Kennebec Story Archive Analysis

The Kennebec Story Archive Project Proposal

Short Project Description:

The Kennebec Story Archive is a web-based documentary project that combines personal narratives, community portraits, archival material, and data visualizations to create an interactive database of stories about the people and places of Kennebec County, Maine.

Project Detail:

A multimedia retrospective with a focus on collecting and preserving the histories of local residents, the Kennebec Story Archive will be comprised mainly of a curated collection of short interviews with people of all ages from this small county in central Maine. Participants will be invited to share their most vivid memories from childhood and reflect on how these events influenced the totality of

These elements will serve to place the personal narratives within appropriate cultural and historical context. The resulting interactive experience will be far more than just a collection of disparate stories and data. These elements will combine to address the central question of the film: What is home and how does it shape who we are?

Project Significance:

The tradition of storytelling is vital to our understanding of history in a larger social and cultural context. Oral history, in particular, is distinctive because it implicitly includes the unique perspective, thoughts, opinions and world-view of the storyteller.

Oral histories reveal how individual beliefs and actions have shaped the past, and how that past shapes our contemporary actions. Collecting memories of the past from the participants who played a role in that past is at the foundation of oral history practice. Preserving these histories provides a record not otherwise available in written or photographic records of these times and

I was curious to know how growing up in a refugee camp under a foreign military occupation contributes to the shaping of identity. I wanted to reach beyond the sterility of statistics to find out how generations of residents had experienced their confinement. Through their stories, I hoped to create a better understanding of the challenges faced by all Palestinian people who live in the occupied West Bank.

More generally, as a filmmaker, my main ambition is to produce work that informs thought, inspires action, and challenges the conventions of the traditional documentary form. Ultimately concerning social justice, recurring themes in my work include civil rights, gender equality, class-consciousness and environmental responsibility.

Documentaries can provide a window to lives and circumstances outside of our own. They can also reveal universal truths about the human condition and illuminate the commonalities that exist between cultures and communities. I believe my role as a filmmaker is to be both curious and present, to reveal connections between seemingly disparate people and subjects, and to inspire action around an issue.