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Movie Makers Honored
3 state residents win in competition
By MEREDITH GUINNESS
Staff writer
Stratford filmmaker Gary Maynard came back from a Los Angeles stint two years ago to make a
splash on the fledgling Connecticut film scene.
The decision paid off when the 33-year-old won one of three top prizes in the Connecticut Film and Video Competition last
month. Maynard's entry, and films by Branford native Carol Jennings and David Kaul of Redding, were recently broadcast by
Connecticut Public Television.
Culled from more than 30 entries, the three films show the breadth of
Conencticut's film and video industry, said Susan Docker, a spokesman for the competition.
"All of them were of very high quality," she said. "We have a lot of creative, qualified people in
Connecticut."
Maynard's film "Medicine Men" deals with a Native American man who chooses to be a medical internist rather than
follow what may be his ancestral destiny as a traditional medicine man.
Maynard worked in Los Angeles after graduation, including a stint as a special effects technician on "Star Trek: The Next
Generation." The producer left the hectic L.A. lifestyle behind to work on his own films, teach screenwriting and film
appreciation and work as a literary agent for script writers from his Stratford home.
Though it's not a true story, Maynard said he hopes his film will foster discussion on cultural expectations and medical
dilemmas.
"It's like "Kung Fu" meets "ER," he said. "But the film asks a lot of questions, like, Is it
best to preserve life after it's lost a certain quality? The story is very intimate."
