PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW

PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW
Israel 2015
Festival Screenings:
Fri May 20 | 7:00pm | SIFF Cinema Egyptian
Sat May 21 | 1:00pm | AMC Pacific Place
Princess Shaw (Samantha Montgomery) scheduled to attend both screenings

This is likely to be a big deal movie at SIFF, the more so because the subject of the documentary will not just appear but will perform.

Susan Sarandon’s character in “Bull Durham” quotes a poem by Thomas Gray called “Elegy in a Country Churchyard”

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Of course, Thomas Gray wrote before the internet, which allowed Princess Shaw, as encaved and unseen as can be imagined, to post her sweetness on You Tube in the form of songs she composes and performs a cappella. What seems to be an almost random set of complications ensued and now she has a movie about her, has been mentioned in the New York Times, and, above all, has been acknowledged as a uniquely talented person. I really think she ought to become rich and famous, against all odds.

I have to wonder how they got some of the footage in the movie. Events that occurred well before their significance was known are right there on tape. She does not seem to be acting, and these do not seem to be re-enactments. So, who taped her and why? I really do not think anything was faked for the movie, but I can’t figure it out.