In l981 when we married Peter was one of many (many many) people working on Warren Beatty’s REDS, a big big amazing movie that took years to make. He worked in sound, one of many under a master, a woman named Dede Allen who was a gifted legend. Dede cut Bonnie and Clyde in a way that changed how stories are told. Over the years he worked on scores of feature films, including Places in the Heart, Carlito’s Way, and Daniel, Sidney Lumet’s film about the Rosenbergs. One day he made the turn to becoming a documentary editor. Editors shape the story, and Peter loves stories and intuitively knows how to make them from the many parts a film can be. About 20 years ago he joined the Center for New American Media (CNAM) as an editor and producer. CNAM is a small operation of talented friends who made lively original documentaries, mostly for public television. And then he turned 60, and wanted to make his own films. He didn’t want to raise money. He didn’t want to hire a crew. He just wanted to make movies. Because he does absolutely everything himself, the films took a while. He’s made three movies now. The third film, MY 2020, began in a funny way. His birthday is 10/10 and the new year was 20/20. The numbers seemed karmic: he’d shoot what would happen during the year.. Not knowing that there would be a pandemic that would change how what we did and how we lived, that would shut down the world and all our lives. Peter recorded our small bubble, shrinking, shrinking, and the big world outside our window: Demonstrations, consciousness, Black Lives Matter, the impossible President. We moved upstate with our son and his family, to a house we bought with friends 36 years ago. And there we all were, a loud mixed-race family, working, eating, figuring out how to live together, trying to decide what matters. Peter shot us all, piercing our lives together. Aging and mortality and family and friendship are subjects he captured.
The film will be shown for the very first time as part of the Celebrating Aging series at the Rosendale Theater. Because of the pandemic, this will be his first live audience. Money from the tickets will go to benefit ALTE, a literary journal that readers of this column know. His film, and Alte, and Celebrating Aging too, are all about community, and all of us growing old together.
If you’re in the area or want to be, come join us Thursday, August 11th at 7 PM at the Rosendale Theatre, 408 Main Street, Rosendale, NY. Tickets, trailer, and information are all right here:
https://www.rosendaletheatre.org