My New Movie Digs Into a Vermont Origin Story

Jay Craven

I’ll play my new film, “Lost Nation,” at two upcoming dates in the Upper Valley – 7pm, Tuesday, June 10th at Northern State in White River Jct and 5pm, Wednesday, June 11th at the Quechee Club, at 3268 Quechee Main St, in Quechee.

The picture is a Revolutionary War-era action drama set in the early upstart Republic of Vermont – which considered itself, crucially, as a part of New Hampshire, up to the moment of Vermont’s founding and declaration as an independent republic on January 15, 1777.  I say “crucially” because this territory, between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain, was hotly contested – between New Hampshire and New York, at that time.  Wealthy semi-feudal New York landholders like the Rensselaers and Van Cortlandts claimed to own tracts of 300,000 and 400,000 acres in this territory – land that they had, for the most part, never seen. Identifying this lack of settlement as an opportunity, New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth (1741-1766) claimed this same land in his controversial effort to expand the borders of his province.

Wentworth began selling 50 and 100-acre parcels to poor farmers and settlers, many of them veterans of the French and Indian Wars, who returned home to southern New England and found the good properties already taken.  Wentworth chartered 131 towns in the territory – including his namesake, Bennington.  He kept a piece of each new municipality’s land and a share of the cash proceeds for himself.  Royal courts ruled in favor of New York – but Wentworth persisted, and the settlers found themselves in a protracted armed conflict and land struggle against New York.

“Lost Nation” features Vermont founding father and rebel schemer, Ethan Allen, who leads New Hampshire Grants 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.

“Lost Nation’s” parallel and intersecting story also features pioneering poet, Lucy Terry Prince, who was enslaved at the age of 3 in western Massachusetts – and, using a New Hampshire grant, settled a Guilford homestead with her family during this same time.   Like Ethan Allen, the Princes found themselves caught up in turbulent times that threatened their prospects for the land and freedom they sought.  In those days, land was everything – a measure of status, standing and a chance for prosperity and community engagement.

We drew our film research from 162 books that we recently donated to the St. Johnsbury Academy library. But historical films are always at least partly fictional because, no matter how much research you do, you can never know the individual moments of an historical character’s life. That said, every dramatic beat in the film was measured against the research.

With “Lost Nation,” I took what I learned from historical research to build a sometimes-surprising story. One revelation – just the amount of turbulence, strife and dramatic action during the late 18th century, in this region, from whippings, kidnappings and land confiscations to fires set to settle political scores. Ethan Allen led two invasions into southeastern Vermont towns, arresting settlers who supported New York.  The wild west had nothing on what happened in our region during this time.

This picture was quite challenging to produce, because it was filmed on more than 40 locations, needed to include battle scenes, and has 43 speaking parts for characters including Ethan Allen, Lucy Prince, Mary Allen, Seth Warner, Ira Allen, Thomas Chittenden, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and more. One fun fact: Boston patriot Samuel Adams is played in the film by his actual direct descendent, Samuel Adams.

Financing the project was also difficult, with extensive grass-roots fundraising, including a $100,000 Kickstarter campaign and a very generous benefit concert donated by Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Jackson Browne. It’s also important to note the I produced the film through my Semester Cinema project, where 30 professionals mentor and collaborate with 45 students from 10 colleges, to make ambitious, fully-professional films for national release.

So, this was a very difficult project.  The British playwright and film director, David Hare, stopped making films because he said his best experiences on a film set always meant the film would fail – and the most difficult times indicated surefire success.

I’ve got my fingers crossed.  And, so far, most of our screenings have sold out!

“Lost Nation,” will be screened at 7pm, Tuesday, June 10th at Northern Stage, White River Jct.  Advance tickets are at available at www.northernstage.org. The film will also play at 5pm, Wednesday, June 11th at the Quechee Club.  Advance tickets are at www.kcppresents.org  For more information, contact Jay Craven ([email protected]).