7.2 /10 1 Votes
Directed by Gregorio Smith Edited by Gregorio Smith Director Gregorio Smith Producer Gregorio Smith | 7.3/10 IMDb Produced by Gregorio Smith Initial release 14 May 2005 (USA) Screenplay Gregorio Smith Editor Gregorio Smith | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Written by Screenplay:
Gregorio Smith
Story:
Gregorio Smith Starring Joe Grappone
Lesley Evans
Jaime Mercado Running time 51 minutes (Director's Cut) Cast Gregorio Smith, Joe Grappone, Byron Teunisen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Staten island catapult trailer
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.
Contents
The film won a Verrazzano Award for Best Documentary Short at the inaugural 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 City 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 five minutes.
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 copyright infringement and self-publishing, as the director creates a bootleg DVD of Staten Island Catapult and hires an actress to sell it on the streets of New York City.