Way Past Cool

GAMBIER, Ohio (March 12, 2004) When Adam Davidson, Class of 1986, heard that his movie The Lunch Date had won the prize as best short film at the 1990 Cannes International Film festival, he is reported to have said, "Not bad for a Kenyon football player."

Then a student in Columbia University's film school, Davidson also won the prize for best student work from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The same day, the Directors Guild of America named him the year's outstanding new director. A few months later, The Lunch Date won the Academy Award for best short film.

Some thirteen years later, Davidson is still winning critical praise. His debut feature film, Way Past Cool, an adaptation of Jess Mowry's award-winning best seller, recently made its debut on DVD and video. New York magazine critic Peter Rainer calls Way Past Cool "a magical little movie about a most unmagical subject."

The film is a kind of coming-of-age story told in reverse: it's the moving tale of a group of young black kids and their fight to reclaim their childhood.

The film was screened at Kenyon in 1998 as a work in progress during a two-day workshop on the film industry. Davidson was one of seven alumni who returned to campus to show their work and hold discussions about aspects of the trade.

One of the nation's leading liberal arts and sciences colleges and home to the Kenyon Review, Kenyon College offers 1,594 students a challenging educational experience enriched by a culture of friendship. Graduates of the College have included actor and philanthropist Paul Newman and author E. L. Doctorow.