KCP producing director and documentary filmmaker Bess O’Brien (Where Is Stephanie? and Journey Into Courage) completed her latest documentary film, Here Today, in May 2002. The film opened in St. Johnsbury on May 23rd to a standing ovation by 300 people in attendance.

The film will tour Vermont throughout the fall. People wishing to book the film or to know more about it should contact Bess O’Brien at KCP (802-592-3190) or email: bobrien@sover.net.

The Year That Trembled is a 1970 coming-of-age story set in rural Ohio. It follows a group of high school buddies during the year after their graduation. These friends find their idyllic summer of self-discovery clouded by the turmoil of the period: the Kent State shootings, the impending draft lottery, the politics and travail of Vietnam.

Screen-written and directed by Jay Craven, The Year That Trembled is based upon the novel by Scott Lax, and produced by Novel City Pictures of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. KCP Executive Director, Hathalee Higgs, is an Associate Producer. Kingdom County Productions offered producing consultation throughout the development and production phases of the film.

The Year That Trembled features an eclectic ensemble of young talent, seasoned comic actors, and veterans from Craven's previous films. Jeff Claus and Judy Hyman (formerly of The Horse Flies), composers and performers for Craven's Where the Rivers Flow North and A Stranger in the Kingdom, composed the score, evoking the period.

Making her debut screen appearance in a co-starring role is 18-year-old Kiera Chaplin, granddaughter of comic legend Charlie Chaplin and great-granddaughter of Nobel Prize winning playwright Eugene O'Neill.
Chaplin, who lives in Switzerland, studied acting in London and
appears in the Miramax film, The Importance of Being Ernest, starring Judi Dench and Rupert Everett.

Other notable actors featured in the film (with partial credits)
include: Fred Willard (Best in Show, Austin Powers); Marin Hinkle (I Am Sam and ABC TV's "Once and Again"); Jonathan Woodward (Mike Nichols' “Wit”); Henry Gibson (Magnolia, A Stranger in the Kingdom); Martin Mull (The Player, Mrs. Doubtfire); Jonathan Brandis (Ride With the Devil, Outside Providence, Hart's War); Meredith Monroe ("Dawson’s Creek," Mary Jane's Last Dance); Sean Nelson (Fresh, American Buffalo, A Stranger in the Kingdom); Bill Raymond (12 Monkeys, Summer of Sam); Charlie Finn (Super Troopers, The In Crowd); Jay Fergueson (Higher Learning, Glory Days); and Danica McKellar ("The Wonder Years").

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ron Powers, compares The Year That Trembled with his nonfiction bestseller Flags of Our Fathers (co-authored with James Bradley), "It is not often that a cinematic project in America gives off the unmistakable aura of being exactly the right movie for exactly the right moment in the country’s history. The Year That Trembled is exactly that project.”

Tyler Davidson and Scott Lax were awarded the Filmmakers of the Year award at the Midwest Independent Filmmakers Conference.

The Year That Trembled was screened to New York and Los Angeles film industry audiences in June, and has generated interest from several national distributors. More screenings and campus events are planned for the fall.

Feel free to contact us if you have ideas or contacts for screenings in your community. We can play 35mm theaters and alternate spaces with high quality video projection. Jay Craven, the producers, and some actors are also available to attend and discuss the film and the 60’s period research that went into it. Contact us at 802-592-3190 or kcp@sover.net.

Also, tune in for more dates! www.tytt.com

Early Reviews for The Year That Trembled

Review excerpts include the following:

"Lush cinematography and stellar performances perfectly capture the zeitgeist of this troubled time. The experienced cast makes the most of the film's subtleties and dramatic high points. Brandis and Hinkle are especially fine in portraying their dangerous attraction."
-- Julie Washington, Cleveland Plain Dealer

*** 1/2 “The rural Ohio homefront of the Vietnam War is the setting of The Year That Trembled, an elegiac, well-acted ensemble drama based on the poetic 1998 novel by local writer Scott Lax. The independent feature charts a group of young friends over several tumultuous months from 1970 to 1971, as the threat of the Vietnam War draft lottery casts a long, cold shadow over young people already confused by the onset of adulthood.”

