National Issues Hit Home in Fresh Vermont Film Debut

Author: Abbie Beane

Though he may not be Wes Craven, independent Vermont filmmaker Jay Craven still has a daunting audacity for approaching haunting issues.
And why should you care? Because his most recent work, "The Year That Trembled" will be screened at Dana Auditorium on Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Based on the novel "The Year That Trembled" by Scott Lax and the subsequent screenplay by Craven, this film is timely, as it concerns the early 1970s Vietnam War peace protests. Furthermore, it is appropriate for Middlebury as Craven conceived the idea for it on Blueberry Hill in East Middlebury where he met Lax.
The story features the lives of three recent high school graduates fearful of the imminent draft lottery and their experiences with the anti-war upheaval at Kent State. Furthermore, it spotlights the lives of college activists and another young couple struggling with the prospect of impending war and issues of morality concerning whether or not they should engage in military service.
According to "The Year That Trembled" press release, Ron Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and co-author of the book "Flags of Our Fathers", calls "The Year That Trembled", "just the right movie for exactly the right moment in our country's history." Powers adds that this movie is one that has "pierced through the hardened crust of blockbuster-induced voyeurism, cheap irony and outdated sentimental piety, to engage the movie-going public on the great themes of war and youth and courage and comradeship."
"The Year That Trembled" was awarded the Filmmaker of the Year Award at this year's Cleveland International Film festival and the Best Film and Audience Award at the Cincinnati Film Festival.
Some of its actors worthy of anticipation include Fred Willard of "Best in Show" and "Austin Powers," Bill Raymond of "12 Monkeys" and "Summer of Sam" and Kiera Chaplin, the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, who will make her screen debut.
As for Craven, he received The Producer's Guild of America's NOVA award for Most Promising New Producer of the Year in 1995 and currently directs Kingdom County Productions in Peacham, Vt., as well as being a professor of film at Marlboro College. His other films include "Where the Rivers Flow North," starring Rip Torn and Michael J. Fox and "A Stranger in the Kingdom" with Martin Sheen.
In a recent interview with The Middlebury Campus, Craven responded to the following questions:

The Campus: How did your interest and involvement in film develop?

Craven: I made my first film when I was 17 as a college freshman at Boston University (BU). It put images to music, like an early version of MTV and drew upon interests and inspirations of the time from directors Fellini and Antionioni to the Vietnam anti-war movement. It included footage from the massive November 1969 demonstrations in Washington where more than 500,000 people marched. When I attended college, the film culture in Boston was very strong. However, I didn't study film — I majored in political science and philosophy.

The Campus: In which film of yours did you find yourself most engaged? Which was the most challenging or draining?

Craven: Every film is like one of your own children. You've brought them into the world through years of difficult, but fruitful, struggle. You've done the best to prepare them to go out into the world, knowing that they will face challenges. You fight for them and fight even harder for those that have the most difficulty.
Of my films, they've all been difficult. My second feature, "A Stranger in the Kingdom," was the most challenging to make, I guess, given that funding kept collapsing and facing setbacks.
"The Year That Trembled" is the first of my films that someone else produced. That means I didn't have to raise the money and manage all of the details of physical production. I developed the screenplay by taking the novel, finding what I felt worked, then opening it up to expand the world of the story, drawing on extensive research into the period and characters surrounding the events of Kent State during 1970. Some research included documentary stock footage and researching the period's music.

The Campus: What do you feel is the most important thing to keep in mind while watching "The Year That Trembled"?

Craven: I hope audiences will be transported to the time, place and culture of the film, realizing that this is just one story from that turbulent and exciting time. I've found that younger audiences like a chance to visit that time and experience the unique culture and intimate perspective of young people getting caught up in life-and-death decisions regarding the war and the draft — to say nothing of the momentous decisions of relationships, family, school and lifestyle.

The Campus: What most intrigued you about the novel by Scott Lax and the prospect of this film?

Craven: Scott's novel captured the culture and the "moment" and focused on "regular" guys and gals from the 1970s — a period I experienced quite vividly myself. In April of 1970 I had just been elected student body president of the liberal arts at BU and got caught up in the protest after Nixon's invasion of Cambodia, which is the moment in which the story is set.
With war looming again in 2002 and a growing protest culture on U.S. campuses and around the world with concerns about free expression and civil liberties, I felt that the film was very timely. This is fairly recent history, and many of the political and cultural influences of that time resonate today.

The Campus: What do you believe are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using the medium of film to convey one's message?

Craven: The advantage is that film has become a central medium and art form of the last 100 years, which offers many visual and narrative possibilities and captures intimate emotion and behavior so well. Characters and powerful emotions come to life in a way that audiences can interact with the material and participate in the creation of its meaning.
Disadvantages are the cost of production, time pressure and challenges in distribution, which is increasingly controlled by big conglomerates and studios. The blockbuster mentality is always a challenge to getting smaller films to audiences.

The Campus: Do you have any near-future film plans that you can give me a "sneak preview" of?

Craven: I am developing the third feature film in my Vermont/Howard Mosher series [called] "Disappearances," which is a whiskey-running adventure, comedy and drama set in 1932 along the Vermont/Quebec border. It's a wild and wooly tale with a train derailment, plane crash and tail-spinning chase.

"The Year That Trembled" will be showing one time only in Dana Auditorium at the College on Wed., Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets and information, please contact the Center for the Arts box office (802) 443-6433.