Documentary Films from the Colby College Cinema Studies Program

Students from the Advanced Documentary Production class at Colby College will be screening their semester-long documentary projects. Each film is a unique glimpse into a small part of our world, from behind the scenes at the Colby Art Museum, to an exploration of the few remaining ski areas of Maine, these films will make you see the world differently. 

Stephan Chaikovsky’s The Remaining Few: Maine’s Ski Areas:  Investigating why the majority of ski areas in Maine have failed, I travel to a number of Maine’s operational and non-operational ski areas to find out what distinguishes the successful mountains from their failed counterparts.

Luke Glynn-Ferrarone’s An Eternal Void:  In 1990, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was robbed in the largest art heist in history. Twenty-eight years later the mystery remains unsolved while the museum remains in mourning. 

Annie Lee’s Diaspora-te Times:  Diaspora-te Times is a snapshot into what it means to be an Asian student in a higher ed institution such as Colby College. Told through a collection of student narratives, this documentary seeks to capture the broad range of the Asian diasporic experience in order to reflect on where our community currently stands and where we want it to go.

Will McBrian’s For Want of a Comma:  In this film, I examine the suspect past and present of the Oxford comma, focusing on the recent lawsuit in which Oakhurst Dairy paid a 5 million dollar settlement for a serial comma situation in Maine overtime law. 

Ben Peter’s The Forks:  Witness Dare Northward in action as student diplomat, Ben Peters, spreads the mission to a small rafting town near the border, struggling with seasonal business.

Grace Yu’s The Invisible Hands:  You do not see them, but they are always there. The moment you enter the space, their work is all over the place. This film takes audiences on a journey behind the scenes of the Colby College Museum of Art and into the hidden world of art handling.

Marissa Pitter’s Daniel Minter: A Cultural Tool:  Daniel Minter can be described as an artist, educator and illustrator, but first and foremost, he is a storyteller. This short explores Minter’s inspirations, the themes that his work encompasses, and how he uses his talents as a cultural tool.