Kingdom Film Series on Campus

Lyndon State students and the community have the opportunity to view award-winning documentaries for free on campus.

The recommendation to bring the film series to campus was made by LSC President Steve Gold. Each documentary focuses on issues Vermont and Vermonters are facing. Kingdom County Productions is a local nonprofit organization established by Jay Craven and Bess O'Brien.

Last weeks film was "Ask Us Who We Are," which focuses on the lives of young adults in foster care. The film involves many individuals and stories about the challenges they each face. The issue is brought to a very local level when you learn that a Lyndonville individual and a few Johnson State College students are included. "You will most likely not finish the film with dry eyes", stated Gold as he introduced the film alongside O'Brien.

The film has a great amount of emotional one on one interviews with foster youth, foster parents, family members, adoptive parents, parents working to reunite with their children, and even those who had to make the decision to give up their children.

When asked about the process of making the film O'Brien shared, "We had about 75 hours of filming that had to be fit into an hour and a half. We could have made a film on each individual and their story."

A large amount of both students and community attended the showing. Afterwards there was a discussion combined with question and answer. Many had questions about the process and were intrigued about the foster care program in Vermont. 

During questioning an individual asked how this film came about and O'Brien said, "An individual came to me after seeing a past film and said they viewed foster care as an important issue effecting Vermont and that there were many voices that needed to be heard. The film has been shown in over 17 Vermont towns over the last year and over 1700 people have viewed it.

There are two more films in the series being brought to LSC. Tuesday, March 27, 7 p.m., the film "Shout It Out" will be showing in Academic Student Activities Center room 100. This film is a musical based on O'Brien's live musical, The Voices Project. It follows a group of Vermont high school students through the ups and downs of their teen years including pressures, friendships, relationships, and self struggles.

The last film in the series is "Journey into Courage," showing April 24, 7 p.m., in ASAC 100. This documentary shows the spirit of six Vermont Women survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse.  It presents the stories involving the struggles, risks, healing process, and strength of the women.

For more information on the films you can visit Kingdom County Productions online at kingdomcounty.org.