New Year

After a too-long absence I'm back on track with the doc. It's been a fascinating time and I'm eager to make real progress again so that soon the stories will be playing in a theater near you!

Since the last post on this blog, I've-
1) given talks around the state about the project,
2) located more historic footage that's related to the Roger the Baby Elephant Story,
3) written a rough draft of Elephants in Rhode Island; the Book,
4) worked with my producer in Boston on restructuring the project.
5) made a short film, "The Elephant's Dream", from a children's book written by Eclipse Neilson about how she got involved in advocating for Fanny's release in Pawtucket. The film was shown in the Southern New England Independent Film Festival in September.
6) done more research on elephants in Rhode Island, including the death of Targa the Elephant in Providence in 1987.

So here's how Elephants in Rhode Island looks today.
I have most of the footage I need, though I want to get some more cover shots.
The project will be released in four parts- three short films (Betty in Chepachet, Roger the Baby Elephant, and Fanny in Pawtucket), and then a full length film incorporating the shorter ones with additional footage, including the future of elepahnts at Roger Williams Park Zoo, at the end as a full length feature.

I'm now beginning to film some young actors for the Roger Episode, which will probably be the first piece to be released. The first shooting is taking place this weekend, and I'm arranging with the Artist's Exchange in Cranston to hold the rest of the auditions there.

So that's the latest from here. More will come regularly for all of you who've been so patient. Thanks for being here!