BRATTLEBORO — Vermont director Jay Craven's new film “Northern Borders” will have its world premiere on Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m, at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro.
“Latchis Theater will be a genuine world premiere,” says Craven. “No one has seen the finished film yet, and I am eager to find out how it plays in front of an audience.”
Craven says he believes that facing an audience is the final stage of interaction in the collaborative process of filmmaking. “In the past, I have often tweaked a film after a premiere,” he says, “so we have to see what happens. But I am feeling pretty good about the film.”
The premiere of “Northern Borders” is also a benefit to finish financing the film. Craven managed to make the film for only $500,000, but he still needs to raise $60,000 to cover production costs. Premiere ticket holders are also welcome to a reception preceding the film from 5 to 7 p.m., where they will meet members of the cast and crew.
In conjunction with this world premiere, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center will present a 30-minute documentary by Marlboro College student Petey Petersen on the making of “Northern Borders” on Thursday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m.
Following the screening of Petersen's documentary, Craven will discuss Movies from Marlboro, the innovative partnership between Marlboro College and Kingdom County Productions that brought together 20 film professionals and 34 recent college graduates to create Northern Borders.
Admission to the screening is free for BMAC members and Marlboro College students, faculty, and staff; $5 for everyone else.
Brattleboro marks the start of a 100-town tour throughout New England to show and promote his new film.
The world premiere at the Latchis is followed April 11 with a screening at the Bellows Falls Opera House in Rockingham.
In the subsequent three evenings, the film will be shown at the Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier City Hall, Main Street Landing in Burlington, and ASAC 100 at Lyndon State College (presented in association with the inauguration of LSC President Joe Bertolini).
All show times are 7 p.m.
Shot using locations from Windham County and Chesterfield N.H., “Northern Borders” tells the story of 10-year-old Austen Kittredge, who in 1956 is sent by his father to live on his firm but loving grandparents' Vermont farm, where he experiences wild adventures and uncovers long-kept family secrets.
Based on a novel by Vermont author Howard Frank Mosher that Fannie Flagg in The New York Times Book Review called “a touching and unforgettable portrait of a people and time,” “Northern Borders” is a humorous coming-of-age story that evokes the wildness, sublime beauty, and haunted history of Vermont.
The film stars Academy Award–nominated actors Bruce Dern and Geneviève Bujold, Jessica Hecht, 12-year-old Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, and a supporting cast featuring six local Vermont and New Hampshire actors, including 16-year-old Irene Shamas of Putney.
Craven says the film was the best filmmaking experience he has ever had.
“Northern Borders is a chamber drama which takes viewers into a world they have never been before,” he says. “The character-rich story about a boy and his grandparents is perhaps a more intimate drama than I usually have done in the past.”
Craven has been on a tight schedule to finish the film. He is now working on the sound and music, the digital color correction, and taking a final listen to the sound edit.
“Last week, when I was on spring break from Marlboro College, I was doing the final touches on the film in a cheap hotel in Boston that was so noisy I had to turn the heat up full blast to think, and then cool down in a pool the size of a dining room table,” he says.
First time shooting, projecting in digital
To show this film at the Latchis, Craven faces the challenge of projecting a digital film. “Northern Borders” is Craven's first film that he has shot digitally. Of the technology, he says, “Well, it's the way of making films now. It certainly is cheaper than traditional film, since I don't have to go to the a film lab to develop it. I must say that digital film has reached such a high level of quality, that even though I never thought I would work in digital, I am remarkably happy with it.”
But the new technology meant that for “Northern Borders,” Craven needed to establish a new way to get a regional independent movie made.
“As it always is, independent filmmaking is a changing business,” he says. “My last film was 'Disappearances' (2006), which by my standards was quite a success. It sold over 120,000 DVDs, and was shown in 28 countries. It was distributed by Netflix and shown on television via Showtime and Starz. Nonetheless, 'Disappearances,' which cost $2 million to make, did not recoup production costs.
“The business is stacked against independent films in this country. In France or Canada, when a film is sold to television, a filmmaker can count on a million dollars, whereas in this country it is $20,000 at most. Major powerful producers do not want to finance regional cultural films or major cultural films that will not be blockbusters suitable for an international market. Even a hugely successful cultural film like 'Lincoln,' which has big names like Steven Spielberg directing and Daniel Day-Lewis as its star, makes a limited amount of money when compared to things like 'Men in Black' or 'Batman,'” he says.
Against that backdrop, Craven produced “Northern Borders” as a unique collaboration between Kingdom County Productions and Marlboro College, where Craven is professor of film and video. The film was made as part of a semester-long film intensive called Movies from Marlboro.
By using students and recent graduates from 15 colleges, who worked alongside 20 filmmaking professionals on every level of production, Craven was able to make his new film for a fraction of the production costs of “Disappearances.”
“John Dewey, the educational pioneer, has said that intensive learning enlarges meaning through shared experiences in joint activities,” Craven says. “The students and recent graduates played a vital role in this film. They did more than haul cables; they played a part in script development and all the changes in the script which we worked through on a weekly basis. Students and interns have told me that they found it a transformative experience.”
And Craven is quick to point out that the students were not working at low-level positions; they worked cameras, were assistant directors, and even directed 18 small scenes.
“We pushed students and interns as high into the structure as we could do. Did this result in any flaws in the film? Yes, but ultimately everything was fine. The film was not compromised. And the end result was they took part in a major role in a real full-tilt feature film,” he says.
Kudos to Marlboro College
Craven says he believes that Marlboro College's collaboration on this film deserves credit for its daring. He says that while more colleges have been pulling back as the cost of higher education has “gone through the roof,” Marlboro has fully committed not only to “Northern Borders,” but also to a new project next year.
“Building on these experiences and by using recent developments in independent film production and distribution,” Craven concludes, “I believe that Movies from Marlboro will help chart a new course for how independent films get made and distributed.
“And based on our very positive experience making 'Northern Borders,' we've now got a second project in development, which we plan to again shoot with professionals and students from multiple colleges during the spring semester of 2014.”