BRATTLEBORO — A new film by Vermont director Jay Craven that explores the stories of rebel schemer Ethan Allen and poet and activist Lucy Terry Prince premieres in Brattleboro this summer.
“Lost Nation,” with scenes filmed in Brattleboro and Marlboro in 2022, premieres at 7 p.m. July 10 and 11 at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, followed by 7 p.m. July 12 and 13 at The Film House at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington. These premiere events will include a Q&A with Craven and appearances by co-stars Eva Ndachi (Lucy Terry Prince) and Kevin Ryan (Ethan Allen).
Then will also be screenings, with Q&As with Craven, on:
July 26 and July 27: 7 p.m., Catamount Arts Center, St. Johnsbury
Aug. 7: 7 p.m., Highland Center for the Arts, Greensboro
Aug. 13: 7:30 p.m., Arlington Common, Arlington
Aug. 14 and 15: 7 p.m., Bennington Museum, Bennington
More dates, including one in Bellows Falls, TBA. To request a local screening, contact Craven: jcraven1590@gmail.com
“Lost Nation” explores the parallel and intersecting journeys Vermont founding father Allen and Prince, a Guilford settler whose poem, “Bars Fight,” is the first known work of African-American literature.
Craven, of Peacham, founded Kingdom County Productions with Bess O’Brien in 1991. “Lost Nation” is Craven’s 10th feature film, and he said it may be the last major project he oversees.
“This is a very ambitious film, and I sort of viewed it as my last big film,” Craven said during a shoot in Marlboro in 2022. “It’s a story I wanted to tell before I stopped making films.”
Craven, having long held an interest in Allen’s life, learned about Prince through research for a previous film that connected him with Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, author of “Mr. and Mrs. Prince: How an Extraordinary 18th-Century Family Moved out of Slavery and into Legend.”
Ndachi, speaking with Vermont News & Media in 2022, said she was not familiar with Lucy Terry Prince before her role in “Lost Nation.”
“I was just kind of stunned, I think would be the word, at the enormity of the story, the character herself,” Ndachi said, and remembers thinking, “This is a woman larger than life” — and that telling her story would be no small feat.
“This monumental woman just kind of fell through the cracks. It could have been information destroyed on purpose, we don’t know,” she said, noting that Prince’s history remains fragmented. “Jay has done a pretty good job of trying to cram a lot of things in 90 minutes.”
The film was produced through Kingdom County Productions’ Semester Cinema program, an intensive program through which professionals mentor and collaborate with students to make a feature film. The film was co-produced with Upper Valley Vermont resident Elena Greenlee and co-stars Vermont actors Rusty DeWees and Ariel Zevon. Patrick Kennedy, of Waterford, edited the film.
For tickets to screenings and to keep track of new dates and locations, visit catamountarts.org/kcp-presents.
