure to their proposed developments, it would seem we can expect more of the same. Let’s hope at least that this warning will remind us all to be cautious of such devious manipulation.

Marcia Hanscom

You can imagine my surprise when, using The Malibu Times for my daily doggie toilette (quite appropriately, it seems), I glanced down to see my own face being used as the very example of canine ferociousness. And, to make a bad rap worse, you captioned this untruthful, unflattering portrait with the phrase “Would you trust this dog?” You call yourself journalists! Well, you got it wrong yet again!

For the sake of setting the record straight, the one fact you got right was my name: Mr. Wizard. If you had cared to ask, you would have learned that I am known as the friendliest Terrier in the Agoura Animal Shelter and the most trustworthy!

Your writer should have known that when the modicum of privacy available to one in such an establishment is invaded by a stranger pointing a flash camera in one’s face, one might appear to be a wee bit irritated (who wouldn’t be).

The only real thing a dog owns is his reputation and you have besmirched mine.

Now, instead of the Malibu family of my dreams, good citizens who would provide me with every canine comfort in exchange for my loyalty and love, I am being vetted by strange hairless young men with angry eyes and tattoos.

You will be hearing from my attorneys.

Mr. Wizard

Agoura Animal Shelter

(As dictated to Karen Portugal York)

P.S. I enclose another photo which more clearly reflects my gentle and amiable disposition. I’m still available to an appropriately well bred Malibu family who may arrange an appointment by calling 818-991-0071. (Business hours, please).

In response to the recent letters regarding dogs in Malibu, as beach resident for the past 20 years on west Malibu Road, I can report that the beach is overrun with dogs. The feces they leave, after chasing away birds and seals disturbing the peace and quiet, with loud persistent barking while endangering children and others, is testament to the irresponsibility and disrespect shown by their law breaking owners. The beach is not a toilet for canines despite the ignorant dog lovers’ desire that it should be their dogs’ outhouse.

The dogs are let loose in the morning to roam and dump and pee on tide-clean sand and to invade neighbors’ yards trampling through gardens. They trot down the beach and wander from their lease-carrying (not using them) owners, and when they approach other dogs, they either engage in terrifying territorial clashes or promiscuous sniffing and humping in public, while their human companions scream for dear life or just scream their names hoping for heeling obedience. They gallop barking at seagulls, sandpipers, terns, pelicans, plovers, seals, surfers and anything else that moves, acting as if they were indigenous and all the other elegant creatures that inhabit the shoreline are invaders that need to be cleared out or killed. They run in packs when a few “neighbors” walk at the same time. They leave piles of poop you cannot avoid stepping in walking barefooted.

I’ve seen children playing in the sand with poop and pee in it. They get knocked over and terrorized by galloping dogs. I’ve often laid on my back while stretching at the tide line before surfing, watching the sky and taking in fresh nourishment of the sight, sound and smell of waves in quiet contemplation just to have some barking, saliva spewing, hair shedding, wet-nosed dog poke its snout in my face then kick sand in my eyes as I shoo it away while its owners walk by with a stupid grin on their face saying, “Isn’t Fido cute.”

The bottom line is that the dog owners who use the beach for their dogs’ potty and pleasure disrespect others, disrespect the natural habitat, disrespect the peace and quiet and disrespect the law. They call anyone who objects “uptight” or “intolerant” trying to point blame instead of realizing they care more about their pets than kids or people or even delightful birds and animals that have lived along the shore forever and are such an integral part of its nature that make it so unique and beautiful (why walk there?).

Take your dogs to some park of some other dog dump run to do their business and socialize with others of similar likes. The beach is not your pets’ toilet. It is illegal (with good reasons) to have them on the beach (unless they are tied up on your own property) and I will call animal control (and encourage others) each and every time I see one being “walked” and also ask Sgt. Barrier of the Sheriff’s Department beach patrol to enforce the law (she does so gladly) and make you pay large fines as criminals until you learn respect and how to be a decent citizen and neighbor in Malibu. Beware of dog (non-lover).

Sam Birenbaum

When I met with you last week, I requested a rebuttal article regarding the MHS cheerleading squad. It appears now your reporter, Laura Tate, is gathering information with the intent of just “balancing things out.” For the record, the cheerleading coaches were not fired because it was reported Ceillia and I were allegedly permitting mistreatment and making negative comments about a special ed cheerleader. These allegations are ridiculous and false. The article published was written by a student at Malibu High School who appears to be influenced by gossip and rumors which, unfortunately, she tends to think is “hot news.”

We developed an award-winning, competitive program and are very saddened by Mr. Matthews’ decision to terminate us. This does not come from poor leadership and lack of devotion to the school and community. The cheerleading squad were equally devastated by Matthews’ sudden decision which they felt came from nowhere. We have met with Superintendent Neil Schmidt and the SMMUSD Advisory Committee because we feel the real travesty here is the effect Mr. Matthews’ untimely decision has had on the squad. Mr. Matthews did not have a qualified coach in place to immediately take over this program, midseason, just when the squad was planning to get ready for the basketball season, to perform at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, (for the second time), and prepare for competitions. A replacement coach, unfamiliar with High School cheerleading and the routines, which included very technical stunts, was not hired until the end of January. By this time, it was too late for the squad, something I think Mr. Matthews was aware of. The nine girl squad consisted of five seniors, who have now been deprived of many wonderful experiences and opportunities, which they now cannot get back. The other four girls who were new to the squad this year were anxious to participate in these first time opportunities for them.

They have all been cheated and that seems very unfair. It is my position that we were fired for political reasons, unrelated to conduct, which is still being investigated. According to your reporter, the 2000-2001 season has now come to a close. Your reporter fails to realize that it was really just beginning for the squad. Cheerleading is not just about cheering at football games.

Your reporter, Laura Tate, has not been particularly pleasant to the people she has interviewed from our side. It is clear that she favors Perrie Briskin and probably made the decision to publish her one-sided smear in your newspaper. We therefore request that we be allowed to fully respond in our own unfiltered article. To deny us this, would further add to the injustice.

Barbara Mills