Raiding the Vault

Fade in. Three twelve-year-old Mississippi boys find themselves enraptured by the 1981 Lucas/Spielberg classic Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's summer, and they've yet to discover girls. Or maybe it's the girls who have yet to do the discovering. The guys rent a video camera and enlist anyone willing to come along for the ride. Their goal: to produce a shot-by-shot remake of the film that launched the Indiana Jones franchise.

Six years later, Jayson Lamb, Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala screened their finished product to family and friends, had a laugh and forgot about the film. Fifteen years after that, Harry Knowles of the online hub Ain't It Cool News got his hands on a VHS copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, screened it for a bunch of fanboys, and a legend was born. Soon enough, Lamb, Strompolos and Zala were touring Lucas's ranch and screening the film for profit to anyone who would watch it. Join filmmaker Zala and the International Film Series tonight at 7 p.m. in Muenzinger Auditorium on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus for a screening of one of the greatest DIY indie films of all time. Admission is $8 to $10; visit www.internationalfilmseries.com for information.
Fri., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., 2007