A wrinkled hand pulls an onion from the craggy garden of a Maine prison yard. An adolescent boy hammers nails into the stern of an upturned rowboat he’s building the old-fashioned way in the U.S.’s oldest operating boat shop. A Worcester woman in recovery leafs through an old photo album. A classroom of girls on a high school debate team read aloud with pens pinched between their teeth, preparing for their next tournament.
These are the stories of New Englanders. They are big and small, simple and multifaceted, communal and solitary; most of all, they are deeply felt. And they are precisely the sort of moments, characters, and narratives that GBH is redoubling its efforts to present and promote with the second year of Local Lens — a curated series of local, independent documentaries, supplemented with programs from the PBS library, that capture our beautiful, strange, historic corner of the country, while amplifying the work of local filmmakers.
The topics of the films are as varied as the region, oscillating from the hallways of a Connecticut school in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic to a community of LGBTQ activists in Provincetown. Running through the series, however, is a theme from James Joyce — namely, “In the particular is contained the universal.” By witnessing the intricacies, mundanities, and quandaries of these deeply specific — idiosyncratic, even — stories, we learn something new about ourselves and our world (or at least our six states).
Local Lens began unglamorously: in a meeting with programmers from other New England public media organizations, Ron Bachman, GBH’s senior director of programming, and GBH programmer Emily Abi-Kheirs, put their heads together about how they could amplify these often neglected films. “It really is public media’s mission to bring these kinds of stories to the air,” says Bachman.
“Because of Emily’s passion for independent film and her connections with the independent film and film festival community [Abi-Kheirs moonlights as program director of the Salem Film Fest and an independent producer], we’ve focused our efforts on finding films by local and regional filmmakers on topics of local and regional interest,” says Bachman.
“One of the major selling points for me taking this role at GBH was the opportunity to showcase the filmmaking talent here in the region,” adds Abi-Kheirs. “Being able to uplift and showcase work from our own local filmmakers is important and part of the mission for us at GBH.”
For Abi-Kheirs, the fruits of nonfiction film revealed themselves to her while working at GBH’s WORLD Channel following her graduation from film school at Emerson College. “WORLD Channel did an amazing job at uplifting films from the margins and highlighting stories and voices that the mainstream media doesn’t always amplify. Through this work, I fell in love with how creative the form could be. There’s something so magical and different about documentaries — they’re full of nuance and perspective, which lends so much depth to the characters and stories.”
Bachman came to a similar realization working in public media, saying, “The mission and content of public television — bringing to the air these stories you don’t even know about — resonated with me. Independent films and documentaries are so fascinating in their capacity to reveal a world. Sometimes, I’m sent something I don’t think I’ll care about, but if the film is well-made, I’m drawn into it, and I walk away feeling enriched, caring about a person or community’s story that I knew nothing about. That’s the power of good, independent documentary filmmaking.”
This iteration of Local Lens represents a progression from the inaugural series in a number of ways. “Notably,” says Bachman, “this is the first time we’ve actually acquired independently produced content for streaming only. Still, most of the films will be broadcast and streaming — either on Passport or available for free,” says Bachman.
“We’re also focusing on getting the rights to distribute films on YouTube,” Abi-Kheirs adds. “It’s so important that we reach new, diverse audiences on free streaming platforms like YouTube. On October 16 at 9pm, we’re premiering Fore and Aft on YouTube and the director, Gabe Gerzon, will join the live chat. In the meantime, viewers should subscribe to GBH on YouTube and keep an eye out for more announcements to come.”
The lineup for this fall is a mix of new and previously aired content. With the newly launched submission portal, the team is hopeful that the series will garner additional attention and a strong collection of programming considerations for future broadcast and streaming.
The subjects of the films run the gamut of regionally relevant themes, with many of the opening documentaries having an educational bent to them, such as The Highest Standard, directed by Isara Kreiger and produced by Boston’s own Jessica Estelle Huggins, which examines the injustice at the heart of the education system as three high school students from underprivileged backgrounds try to transcend socioeconomic education gaps.
“On October 2 (9pm ET),” says Abi-Kheirs, “we have an LGBTQ history block with GBH News’ Living in Pryde, as well as a short film that we acquired called There Are Things to Do by Mike Syers, which looks at the life of lawyer and political activist Urvashi Vaid.
“Recovery City [by Lisa Olivieri] airs on October 23 at 9pm, and follows four women in Worcester recovering from addiction. It’s another one that’s played at many regional film festivals and has been making an impact,” says Abi-Kheirs. “I’m so excited that we get to be the home for that story. I hope we can keep doing that, and that filmmakers who are making stories about our communities know GBH Local Lens is a home for those films.”
“I think in many cases,” Bachman replies, “filmmakers see public media as this impenetrable wall, or just a mystery that they don’t know how to solve. It’s often the last stop in the life of the film — after the festival run, the On Demand tenure, the deal with a streaming service — but we can offer more exposure (as these films are available to watch for free) and promote their film more thoughtfully than it might be done elsewhere.”
“Living in Pryde, an intimate portrait of an LGBTQ+ welcoming senior living complex in Hyde Park, is deeply rooted in Boston and spotlights Massachusetts’ history as a leader in the fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights. As residents tap into a lifetime of resilience to meet the current political moment, The Pryde becomes both a target and a refuge. With platforms featuring in-depth, local storytelling becoming increasingly rare, we are honored to contribute to a series like Local Lens that accomplishes this goal.”Co-Producer Emily Judem ("Living in Pryde" was also produced by GBH’s Rob Tokanel and Jack Doyle)
“There’s a regional, local audience for these,” says Abi-Kheirs. “But I think it’s much bigger than that, and that’s why we’re trying to get broad streaming rights. Because not only does GBH produce incredible national productions, but we have quality, local, independent programming that’s worthy of national attention.”
No doubt New England contains multitudes, and who better to share these stories than the media organization that belongs to all of us: GBH. “I really believe in independent films,” says Abi-Kheirs. “These films are made by and for viewers like us, and I think independent films are at the heart of what public media is about.”
Tune in to GBH’s Local Lens weekly on Thursdays at 9pm on GBH 2, or anytime on the PBS App and YouTube for independent films right from our backyard. Have you recently seen a film that deserves consideration for Local Lens? Forward this submission form to the filmmakers.
