Sharks figure in some of the films slated for this weekend’s Woods Hole Film Festival. Bit, even though the event is in a Cape Cod town known for marine research and ferries, the offerings are cinematic, not scientific. Still, the main character in one of the films is a Harvard biologist.
“Losing Control’’ stars Miranda Kent (of the TV series “Campus Ladies’’) as a scientist in search of proof that her boyfriend is “the one.‘’ Weiss, who now lives in Los Angeles, drew on her experiences while a student at Harvard Medical School where she received her doctorate in biochemistry in 2001. “I love the romantic comedy genre, but it’s usually formulaic with female characters who fall into caricature. I don’t relate to them,‘’ says (Valerie) Weiss, who founded the Dudley Film Program at Harvard. Weiss shot “Losing Control’’ at Harvard and around Boston and Somerville. “It captures the Ivy League science world and the culture of Boston in an authentic way. Los Angeles is the opposite. In a club [in LA], for instance, it’s very sexual, with people wearing little clothing. In Boston, you’d find academics in suits,’’ she says.
And, as far as film history goes, Woods Hole figures in a big one — Jaws. The character Matt Hooper was a scientist from the WHOI. This bit of dialogue refers to a billboard-sized picture of a large shark.
Hooper: Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It’s really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that’s all. Now, why don’t you take a long, close look at this sign.
[refers to the graffitied billboard]
Hooper: Those proportions are correct.
Mayor Vaughn: Love to prove that, wouldn’t ya? Get your name into the National Geographic