Surrender Kevin

Cherry Hill-native Kevin Di Novis knows he's fortunate to have had his first film, Surrender Dorothy, selected for the 1998 Slamdance Film Festival. And it's not just because Slamdance is arguably cooler, braver and harder to get into than its more respectable older brother, the Sundance Film Festival.

It's because Di Novis knows that his movie is kind of "disturbing"—so disturbing, in fact, that one of the judges wanted the negatives burned. The story of "a heterosexual male so gynophobic that the only thing he can do is to take a man and turn him into a woman," it also creeped out Di Novis' leading man, award-winning Philadelphia actor Peter Pryor.

"Pete wouldn't return my phone calls after getting the script."

Fortunately, Pryor came around, and so did that squeamish judge. (He said any film capable of generating such a strong reaction deserved a second look.) So Surrender Dorothy joined the small group of films—12 features and 18 shorts—selected for this year's festival from a record 1,300-plus submissions. Limited to first-time, low-budget filmmakers who haven't snagged U.S. distribution deals, the festival offers invaluable exposure, and it all begins this weekend in Park City, UT (same time, same town as Sundance).

Di Novis, 29, is elated. Now if he can just convince people he's not as weird as his screenplay.

"The story is in no way autobiographical," the L.A.-based director assures us, saying his impetus for making Dorothy was the desire to make a film about domestic abuse that would have a more visceral impact than your average Movie of the Week on the subject.

And he's got mainstream dreams, too—ideas for a disaster flick and a period spy drama. Still, he's a guy who says his favorite movie of all time is that elegant paean to cannibalism, Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover—and his next script is based on "the true story of a serial killer here in L.A. who uses his charm to get a woman to act as his accomplice in a horrible string of prostitute murders."

So don't expect him to show up in your multiplex right away.

Pryor Note: Pete Pryor hasn't been seen in these parts lately because he's moved to Jersey City with his wife (fellow Philly expatriate actor Juliette Dunn) to try his luck with NYC theater. Nothing much yet, he says, except for temp jobs in investment firms. (What's he doing in investment firms? "Messing them up.")

But look for a Pryor return sometime soon. He's talking with his friend and fellow Barrymore winner Jennifer Childs about starting a theater company here this spring. Stay tuned.

Sundance Note: For a firsthand account of this year's Sundance Festival, stop by the Gershman Y at Broad and Pine on the evening of Feb. 7. Jonathan Cohen, whose film Safe Men is in the festival, will take part in a panel discussion that night following a screening of work by young filmmakers. Cohen is the son of Betsy Cohen, president of Jefferson Bank.

David Warner