PAWLET — The Pawlett and Rupert Historical Societies will present Vermont filmmaker Jay Craven’s film “Lost Nation” on Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. The screening will take place at Mettawee Community School with a snow date of Feb. 8.
A question and answer session and refreshments will immediately follow the film, presented to the public free of charge.
“Lost Nation” is a Revolutionary War-era action drama set in the early upstart Republic of Vermont. “Lost Nation” stars Irish actor Kevin Ryan (“Copper,” Harry Wild”) as Vermont founding father and rebel schemer, Ethan Allen, who leads resistance to New Yorker land claims, launches an ill-fated attack on British forces in Montreal, and leads invasions by his Green Mountain Boys into Yorker strongholds of Guilford and Brattleboro. At every turn, Allen navigates thick entanglements with allies, enemies, and family.
“Lost Nation’s” parallel and intersecting story features Kenyan actress Eva Ndachi (“Beautifully Broken”) as Lucy Terry Prince, whose poem, “Bars Fight,” about the 1746 Deerfield Massacre, is the first known work of African American literature. Enslaved in Western Massachusetts at the age of 3 – for 30 years – Terry then settled with her family on a Guilford homestead carved out of the forest by her husband, formerly enslaved frontier transport operator, Abijah Prince.
“With “Lost Nation,” Craven said, “We took what we learned from historical research to build a sometimes-surprising story. One revelation – the scarcity of information available about early Vermont women and people of color – and the amount of turbulence, strife and dramatic action during the late 18th century here, from whippings and land confiscations to fires set to settle political scores and Ethan Allen’s two invasions of southeastern Vermont towns. The wild west had nothing on what happened in Vermont during this time.”
“There’s a lot of known history about the Allens – though no images of what Ethan looked like,” Craven continued. “There is also plenty that is not known. Some new research has been put forward by historians, only recently, that enriches and complicates Allen’s story. For the Princes, less is known but court and town records reveal plenty of drama.”
Like Ethan Allen, the Princes found themselves caught up in turbulent times that threatened their prospects for the land and freedom they sought. Like Allen, Lucy Prince upset the status quo in her assertive use of early Vermont’s legal and political systems to defend her family in the face of pressure and threats.
Prince family antagonist, aspiring Guilford politician John Noyes, is played by Rob Campbell (“The Crucible,” “Ethan Frome,” “The Unforgiven”). British intelligence chief and former Green Mountain Boy co-founder Justus Sherwood is played by Barry Del Sherman (“There Will Be Blood,” “American Beauty”) and Lucy Prince’s daughter Drucilla is played by young actress and Spelman College student, Karma Bridges, daughter of popular rapper and film star, Ludacris. Vermont actors Rusty DeWees and Ariel Zevon play Guilford Yorker leader, Asa Locke, and Ethan Allen’s wife, Mary Brownson Allen, respectively.
Acclaimed singer, composer, and Julliard-trained violinist, Mazz Swift, composed and conducted the “Lost Nation” film score. Swift plays lead violin in Yo Yo Ma and Rhiannon Giddens’ Silk Road Ensemble and has performed at Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Swift has composed and/or played with Vernon Reid, James “Blood” Ulmer, Whitney Houston, DJ Logic, Kanye West – and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra, among others.
Film director Craven was first drawn to the Ethan Allen story in 1974, when he spent winter afternoons at the Vermont Historical Society research room, scrawling handwritten notes on yellow legal pads. Now, 50 years later, he’s taking this long imagined but newly produced film on the road.
“I hoped to capture an indelible moment that shows the complexity and power of an early version of the ‘American dream’ – and the promise of the American Revolution, Craven said. “‘Lost Nation’ allows us to consider the life and actions of larger-than-life rascal and pioneer, Ethan Allen – and less well-known early Black Vermonters. In doing this, we reflect on actor Tom Hanks’ recent call for history-based fiction films that “map our cultural DNA, reflect who we really are and help determine what is our full history – including the history of Black people that has too often been left out.”
“Lost Nation” is Craven’s 10th feature film. His work has shown at Sundance, Lincoln Center, The Smithsonian, La Cinémathèque Française, Cinemateca Nacional de Venezuela, Constitutional Court of Johannesburg, and more than 500 cities and towns across the U.S. – also 53 countries. He is the recipient of the Vermont Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the 2023 Herb Lockwood Prize, a Golden Gate Award, Eagle Spirit Award, three regional Emmys, the Producers Guild of America’s NOVA Award, the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces citation, and selection to the American Film Institute’s AFI 20/20, and others. His 1993 film, “Where the Rivers Flow North” was a finalist for Critics Week at the Cannes International Film Festival.
“This film was quite challenging to produce,” said Craven, “because it was filmed on more than three dozen Vermont and Massachusetts locations, needed to include battle scenes and includes 43 speaking parts for characters ranging from Seth Warner, Ira Allen, Thomas Chittenden and Ethan’s wives, Mary and Frances – to George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, New York Governor George Clinton, and more. One fun fact: Boston patriot Samuel Adams is played in the film by his direct descendent, Samuel Adams.”
“Funding the project was also difficult, with extensive grass-roots fundraising, including a $100,000 Kickstarter campaign and a very generous benefit concert performed for us in Burlington by Jackson Browne,” he added.
“Lost Nation” was produced through Kingdom County Productions’ Semester Cinema program where 30 professionals mentor and collaborate with 45 students from 10 colleges, to make an ambitious feature film for national release. The film was co-produced by Upper Valley Vermont resident Elena Greenlee.
Additional information available at www.kcppresents.org. For more information contact Jay Craven at [email protected].
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