'The Bonackers' Documentary Screens at LTV

LTV Studios, in association with The Bonackers Project and The Peter Matthiessen Center, presents the premiere screening of “The Bonackers” on Friday, December 20, at 7 p.m. The 60-minute documentary will be shown at LTV Studios in Wainscott.

Produced and directed by Joanne Friedland Roberts, “The Bonackers” is the evolving story of the women and men whose families have fished and farmed the East End for almost 400 years. Struggling to survive in the mansion-filled Hamptons, they may well be the last of their kind.

Filmed over the past year and a half, the film introduces viewers to these descendants of East Hampton’s first European settlers who shared their history, traditions, wisdom and hopes for the future on their boats and bays and in their pickup trucks, fields, farms and homes.

Roberts, who created “The Bonackers” to draw attention to the Bonac community and inspire residents to think more deeply about what it stands to lose if centuries old cultures like this one disappear, will introduce the film. LTV archivist Genie Chipps Henderson, who helped source much of the historic footage layered throughout the film, will talk about LTV’s “hidden archive,” filled with many decades of local stories.

After the screening, some of the longtime locals in the film will share their perspectives, struggles and point of view. There will be a special musical performance by Dan Koontz who’ll perform his original song, “Fireplace Road,” which was written for his rock opera “The Free Life” and is also featured in “The Bonackers” opening sequence.

The production crew of “The Bonackers” all have strong ties to the area. Cinematographer Julian T. Alvarez and editor Sam Hamilton met at Ross School, story editor Amelia Garner is a frequent visitor to the area, and the film’s producer and director Joanne Friedland Roberts has lived in East Hampton and Amagansett part-time for almost 40 years.

Roberts is an awarding-winning TV producer, writer and new media pioneer who’s launched and run several successful start-ups. As head of Joanne Roberts Productions, she created three original series for network and syndicated television and in 1995, with funding from America Online, launched some of the earliest web communities for kids and teens, leading the way with blogging and social media.

Over the course of her career, Roberts produced programming for CBS, Disney, ABC, PBS, Nickelodeon, Lifetime TV, HBO, Fox Broadcasting Company, The Smithsonian Institution and others. Drawn to content that builds community, sparks action and inspires change, she frequently collaborates with schools, museums and cultural institutions across the country.

Admission to the screening is $10 in advance (which includes wine and popcorn), $15 at the door. To purchase tickets, visit ltveh.org. LTV Studios is at 75 Industrial Road in Wainscott.