SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Jay Craven’s newest film, “Lost Nation,” will screen on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 5 p.m., at the Nolan Murray Center in Springfield, sponsored by the Springfield Town Library. Admission is free. Craven will appear at the screening for a post-film Q&A.
“Lost Nation” is a Revolutionary War-era action drama set in the early upstart Republic of Vermont. The picture stars Irish actor Kevin Ryan as Vermont founding father and rebel schemer Ethan Allen, who leads resistance to New Yorker land claims, launches an ill-fated attack on British forces in Montreal, and leads invasions by his Green Mountain Boys into the Yorker strongholds of Guilford and Brattleboro. The film is also relevant to Massachusetts history – partially set in Deerfield and Northampton, and shot on Nantucket.
The film’s parallel and intersecting story features Kenyan actress Eva Ndachi as pioneering poet Lucy Terry Prince, who was enslaved at the age of 3 in western Massachusetts, and settled a Guilford, Vt., homestead with her family during this same time. Like Allen, the Princes found themselves caught up in turbulent times that threatened their prospects for the land and freedom they sought. Like Allen, Prince upset the status quo in her assertive use of early Vermont’s legal and political systems to defend her family from encroachment, harassment, and intimidation.
The Prince family’s antagonist, aspiring Guilford politician John Noyes, is played by Rob Campbell. British intelligence chief and former Green Mountain Boys co-founder Justus Sherwood is played by Barry Del Sherman, and Lucy Prince’s daughter Drucilla is played by young actress and Spelman College student Karma Bridges, daughter of popular rapper and film star Ludacris. Vermont actors Rusty DeWees and Ariel Zevon play Yorker Asa Locke and Mary Allen, respectively.
“Lost Nation” was shot on 52 Vermont and Massachusetts locations, including the Town of Leyden. It includes 43 speaking characters, including Vermonters Ira Allen, Seth Warner, Gideon Brownson, and Thomas Chittenden, and founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and Samuel Adams (played by his direct descendant, Samuel Adams).
Acclaimed singer, composer, and Juilliard-trained violinist Mazz Swift composed and conducted the “Lost Nation” film score. Swift plays lead violin in Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Lincoln Center. Swift has composed and/or played with Vernon Reid, James “Blood” Ulmer, Whitney Houston, DJ Logic, Kanye West, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra, among others.
“Lost Nation” is Craven’s 10th feature film. His work has been shown at Sundance, the Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian, and more than 500 cities and towns across the U.S., and in 53 countries. He is the recipient of the Vermont Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the 2023 Herb Lockwood Prize, a Golden Gate Award, the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces citation, and selection to the American Film Institute’s AFI Project 20/20. His 1993 film, “Where the Rivers Flow North,” was a Critics Week finalist at the Cannes Film Festival.
For more information, visit www.springfieldtownlibrary.org or contact Craven at jcraven1590@gmail.com.