Pocono Arts Council and Pocono Heritage Land Trust are excited to present a free screening of NEPADOC, a new feature-length documentary about intersections of environment, industry, and identity in Northeastern Pennsylvania over the past 300 years.
Home to cities such as Williamsport, where the Little League World Series is held annually, and Scranton, birthplace of the sitting US president, Northeastern PA (often abbreviated “NEPA”) has long been an important industrial and cultural region of the country, and its story is one that mirrors much of the larger narrative of America itself.
The idea for NEPADOC was borne out of more than a decade of research into the history and culture of the Northeastern region of Pennsylvania (often abbreviated as “NEPA”). Filmed over a period of eight months across more than a dozen Pennsylvania counties, NEPADOC is the first feature film by director David Heineman, whose previous work addressing the first year of life during COVID-19 (the short film The Pandemic Nature Project) has been screened at juried film festivals and international academic symposia.
From the Director
The original inspiration for NEPADOC springs from my years of living and teaching in Northeast Pennsylvania. The juxtaposition of the region’s beautiful landscapes against some of its economically and environmentally decimated communities create striking visual parallels between NEPA’s own unique story and those of many other communities across the globe. I was interested in using the techniques available to nonverbal documentary filmmaking to create a historical narrative of the region that offers an argument about how industry, environment, and identity have intersected in ways that are recognizable by any audience that has spent time in places like those showcased in the film. Films like Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi (1982) and Ron Fricke’s Baraka (1992) are noted for their ability to artfully bring global perspectives to localized audiences, and NEPADOC tries to do this in reverse, highlighting the universal themes found in the localized story of this one region of the world. – David Heineman, Ph.D.
David’s previous work, the 35-minute short The Pandemic Nature Project (2021), was exhibited at several juried festivals and academic conferences prior to its distribution by the literary and arts magazine The Autoethnographer. Heineman, who’s family roots in Northeastern Pennsylvania date back several generations, is a professor of Communication Studies at Bloomsburg University, where he teaches courses in media studies, criticism, and public advocacy.
Join us for a screening a discussion of the film with its director, David Heineman, Ph.D.
Brodhead Creek Heritage Center
1539 Cherry Lane Road, East Stroudsburg
Thursday, January 18th
from 6:30-8:30pm