Shallow Waters

The Public Death of Raymond Zack

How does a mentally ill person drown himself in a few feet of water on a crowded Memorial Day beach?

A tall, middle-aged, fully dressed man walks up to his shoulders into the cold shallow waters of San Francisco Bay; and he waits. Police and Fire units respond in droves; and they wait. A good-sized crowd watches and waits as the sand in the man's hourglass runs out. Succumbing to the cold and rising tide, the man loses consciousness within the hour. His body is left to drift slowly back to shore.... and still, they wait...

Winner of multiple awards - including Best Documentary (New Hope Film Festival 2016), and screened at the convention of the American Psychological Association (2016) - "SHALLOW WATERS: The Public Death of Raymond Zack" deconstructs the events of that hour in an attempt to understand what happened and why. What were they all waiting for?