“Writer-director Jay Craven has done a good job of putting flesh and bone on Lax’s impressionistic narrative, and he adroitly juggles the multiple characters like Robert Altman with an extra dose of gentle humanism. Craven and crew evoke the early-‘70s time period splendidly, without capitulation to hippie camp, finger-pointing or Top 40 soundtrack hits. The Year That Trembled comes across as less a sweeping historical pageant than a heartfelt album of relationships, sweetness, innocence, irony and regret, all crystallized in a fragile time when the much-vaunted counterculture revolution flickered briefly for a final time, then winked out with a puzzled whimper. Take advantage of its visibility to enjoy a well-honed, non-formulaic postcard dispatched from the sunset of the Age of Aquarius.”
--Charles Cassady Jr., Cleveland Times

*** 1/2 A surefire recipe for cultural whiplash: director Jay Craven takes us back to a time when people of college age had things on their minds slightly more pressing than wet T-shirt contests or neurotic roommates — and faced choices on matters considerably more far-reaching than their cellular service plan. It’s hard to believe the America of The Year That Trembled is the same one we live in today.

The film features an impressive ensemble cast, some of whose members are recognizable and some not. You never know who’s going to pop up in a Craven picture. Meredith Monroe costars as a young protester on the run from the FBI. Her father’s a school official played by Fred Willard. The actor’s old pal and “Fernwood 2-Night” partner Martin Mull is a disillusioned Bureau vet close on the girl’s heels. Some of the movie’s most compelling and emotionally complex scenes are those shared by these two men. The pair proves just as capable of making us think and feel as they are of making us laugh.

The same can be said for the film. The turbulence of the times is effectively evoked JFK-fashion through a combination of character study and archival footage, both of which provide a troubling reminder that this country was at war with itself not so long ago.

Jay R. Ferguson turns in a chilling, edgy performance as a G-man in a baaad sheep’s clothing. The addition of his composite character is a nifty Oliver Stone–style touch.

The Year That Trembled is new territory for the Vermont director, and he shows every sign of feeling right at home in it. This is the first film Craven has made whose credits don't list him as producer. That's deceiving, though. From his earliest work to his newest, Craven is a filmmaker who always produces.”
--Rick Kisonak, Seven Days

“Personal and powerful- it never gives up hope.”
--Times Argus (Vermont)

“The Year That Trembled deals with matters that Hollywood won't touch, and gets people thinking about a dramatic piece of our history that has been largely forgotten. What happened at Kent State was a microcosm of what happened to the nation. TYTT’s young characters have their lives changed, and we get to know them up close -- their loves, their fears, their dreams. This is an unusual film.”
-- Howard Zinn, author, The People’s History of The United States.

The two dramatic films, Absentees and Fish, were based on teen-written stories selected from hundreds received during our nation-wide Fledgling Teen Writing Contest. A small third team produced an in-depth documentary film on the evolution of romantic love and its role in our 21st century culture.

With another great group of aspiring filmmakers, an enthusiastic staff, and a successful merger with Lyndon Institute to create the Vermont Arts Institute, the fifth year of Fledgling Films was another huge hit!

The Festival featured 55 dramatic, animated and documentary films by teens and young people, including the premiere screening of Jingle Hell, Noah’s Ark, and Early to Rise, the three films made during the 2001 Fledgling Films Summer Institute. The opening night event included a special Burlington screening of the Academy-Award nominated documentary, Promises. This powerful feature-length film probes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of children caught in the crossfire. It proved to be a moving journey for all in attendance.

This festival marks the culmination of a dream we’ve had for several years – to showcase films and videos made by, for and about young people, from across the country and around the world. It grows out of our own Fledgling Films media and theater programs that work to cultivate the artistic voices and express the imaginative power of young people.

