OCEANSIDE: Film festival troubled over whether to show sex offender's movie

8-3-2012 California:

A movie filmed partly in Oceanside and featuring some local residents could be pulled from the Oceanside International Film Festival set for later this month, after organizers learned it was produced, written and directed by a registered sex offender.

Mark Charles Maine ---- who entered his film,  "Music High" in the festival ----  pleaded guilty in 2007 to a charge of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age in connection to an incident that happened in 1995.

The movie is scheduled to be screened  at 10 a.m. Aug. 17 at Grace Chapel of the Coast as part of the festival, which runs Aug. 16-19.

Festival chairman Dmitriy Demidov said Friday that organizers and the festival sponsor, the Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation, were having second thoughts about showing the PG-13 rated movie after learning this week about Maine's background.

"I would not want my daughter to be around this individual because I'm a parent," Demidov said in an interview. But he said the movie is the product of lots of people, including many Oceanside High School students who appear in it.

"I don't see any danger to anybody," Demidov said. "There are many wonderful people looking forward to this."

Maine met with some foundation members and festival organizers late Friday to appeal for them to put his background aside and screen "Music High" as planned in what would be its premiere.

"I think it's a good film, I think it's great having it in the festival," Maine said. "It's a fabulous little film."

Demidov said no decision would be made until foundation directors meet again to discuss the matter.

Another option to pulling the film would be to show it but ban Maine from attending the screening, Demidov said.

"That would be sad," Maine said.

Maine was arrested in December 2006 for an incident in late 1995 that involved a relative, he said. The 54-year-old Maine said he pleaded guilty to the charge so the victim wouldn't have to testify at a trial.

A former San Diego police officer, Maine said he served four months on a work furlough program, completed court-ordered therapy and was on probation for three years.

Once probation was complete, Maine said, there were no restrictions imposed on his activities, except that he register as a sex offender.

"That incident that happened in late ‘95 is not the sum of who I am," Maine said. He said he's told his neighbors and everyone who works with him of his past.

"That's a mark, a scar I have on me," Maine said. "Some people are very forgiving, some are understanding. I don't want to say it wasn't a crime. It was a crime, it was an incident, but it's certainly not something that the neighborhood, the community needs to be fearful of 17 years later."

Nevertheless, Maine said he understands the discomfort that some people feel.

"They sometimes can't get over it, maybe they have an incident in their own family, in their own past and they can't get over that," Maine said.

His movie. "Music High," was filmed at Mesa College in San Diego and El Camino High School in Oceanside, Maine said.

Inspired by El Camino High School history teacher and musician Tom Voris, the movie tells the story of a high school music teacher coping with school budget cuts and trying to unify a class and a school divided over their taste in music ---- from heavy metal to country.
Voris is the musical director of the movie and founder of the Fabulous Rudies band, whose songs are featured in the movie.

Voris said Friday that he's known Maine since "the mid ‘90's" and has worked with him on past projects but only learned of Maine's conviction while working on "Music High."

"When I found out, it was probably the same shock as everybody else," Voris said.

After talking with Maine and the victim, Voris said he decided to finish the film.

"I know he's changed his life around," Voris said. "I believe in second chances. I'm not saying I would let my daughter hang out with him."

Voris said he understands why there might be some concern about the film festival featuring Maine's movie but he said the movie should stand on its own merits, not on Maine's past.

"It was something that he made a mistake on and he wants to make good movies and this is the best thing he's made," Voris said. "It's not like he's a criminal today."

Besides "Music High," Maine has made three other films: "Beach Bar, The Movie," "Hole in One" and "Nothing's Right." He said he's working on a sequel to "Music High" called "Fearless."

Maine said questions about his past have arisen while he was working on the movies he made prior to "Music High" but that his company's shareholders and employees "stand in support" of him and some attended his court sentencing.

Maine said he's made no secret of his past, sending an email in October explaining it to people who worked with his film company, Angelic Pictures to quell rumors and what he said was an attempt to blackmail him.

In the email, Maine wrote that his offense "consisted of a brief lapse of moral judgment" and that he pleaded guilty "to salvage my family and do the honorable thing."
"This was a private family matter that has been dealt with in full by myself, my wife and my family," Maine wrote. ..Source.. by Ray Huard