To mark the 50th anniversary of Jaws, the North Fork Arts Center will host a special screening of the blockbuster film on Saturday, Aug. 30, at the historic Sapan Greenport Theatre. The event, held in partnership with the East End Seaport Museum, will feature a post-screening Q&A with Greenport resident Pat Mundus, daughter of Frank Mundus — the Montauk charter captain who inspired the character Quint.
While Jaws was set in Martha’s Vineyard, Frank Mundus gained fame fishing for sharks off Montauk and was the real-life model for Peter Benchley’s iconic character.
Showtime begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are available on the theater’s website.
Filmmaker and author Tony Spiridakis, executive director of the North Fork Arts Center, said he is excited about the opportunity to collaborate with the East End Seaport Museum for a night of entertainment and education.
“We are neighbors with the East End Seaport Museum, so we always were looking for something to do to have a wonderful synergy between our two nonprofit organizations… because what we do at the Arts Center isn’t just show movies, which we do seven days a week, 12 months a year, we also like to educate. So, we have a lot of our classes, and we do those classes year-round,” Spiridakis said in an interview with South Shore Press.
He said he considers the East End Seaport Museum to be on a kindred journey in sharing the region’s maritime history. While discussing potential projects with the museum’s new director, Erin Kimmel, Jaws quickly emerged as a natural fit.
Their conversation also led to the idea of inviting Mundus as a guest speaker, given her background watching her father take people shark fishing off Montauk.
She is also recognized in her own right within the maritime community.
“Pat was one of only 11 women to graduate from the maritime college in New York, and she worked on oil tankers for 17 years,” Spiridakis said. “She traveled the world and has a wonderful boating business, where she takes people out sailing and shows them the sights.”
Spiridakis, known for the 2023 film Ezra about raising an autistic child, said the fear surrounding sharks has endured in large part due to Steven Spielberg’s direction. In his first major film, Spielberg heightened the suspense by setting the story in a town that could resemble any American summer community.
“Nobody thought the movie would be as good as it was, but also nobody knew who this young guy Steven Spielberg was, but he turned out to be one of our greatest directors,” Spiridakis said.
Despite a fake shark that, according to Spiridakis, didn’t even scare the crew, the film avoided flop status and instead launched the era of the summer blockbuster.
“Jaws was stuck in the summer slot and scheduled to sort of die in the summertime, and no one would notice what a bad film it was and to everyone’s surprise, the movie became a phenomenon,” he said.
The North Fork Arts Center operates in a historic venue originally built as a vaudeville house in 1915. After it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938, it was rebuilt and reopened in 1941. “The theater as it is now is identical to the 1941 building, so it’s a very historic building,” Spiridakis said.
The theater was renamed after Josh Sapan, who proposed establishing a nonprofit to manage the venue, which he then donated to the community.
Spiridakis embraced the opportunity when approached, aligning with his commitment to community outreach and education.
“The whole community stepped up, and we had in 2023 1,300 donors that helped us raise over $1 million and we were able to do some improvements to the theater to make it a better experience,” he said.
The venue holds personal meaning for Spiridakis.
“I saw my first movie there in 1965 with my father and I loved the theater. I’ve always loved that theater,” he said.
The Jaws screening is intended to reconnect audiences with the theater and the maritime history of the region.
Tickets are $25. For more information, visit the North Fork Arts Center website.