STRATHMERE (wt)
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Strathmere
Images
bayside
beach
Website
Topics
Environment: Climate Change, Conservation, Environmental Activism, Oceans
Human Development: Land, Population, Shelter & Housing, Tourism
Information & Media: Culture
Politics: Activism, Civil Society, Ethics & Value Systems, Governance
Project Geography
US: New Jersey
International: North America
Identity Niches
Budget
Raised to date: $ 24,000.00
Estimate to complete: $ 120,600.00
Total Estimated Budget: $ 144,600.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 04/23/2009
Status
Post Production
Media Type
Video
Project End Use
TV
Key Personnel
Ann Tegnell
co-producer/co-director/editor
Ann Tegnell is an Academy Award nominated producer-director and editor, and dedicated collaborator. Her producer-director-editor credits include the Emmy nominated KNEE DEEP with Sharon Mullally (National APT distribution and PBS-WYBE Philadelphia Stories 4), CROSSTOWN with Miriam Camitta (PBS-WYBE Philadelphia Stories 1), and A Family Gathering with Lise Yasui (Academy Award Nomination, PBS - The American Experience, Gold Hugo, Cine Gold Eagle, Gold Apple Awards). As editor, Ann’s credits expand to include the ITVS supported documentary Mirror Dance (PBS - Independent Lens), BALLYCASTLE (PBS/National APT distribution, WYBE Philadelphia Stories 4), The Curse of Tutankhamun (The Discovery Channel), W.E.B. De Bois: A Biography in Four Voices (PBS), SUSUMU: A Tone Poem in Three Movements (Silver Hugo), and MUSICAL KIDS (Best National PBS Arts Program, PBS-WHYY).
Years of freelancing as PD and editor on countless media projects for corporations, nonprofit organizations, production groups and other independent makers has kept everything together. To facilitate these projects, Ann has had an on-going partnership with Hall Media Productions where her non-broadcast accolades include top honors in the AXIEM, Telly and Creative Summit Awards. Recent work with Glenn Holsten of glennfilms includes innovative documentary-style marketing pieces for Merion Mercy Academy, St. Francis de Sales Catholic School, PIFFARO - The Renaissance Band, The University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School, The American Association of Museums, and 24 individual portraits of the 2007+2008 Pew Fellows in the Arts.
Ann has four collaborations currently in the works: ¿DÓNDE ESTÁN? The Disappeared Children of El Salvador, with producers Maria Rodriguez and Katherine Pyle and co-funded by Latino Public Broadcasting, tells the story of three children, now adults, who were separated from their families during the Salvadoran civil war and now search to reclaim their lost identities; Making Waves with Frances McElroy, supported by the William Penn Foundation, the Independence Foundation and others, looks at access, affordability and diversity in the sport of rowing; The General's Daughter with Glenn Holsten tells of artist Lily Yeh's personal journey to China to uncover her father's past and the meaning of their relationship; and STRATHMERE with Frances McElroy, which explores the value, and fate, of a quirky South Jersey shore town.
Prior to beginning her freelance career, Ann was associate producer / editor for the weekly ABC-WPVI PRIME TIME show, received an MFA in Communications from Temple University where she made eight award-winning films in four years, and a BA Summa cum laude in Film from San Francisco State University. Ann teaches regularly at the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia and contributes many hours to mentoring young media makers. She is a founding member of The Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association, having served on the Executive Board and chaired the PIFVA Cash and In-Kind Subsidies.
Ann is president and co-founder of extendedPLAY inc., a non-profit educational media group. www.extendedPLAY.org
Frances McElroy
co-producer/co-director
Frances McElroy is the founder of SHIRLEY ROAD PRODUCTIONS www.shirleyroadproductions.org, an award-winning, nonprofit video/film production organization, incorporated in 1991. Frances has over twenty years experience in developing and producing programs for public television and the nonprofit sector. Currently in production, STRATHMERE is a documentary about a small barrier island town whose community and way of life are threatened by economic and environmental forces. The documentary is being co-directed and co-produced with Ann Tegnell and has received support from the Philadelphia Foundation and others. Frances is also producing/directing a one-hour documentary for public television called MAKING WAVES (working title). With the support of the William Penn Foundation, the Independence Foundation and others, it looks at access, affordability and diversity in the sport of rowing. Other recent projects include MIRROR DANCE (2005; co-producer / co-director with Maria Rodriguez), a one-hour documentary for PBS about Cuban twin sisters whose once inseparable relationship was torn apart by international politics. The documentary was supported by ITVS, Latino Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Philadelphia Foundation, the 5-Country Arts Fund and the Montgomery County Foundation. It premiered on the national PBS series INDEPENDENT LENS in 2005 and was recently acquired by the PBS Digital Channel’s series GLOBAL VOICES. MIRROR DANCE received a CINE, Society of Professional Journalists First Prize for Documentary Excellence, and an award of merit from LASA (Latin American Studies Association).
