Zap Revisited
Recent publicity about the North Dakota “Zip to Zap” 40th anniversary might leave some, particularly the younger generation, wondering what all the fuss is about. Zap Revisited, a documentary film by North Dakota native Chris Breitling, offers a look at this unlikely event through the perspective of those who experienced it first-hand. An anniversary celebration will be held at the site of the original “Zip to Zap”, also known as the “Zap-In”, Saturday, May 16.
“There are many sides and conflicting opinions as to what really happened during the Zip to Zap,” said Breitling. “While my film doesn’t tell the whole story, it does shed some light on this complicated subject without oversimplifying it. What’s been most satisfying for me is hearing people who were there in 1969 say they think I got it right.”
Early research led Breitling to several individuals who had intimate knowledge of the Zip to Zap origins, among them Charles Stroup, who was then North Dakota State University (NDSU) Student Body President, and Kevin Carvell, editor of NDSU’s student newspaper, The Spectrum. Carvell wrote the tongue-in-cheek article that promoted a spring break picnic in Zap as an alternative to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The article, picked up by the national press, unwittingly spurred a chain of events leading to prairie mayhem and N.D. Guardsmen clashing with partying students.
A 1983 graduate of West Fargo (N.D.) High School, Breitling was a graduate student in film at Chicago’s Columbia College when he produced the documentary.
“I shot it with a borrowed camera during my Christmas break in 1990, driving to Zap without much of a plan, shooting scenery in sub-zero temperatures and lining up interviews on the fly,” he said. “I was really just learning the process of documentary filmmaking at the time and probably made a lot of mistakes. I was also lucky to land some great interviews with colorful characters and finding choice snippets of news footage.”
Producing Zap Revisited was an early career milestone for Breitling, who is now the Production Manager and Editor for InHealth, a San Francisco Bay Area 24-hour cable health and wellness educational channel. The documentary has been featured on Prairie Public Television, and in 1992 Breitling was invited to screen it at a conference on oral history held by the State Historical Society in Bismarck. A copy of Zap Revisited is also on file in the State Archives.
Zap Revisited is being sold by Zap residents during the town’s anniversary festivities, is available online at www.ZapRevisited.com, or contact Breitling directly at cbreitling@gmail.com;
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
