Sometimes the quickest decisions are the best ones.
That would be true for independent filmmaker Jay Craven and his latest release: Asked in an interview years ago whether he would ever base one of his films in Nantucket, he answered, “Yes,” instinctively. “It will be a period piece,” he added.
Nevermind that in his eight films he’d never gone south of the New Hampshire border and nevermind he’d never done a period piece.
Before the interview had ended, he also had the story in mind, Peter and John.
“I had had involvement with the story 10 years earlier in a project that collapsed three weeks before shooting,” he said. “I saw Nantucket as perfect place for a period film and Peter and John is a seaside story.”
Now, Peter and John is a 2016 New England Emmy nominee featuring renowned actress Jacqueline Bisset. (View trailer here.) Based on the 19th century novel Pierre et Jean by Guy de Maupassant, it’s set in 1872 Nantucket, during the island’s “ghost period” – after the decline of whaling, before the rise of tourism, and in the New England shadow of the Civil War. The film tells the story of two brothers whose relationship strains when the younger one receives news of an unexpected inheritance – and both brothers become attracted to the same young woman who arrives on their island.
Along with Bisset, the film stars Christian Coulson (The Hours, Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets); Shane Patrick Kearns (Blue Collar Boys); Diane Guerrero (Orange is the New Black, Jane the Virgin); and Gordon Clapp (Matewan, Eight Men Out, Glengarry Glen Ross).
Peter and John marks Craven’s eighth narrative film based in New England – and it was recently nominated for a 2016 New England Emmy. The director’s previous pictures include five collaborations with Vermont writer Howard Frank Mosher, among them Northern Borders, with Bruce Dern and Genevieve Bujold, Disappearances, with Kris Kristofferson, and Where the Rivers Flow North with Rip Torn, Tantoo Cardinal and Michael J. Fox.
Peter and John will kick off its New Hampshire tour with an eight-day run at Red River Theatres. Craven will be on hand tonight for its premiere and a question-and-answer session afterward. Craven does these “event screenings” with most of his films. He said it is a new wave for independent filmmakers.
“Just putting it on the screen isn’t enough anymore,” he said. “It’s rooted in this region, too, where there can be a sense of connection with one’s own history and culture.”
Craven likened the interest in the films, which he admitted tends to be underestimated, to the growing interest in the local food movement; this desire to know where the product comes from.
Craven lives in the Northeast Kingdom and all of his films have been based and filmed in New England – most notably in New Hampshire and Vermont. Each film gets a tour around these states (the Vermont tour of Peter and John is running right now as well) at several well-known independent theaters across the state.
“I would argue that New Hampshire is the best with independent film programming and audience development. Very robust,” he said.
Look to the grassroots, Craven says.
“The mandate to actually make the movie and then support of the movie in its release . . . it does require the audience seeing themselves as participants, not only in content but in terms of how it’s getting made.”
Craven’s films come to be through a partnership with Marlboro College, where he is a professor. He helped found a biennial film intensive semester called Movies From Marlboro. With this program, 22 professionals mentor and collaborate with 32 students from 12 colleges. Craven said it’s a model of experiential learning that is now being used in other college tracks, such as political science and environmental science.
“They come away with skills that are marketable but still steeped in liberal arts,” he said. “We do deep research into Nantucket history, the Civil War. . . . By time we get to the six weeks of production, the kids know every square inch of the script, then they see the casting, location scouting, setting up props. They see how what has been in their mind a certain way for weeks can change.”
They also use Kickstarter to help fund these productions, and the students are a big part of that, Craven said. They kept up a blog, giving behind-the-scenes looks at the whole production of the film. With this campaign, they raised $62,000 with 439 donors. While Craven works to keep production costs down, he still is always looking for other ways to fund the project. He said direct mail doesn’t work anymore, and he feels crowdfunding is where it’s at. The next film, Wetware, just wrapped up production and has already exceeded its goal and raised $62,000.
“Kickstarter is providing more money to the arts than the National Endowment for the Arts, by far,” he said.
Peter and John will continue at Red River Theatres in downtown Concord through July 21. Other New Hampshire dates currently scheduled include Wilton Town Hall Theatre (July 15-21), Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College (July 30) and Portsmouth Music Hall (Aug. 11).
For a full schedule, go to KingdomCounty.org.