We plan to kick off the 2nd Annual Fledgling Film Festival in March 2003. We will begin accepting submission in November. Please stay tuned for details. Thanks to sponsors Small Dog Electronics, 99.9 The Buzz, Burlington City Arts, and The National Endowment for the Arts for their crucial support.

Rip Torn (Noel Lord) recently appeared as Tom Green's father in Freddy Got Fingered; as a mud slinging investigator in The Insider; and as a visiting writer in Curtis Hanson's critically acclaimed film, Wonder Boys, with Michael Douglas. This he co-stars in Men in Black 2 with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.

David Lansbury (Charlie Kinneson) co-stars with Cherry Jones, Dana Ivey and David Warner in the hit Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw's "Major Barbara." He is also slated to co-star in Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler," also on Broadway.

Tantoo Cardinal (Bangor) recently starred in two TV films: The Lost Child with Mercedes Ruehl, and Navigating the Heart, a Hallmark Hall of Fame production. She also co-starred in Dana Yeaton’s Vermont production Mad River Rising.

Bill Raymond (Wayne Quinn and Resolved Kinneson) played Ernie Whirly in The Year That Trembled, Jay Craven's latest film. He also appeared in Autumn in New York with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder, The Intern, and Tom Gilroy's Sundance film, Spring Forward. He also worked last spring in Lars von Trier’s newest film, starring Nicole Kidman and Chloe Sevigny.

John Griesemer (Henry Coville and Welcome Kinneson) appears briefly in Boiler Room with Ben Affleck, and just published his first novel, No One Thinks of Greenland.

Ernie Hudson (Walt Andrews) recently appeared in Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock, The Watcher with Keanu Reeves, and will co-star in the upcoming TV series "HRT." He also appeared in the acclaimed HBO series "OZ"

Martin Sheen (Sigurd Moulton) continues to play the President in the popular, critically acclaimed TV series "The West Wing." He also appears in O, an updated teen version of Shakespeare's Othello, and The Confidence Game, with Ed Asner and Michael Madsen.

Henry Gibson (Zack Barrows) recently appeared in Jay Craven's new film The Year That Trembled as Ralph Tyler. His performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia continues to win favorable notices nationwide.

Sean Nelson (Nat Andrews) co-starred in The Year That Trembled as well. He also appeared in the critically acclaimed HBO series The Corner, and in The Wood with Omar Epps and Taye Diggs.

Greg Germann (Waterman) continues to play the co-starring role of Fish in the hit TV series, 'Ally McBeal'. The series ended this spring.

Matt Salinger (Stranger Executive Producer) plays the part of Professor Jeff Griggs in The Year That Trembled. Matt also produced the Obie and Drama Desk Award winning play, "The Syringa Tree", which played twenty months off-Broadway and at London’s National Theater. The play starts in U.S. tour in October 2002 in Palo Alto, California.

Marin Hinkle (Helen in The Year That Trembled) gave acclaimed performances this summer in the off-Broadway Blue Window production, and as Strindberg’s Miss Julie in the July Berkshire Theater Festival.

Los Angeles producer Todd Harris has also signed on, and is providing substantial help with casting and industry fundraising. We’re in the process of rounding out the cast to join Kris Kristofferson as the film’s lead, Quebec Bill Bonhomme. The Disappearances script was also recently selected for the prestigious Independent Film Project’s “No Borders” conference, where we’ll pitch the project to dozens of independent and foreign film companies and financiers.

Please visit out fundraising page to see how you can play a leading role!

Also, Emma, a planned feature film about the life of turn of the century feminist pioneer and activist Emma Goldman. A completed script has begun making the rounds for talent and financing. Grant support from the Samuel Rubin Foundation has been instrumental in helping this project advance.

Senses of Place will be produced this fall by Jay Craven’s Marlboro College film students. Craven assisted in script development, based on a story by Marlboro College producer Matthew Temple. Senses of Place will be shot in super 16mm and will be the third film from Marlboro College senior Pat McMahill.

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