They Measured Our Heads (documentary-in-progress)
Filmmaker Pegi Vail, an American adoptee and anthropologist, discovers her relatives on Inishbofin, a small Irish island. She later learns that 13 ancestral skulls were stolen from Inishbofin’s cemetery by a well-known British colonial anthropologist, locked away in the vaults of Trinity College Dublin for over a century. Vail finds herself part of an historic campaign begun by islander Marie Coyne to return the skulls to their rightful place on the island. Snatched under the cloak of darkness, will the skulls ever return home?
Directed Pegi Vail and Melvin Estrella. Produced by Pegi Vail, Melvin Estrella, and Megan O’Neill. Executive Produced by Aideen Kane. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support production on the film through one of our fiscal sponsors, The Center for Independent Documentary or the New York Foundation for the Arts. Supported by grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Irish Institute of NY.
Press: The Guardian (Dec) / The Guardian (Feb) / Irish Echo
Shadow of Nanook (documentary-in-progress)
Through the eyes of Nanook of the North director Robert Flaherty’s unacknowledged granddaughter Martha Flaherty, Shadow of Nanook explores the darker side of the film’s legacy on the descendants the filmmaker left behind on his road to fame. The documentary revisits the frozen High Arctic where Martha’s family was forced into a traumatic exile by the Canadian government, serving as ‘human flags’ to demonstrate Canada’s sovereignty during the Cold War. Now 72, Martha seeks justice for her Inuit family’s exile and passes on the torch of Indigenous activism to her daughter, Alyssa and son Christian.
Directed by Jim Compton and Peadar King. Produced by Peadar King, Pegi Vail and Melvin Estrella. A Ford Foundation JustFilms grant recipient. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support production on the film via this link through the film’s fiscal sponsor, The Center for Independent Documentary.
Gringo Trails
Zebra Films
(79 min/52 min) 2014
Is tourism destroying the world–or saving it? From the Bolivian jungle to the party beaches of Thailand, and from the deserts of Timbuktu, Mali to the breathtaking beauty of Bhutan, GRINGO TRAILS shows the unanticipated impact of tourism on cultures, economies, and the environment, tracing some stories over 30 years. See the trailer
Available for streaming (various platforms), educational and public screenings in North America @ ICARUS FILMS
Available internationally (vimeo), educational and public screenings @ ANDANA FILMS
The Dodgers Sym-Phony (1998, 28 min., PBS/WNET) features the history the legendary all-volunteer band of fans who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers from the 1930’s-50’s and continued to entertain audiences at events throughout New York City long after the Dodgers left for Los Angeles. Two members of the band, legends themselves in Williamsburg, Brooklyn were the director’s next-door neighbors. View the film on City Lore’s youtube channel.