Home Depot documentary to be submitted to Sundance Festival

<p>A documentary born of some Miami residents' fight to keep a Home Depot store out of their tree-lined stylish neighborhood is being considered for viewing at the Sundance Film Festival.</p><p>"Don't Box Me In," which runs just over half an hour, details the unsuccessful fight of Grove First, a Coconut Grove group, to keep the Atlanta-based home improvement chain from opening a store there.</p><p>Richard Fendelman, who was approached by the community activists' group to direct the film, said he tried to describe in a fair way the battle between Grove First and "development-friendly" city officials over the planned store's "ugly big box."</p><p>The movie contrasts the leafy, historic neighborhood with shots of sprawling, traffic-congested, overdeveloped Miami areas _ and Home Depot parking lots.</p><p>The film premieres Friday in Coconut Grove. Fendelman was also given a one-week extension to submit the movie to the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, which will be held in January. Hundreds of entries compete for 16 documentary spots.</p><p>The first DVDs of the film will be handed out at Friday's premiere.</p><p>Home Depot spokesman Jerry Shields said the chain hoped for happier scenes once the store opens _ though no opening time has been set yet.</p><p>"We can only hope that when the film is released on DVD that it will include bonus scenes of all the happy Coconut Grove residents enjoying their new Home Depot store," Shields said.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cda6a4)</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdbf3c)</p>