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Hart
Island: An American Cemetery
In Production, DVCAM/16mm/HD, Color & B/W
Synopsis
This intriguing film documents the fascinating story of people seeking
access to an undeveloped one hundred and one acre island in New York
City. Hart Island, located on the eastern fringes of the Bronx, is
a mass burial ground where thousands have been interred every year
since the Civil War. The ninth in a series of potter’s fields
dating back to the American Revolution, Hart Island is today a landscape
seen only by volunteer inmates, from New York’s Riker’s
Island Prison.
The only other visitors are the few families who manage to navigate
a labyrinth of city agencies to locate missing loved ones. The film
portrays their journey and their struggle to reconcile how such a
place continues to exist. A place that for one hundred and thirty-six
years has served as a repository of those who have been eluded by
the economic successes and social freedoms envisioned in the American
Dream.
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Director
Melinda Hunt
Producers:
Melinda Hunt, Drew R. Figueroa &
Gordon Gooch
Melinda Hunt Productions & Moxie Films
Download the Flash player to
view Trailer.
Hart Island Trailer
Director of Photography
Tim Orr
Editor
Bernice Ma
Music
Fred Hersch
Director’s Statement
Hart Island represents a microcosm of American life where it’s
easy to see how a person can slip through the cracks and become lost
to family and friends. As an immigrant city, New York has many more
who are buried anonymously and whose histories are missing to future
generations. Nonetheless they remain the bedrock of our economic engine
and their significance is indisputable. This film celebrates the strange
beauty of their burial ground and the people who honor them.
Production Links: www.hartisland.com
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