Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation

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. See their flick Friday, April 25, at Boulder High School, 1604 Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder ($5), and catch a special presentation on Saturday, April 26, titled "Indy-Dependent Filmmaking: How Three Teens Remade a Hollywood Epic for Next to Nothing" ($25). Strompolos and Zala will attend both events.