In 2004, Frances produced/directed BALLYCASTLE, a half-hour documentary about painter Stuart Shils, whose life was transformed by his encounter with a remote Irish village. It was distributed nationally by the American Public Television Network and WHYY (PBS/Philadelphia). The program won a 2004 CINE Golden Eagle Award and First Prize for Documentary Excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists. Funders include the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Leeway Foundation, Claneil Foundation and the 5-County Arts Fund. AN ANGEL IN THE VILLAGE (1999; producer) is a documentary about Philadelphia-based, Chinese-born artist and activist Lily Yeh. The program was presented on PBS by ITVS and the Central Educational Network. It received the 2000 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award for best cultural program, First Prize for Documentary Excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists and a Gabriel Award. Project funders include ITVS, The William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia Foundation, The Phoebe Haas Charitable Trust, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association.
Frances also produced/directed the Emmy nominated OUR FOOD OUR FUTURE (2001) which looks at new ways of addressing food, farm and nutrition challenges. It was distributed nationally by the American Public Television Network. From 1981-1991, Ms. McElroy was Director of Program Development and a producer/director at WHYY-TV (PBS/Philadelphia). Her WHYY credits include PHILADELPHIA'S ED BACON, (producer/director) and the Emmy award-winning WHO IS RED GROOMS? (co-ordinating producer). In 1988, she directed the international public television INPUT conference. She has been an instructor at the Scribe Video Center and is a founding member of the Philadelphia Independent Film/Video Association Board of Directors. She received a 1998 Window of Opportunity Documentary Artist Award from the Leeway Foundation and an artist's residency to attend the 40th Annual Robert Flaherty Seminar. Ms. McElroy was a member of Senator Edward M. Kennedy's Senate staff for ten years. Her B.A. in history/political science is from Rosemont College.
Outreach/Engagement Plan(s)
Strathmere is aimed at a national PBS audience. If it is not programmed on one of the national documentary strands (POV, INDEPENDENT LENS), we anticipate distribution by the American Public Television Network. It will also be available through DVD, and possibly download, to educational institutions and organizations and individuals that have a particular focus on communities, community development, the environment and natural resources, and small town sustainability. Through real and virtual networks, we will work to establish relationships and provide material to entities with interests in these issues. A complete website will be created specifically for the piece with multiple links, feeds, blogs, photos, videos and the latest widgets. This will be a key tool before and after broadcast release. We will also utilize on-line and social networking platforms for promotion and distribution (i.e. YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter.)Funders
| Name | Amount | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Philadelphia Foundation | $ 10,000.00 | 02/01/2008 | |
| Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association | $ 1,000.00 | 01/22/2008 | |
| Blue Eyes Foundation | $ 500.00 | 12/01/2007 | |
| Philadelphia Stories 6 | $ 2,500.00 | 10/01/2007 | |
| The Philadelphia Foundation | $ 10,000.00 | 03/11/2006 |
Location(s)
312 Rices Mill Road
Wyncote, PA, 19095
See Google Maps
Short Synopsis
STRATHMERE is a poetic film about a quirky South Jersey shore town, passion for place, and the value of such places to the human spirit. This fragile barrier island is facing profound social and environmental changes even as its residents fight to keep a grip on this place they love.
Description/Treatment
A one-hour television documentary, STRATHMERE tells the story of a small New Jersey fishing and vacation town on the cusp of irrevocable change. Soaring property values, skyrocketing taxes, a shrinking year-round population and severe environmental changes increasingly endanger the character of this fragile barrier island community. STRATHMERE portrays a cross section of residents who reveal their passion for the island, while viewers come to understand the value of such places to the human spirit.
