Andover Townsman, MA
Aug 23 2007
There’s something award-winning about seniors’ show
Bethany Bray
Marty Epstein says he gets recognized around town and at the grocery
store all the time, and that’s a good thing.
"That’s how we know people are watching (our show)," agreed Jeanette
Barron with a smile.
Epstein, Barron and a group of about a dozen local seniors produce
the half-hour show "There’s Something About Andover," which airs
daily on Andover Community Television, Channel 8. The seniors create
a new episode each month and take turns producing, editing and
spending time on camera, interviewing community members and
highlighting "anything that would be interesting," they said.
"It’s fun," said Epstein of why he works so many hours in the editing
room and in front of the camera. "I was born a ham," he added with a
grin.
The amateur television crew was recently honored with a 2007 Hometown
Video Award from the Alliance For Community Media for their
documentary "Our Immigrant Heritage." The hour-long documentary
originally ran on Andover community access television in the month of
November, and has been rerun occasionally since then.
The group, which meets to plan episodes weekly, received a plaque for
the award at its Aug. 16 meeting.
Group members agree they’re thrilled about the award, which is the
first they’ve ever received.
"It felt great (to win)," said Terry Crossfield, one of the group’s
unofficial leaders.
"We always knew it (the show) was good," said Epstein.
In "Our Immigrant Heritage," the seniors interviewed eight people
from Andover and the local area that have immigrated to the U.S. The
immigrants, from Russia, Vietnam, India, Germany, Sweden, England and
other European countries, sit comfortably in front of the camera and
share their stories about how they made it to America. They also talk
about how they struggled to adjust to America, what cultural
traditions they strive to preserve in their homes and what they’ve
learned from the process.
Their stories differ widely, and first-person details are captured,
including catching the very last train out of Germany before WWII,
having an unexploded German bomb land in a family’s third-floor
apartment in France and spending a month on a ship heading toward
Ellis Island, with only bread and jelly to eat.
"To this day, I don’t like jelly," said Eva Loosigian in her
interview, who escaped the Armenian genocide in her native Turkey.
Footage of the immigrants’ interviews is spliced with black-and-white
images of Old World family photos, photos of hometowns and historical
events taking place, including Allied soldiers marching down the
Champs D’Elysees in Paris. The documentary ends with a montage of
current family photos, showing the interviewees, smiling and
surrounded by second- and third-generation Americans.
The Alliance For Community Media is a Washington, D.C.-based
nonprofit committed to assuring people’s access to electronic media.
It says it supports and advocates for educational and community media
around the country.
"Our Immigrant Heritage" was chosen from entries from around the
country in the nonprofessional "cultural and international
perspectives" category.
The organization’s Web site states, "Hometown Video Awards are
presented to creative programs that address community needs, develop
diverse community involvement, challenge conventional commercial
television formats and move viewers to experience television in a
different way."
A break from their usual half-hour television show, "Our Immigrant
Heritage" was the second documentary the group has ever made. Andover
seniors made their first documentary after September 11, interviewing
Andover World War II veterans.
The group formed in 2000 and people are mostly self-taught, learning
to use equipment and new techniques through trial and error. After
seven years, they have it pretty much down, said Crossfield.
William and Jeanette Barron said they took a course on television
production as the group was forming. "There’s Something About
Andover" is the longest continually running show on Andover Community
Television. The organizers have never missed a month of putting a
fresh episode on the air.
They use the television studio at the Collins Center at Andover High
School, and also have a small room of editing equipment at the senior
center, so they can "stay out of the students’ hair" during the
school year. They also pick up tips from the staff at the studio,
said Epstein.
They shoot interviews in the studio or on locations around town,
including a "word on the street" segment where they interview folks
outdoors.
Copies of the two documentaries the group has made are available at
the Andover library. "Our Immigrant Heritage" reairs periodically on
Channel 8.
The amateur television crew will be honored for its award at a
reception on Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. at the senior center.