Fund-Raiser to Premiere Local Film

An award-winning film about the life of Bruce Jennings, the amputee who set a transnational cross-country bicycle speed record, will debut in Orange County tonight and serve as a fund-raiser for library technology for the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.

The 1991 film, “Dream Rider,” written and directed by Bill Brown, a Fullerton Union High School teacher, features the story of the late Jennings’ life. Jennings graduated from Troy High School in Fullerton in 1971, the year he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. Five years later, he broke the bicycle speed record.

Invited to a sneak preview of the film Tuesday night were alumni of Troy High’s class of 1971 (Jennings’ graduating class), Fullerton Union High’s class of 1964 (Brown’s graduating class) and Villa Park High School’s class of 1984 (Geriak’s graduating class).

The public is invited to attend a premiere of the film tonight at 7 at Captain Blood’s Village Theatre, 1140 N. Tustin Ave., in Orange. Cost is $75 per person or $100 per couple. It will show again at noon and 2:45 p.m. Saturday at a cost of $5 per person.

Proceeds will benefit the District’s Friends of the High School Library, a support group made up of district parents and teachers. The group already has allocated $300,000 for computer technology for the district’s seven high school libraries, Friends Chairwoman Diane Oestreich said.

The special film showings this week are expected to raise $6,000 to $8,000, money that will be used to add software to the library computer system.