Background / Context
Founded as a commercial and sport fishing community in the 1880s, Strathmere gradually evolved into a small town of year-round residents and long-term summer visitors drawn by the beach, the bay and the meadow. Though of different backgrounds and class, the residents relied on each and shared the communal experience of small town living. Today, it’s a town where residents of the trailer park coexist with owners of multi-million-dollar beach-front homes. It’s a caring, self-reliant community with an active relationship to the natural environment. Multiple generations of families provide a valuable sense of continuity. While located on New Jersey’s densely populated \southern coast, the atmosphere and environment of Strathmere are as different from its resort neighbors as night is from day.
But winds of change are blowing through Strathmere. While the economy of 2009 has put most real estate development on hold, the value of ocean and bay front property remains highly attractive to developers and the town remains vulnerable to the same economic pressures that have altered shore communities up and down our American coasts. By 2005, the staggering rise in property values resulted in soaring tax increases, forcing many longtime residents to pack up and move across the bridge. As each mega-house sprouted on Strathmere’s sandy strip of land, affordable housing began to vanish along with working families and seniors who have traditionally formed the heart of the town. Now, only a handful of town children attend the off-island public school, while Strathmere pays a disproportionate 17% of the regional school tax. There is real fear that Strathmere will soon lose its involved year-round residents entirely and become nothing more than a resort town for wealthy summer-people hustling between the beach and their air-conditioned houses.
Using Strathmere as a metaphor for other small towns under pressure, we ask what these places contribute to our society and what’s at risk when they are threatened. The documentary will be offered for PBS broadcast through WHYY or NJN. The project demonstrates the power of the documentary art form to create awareness among a wide demographic through television broadcast and, subsequently, through community educational outreach.
Through television broadcast, subsequent community outreach and creative marketing, our artistic documentary approach will generate discussion and greater awareness among a diverse audience drawn to history, architecture, community life and the coastal environment. STRATHMERE is a visual poem of a place guided less by plot or chronology than by feeling. Passion for place transcends time and memory as the documentary traverses the four seasons merging impressionistic visions of the past, present and future of the town. By replacing traditional narrative and fact-driven documentary with an unexpected and fresh form, STRATHMERE’S arresting style causes viewer to pause, watch, discover and engage.
Treatment
Laced with humor and emotion, STRATHMERE is a poem about the past, present and future of a small seaside town. Using the elements of time and memory, the documentary draws a portrait of the place through the often-quirky first person reveries of a cross section of residents who share a passionate history with Strathmere.
They include Eddie Andress, a toll-taker on the inlet bridge, and his father Ed, who are both longtime watermen from a family of watermen. Elizabeth Bergus is an octogenarian year-round resident whose wealthy Philadelphia family began vacationing in Strathmere in the 1920s. Frank Jankowski is the laid-back owner of his family’s third generation bait and tackle shop.
Cinematographer Boris Romanenko not only knows how to tell a documentary story visually, he sees relations between things we mortals might miss. His moving image poems of place work a quiet counterpoint to the narrative. Advancing the story, the changing atmosphere associated with the passing of the seasons provides a structure on which to interweave the narrative thread. The film begins in the promise of spring, when the town’s peaceful atmosphere evokes the simplicity of times past when the town was a magnet for fishermen and a handful of year-round and summer families. Spring seamlessly segues to summer as the lifeguards return to the beach and when Strathmere is at its liveliest and most colorful. This is the time when families and friends form simple lasting memories such as the Fourth of July parade and the fishing tournaments. In the autumn, amidst the increasingly quiet atmosphere and sharpening shadows over the wetlands, a foreboding of change begins to build. The small fleet of fishing boats from Frank’s marina are towed from the water, a memorial is dedicated to a recently deceased resident, and an autumn storm floods the bay side street and homes which evokes memories of hurricanes which devastated the island. Winter reveals houses which are largely shuttered and streets which are empty, the single stop light swings in the winter wind as sand blows and drifts over the dunes. The town's stark cold and wintry drama suggests an increasing menace. Throughout the piece, a growing sense of impending danger warns of coming change and loss.
Current Status
The project began in July 2004. Production has been sporadic, pending available funding. By the fall of 2008, principal photography was largely complete, although we envision the need for several additional days prior to completion. Over 4 years, we have spent time living in Strathmere immersing ourselves in the daily lives of the residents, and shooting footage of the town, its natural environment, its people and community atmosphere. We also conducted long-form interviews with various town residents and have focused on a small number for more in-depth commentary. The future of Strathmere is as uncertain as the ocean and the shifting of the sands. We don’t know, yet, how the story will end. It is a cautionary tale meant to encourage watchfulness of those special places. A rough assemblage of the documentary has been completed.