Circuit Arts, parent organization of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, announces a celebration of the work of the Island’s local filmmaking community on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 7 pm at the Grange Hall. According to a press release, the evening will feature three short films and part of a feature film-in-progress made by filmmakers with Island ties. Each filmmaker will be present to discuss their work after the screenings.
“Adrift,” from born-and-mostly-raised Islander and Circuit Films staffer Tom Ellis, is described as a 19-minute “existential drama about the end of an era, life afloat, and an uncertain place and time.”
Seasonal resident James Graham will share his 38-minute narrative sci-fi film “Aeon.” Earth’s ecosystem has collapsed, so humanity turns to the stars. Main character Aeon, age 23, has been attempting to complete his mother’s work to establish a permanent food supply on another planet named Elpis. “Since her death, he feels as though he has made zero progress and is more alone than ever before,” the release says. “The only human born there, he is racing against the clock to find a solution before Earth’s remaining survivors arrive. As his search takes him deeper into Elpis, he begins to realize that he may not be the only creature calling it home.”
“Freshwater” is a new 10-minute documentary written and directed by award winning filmmaker and writer dream hampton, a seasonal resident of Martha’s Vineyard. “It is an experimental video short exploring the concept of water as an archive and as a force both of harmony and devastation,” as described in the press release. The short is a narrated portrait of the disappearing Black city of Detroit, hampton’s hometown, as well as a tale of remembrance and maintaining connections in the wake of climate catastrophe. The film unveils the “fluid nature of memory in familial and geographical legacies.” Circuit Arts writes that the film has recently been picked up by the New York Times Op-Docs and PBS.
Closing out the night will be year-round Islanders Liz Witham and Ken Wentworth of Film Truth Productions as they share a 10-minute excerpt from their feature film-in-progress “Follow the Journey.” The film documents a year in the life of one of the most endangered creatures on Earth, the North Atlantic right whale. “As seven newborn calves are guided up the Eastern Seaboard by their mothers, from Florida to Canada’s Maritime Provinces, their 2,000-mile journey is monitored by a close-knit network of researchers racing to save the species from oblivion,” the release describes.
Pay-what-you-can tickets are available at circuitarts.org/events.
