Cider press

In the morning we headed into Camden to see Sharon's short film, Parasites: A Users Guide.

I'm glad to be here to see it in a film fest venue and support Sharon. It is her first short film of many to come I'm sure. I'm also in the film as a character in the opening scenes. There have been several people who recognize me from the film who I've never met before which has been a funny experience! Unfortunately in helping Sharon out my claim to fame is my experience having the giardia parasite in Peru. Anything in the name of science I guess....

It went well and I was happy to see such interest for Sharon's film. There were some other great short films we got to view as well. Come afternoon we returned to the cabin-barn to press all those apples we collected from the day before. Sharon, Jon, and I went off on a little natural history fungi foraging expedition in the woods too. We convinced some of the crew to come along and hunt for mushrooms with us, but being city folk I think a lot of the mystery and wonder we see in the woods might have been lost on them.

Red maple, white oak, sassafras, moose maple, and beech all aflame with October. And though we found mushrooms galore, we only found a few that might be edible. These were lobster mushrooms, a parasitic fungus on fungus. Intense right? When we finally returned the cider press was in full swing and we were downing apple dew by the glass.

Come night fall we set off for the grand finale of this weekend, Ian's new film on the night sky and light pollution, tentatively called "The City Dark". Curt and Ian are famous for their first documentary film, "King Corn" that attracted them enough attention and acclaim to propel them into more films. They are big shots in the environmental documentary film world and here at Camden where Ian has roots his is the grand finale of the film fest.

At a fancy vineyard replete with fancy film people and a stage open to the night sky Simon and the gang played a warm up live-show and Ian premiered the first unfinished version of "The City Dark" there under the cold star struck New England dark. Bundled up for the cold under the open sky with friends and the warmth of a few glasses of wine it was our finale too. The documentary went great and I was happy to see some of the reel I helped Ian shoot one night in Redhook made the film and my name was part of the production credits! I did almost nothing, but it was a fun surprise all the same.

If you have the slightest curiosity take a look at Sharon's film on Parasites and the City Dark here. Bound to expand your mind....