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2009 Press Release
Original "Gidget" to Make Special Appearance at LBI's Lighthouse International Film Festival
Long Beach Island, NJ
May 13, 2009
Surfing icon and inspiration for the world famous book, film and television series "Gidget" will attend Long Beach Island's first film festival
The Lighthouse International Film Festival is proud to announce that the original "Gidget," - Kathy Kohner Zuckerman - will be making a special guest appearance at Long Beach Island's first film festival. In honor of the festival's special focus on its surfing legacy, Kohner Zuckerman will be in attendance to talk to attendees about her life, career and legacy.
"I am so excited that the Lighthouse International Film Festival has invited me to LBI, a gem of a surfer's paradise, " said Kohner Zuckerman. "I look forward to sharing my abundance of fun stories," she said, adding that she also hopes to give her audience a sense of "that spunk, vitality and 'endless summer' kind of life that Gidget the movie portrayed." Kohner Zuckerman, who also will be treating her audience to glimpses of the diary she kept as a teenager, adds enthusiastically that the surfing spirit stays with you forever. "Once a surfer, always a surfer!"
The most famous female surfer of all time, Kohner Zuckerman was a fixture among the much older male surfers in 1950s Malibu. The "first girl surfer" (as she has been called) would not settle for merely watching the guys surf from the sidelines, so she picked up a board to join them. To chronicle her experiences, she suggested to her father, now legendary screenwriter Frederick Kohner, that he write a book about her exploits. The rest is surf history! Gidget was published in 1957 and became an international bestseller, spawning numerous sequels. Two years later, Hollywood came calling, with renowned actress Sandra Dee playing the now iconic teen surfer. Gidget was then famously brought to the small screen by ABC in the mid-1960s, launching the career of actress Sally Field.
Kohner Zuckerman has since been named one of the ten most influential surfers of the 20th century by the magazine Surfer, is a member of the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and wrote the foreword for the current edition of the book that made her famous.
"I am thrilled that Kathy - aka Gidget - has chosen to attend our inaugural festival. LBI has long been considered one of the best and most beautiful places for surfing on the East Coast, so the fact that the woman who embodies the idea of surf and film will be a part of our event is beyond what we could have hoped for when putting this festival together, " said festival organizer Charlie Prince.
Kohner Zuckerman will appear at the festival kick-off party on Friday June 5th. On Saturday, June 6th, she will give a talk about her life, surfing and the book "Gidget," by her father Frederick Kohner, which she wrote the introduction to and organized the re-issuing of in 2001. Further details on her appearance will be announced with the festival schedule on Friday, May 15th.
About the Lighthouse International Film Festival
The Lighthouse International Film Festival was founded by a collection of filmmakers, film critics and film industry professionals who share a passion for film and wanted to create an event aimed first and foremost at film enthusiasts. The 2009 festival will present feature films, 20 shorts, documentaries and family films, as well as panel discussions with leading film industry professionals. Taking place on Long Beach Island, NJ -- one of the East coast's most popular surfing destinations -- the festival celebrates four days of new, exciting and challenging films in honor of Long Beach Island's historic Barnegat Lighthouse.
Follow the Festival on Twitter and Facebook. For more information, please visit http://lighthousefilmfestival.org or contact information@lighthousefilmfestival.org.
Please direct all press inquiries to Farrah Hamid.
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