“One Big Home,” Examining Development, To Screen at LTV Studios

The Wainscott Heritage Project and Build.In.Kind/East Hampton will co-host an encore screening of the film “One Big Home,” followed by a discussion and Q&A session with East Hampton Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers and the filmmaker, Thomas Bena, on Friday, January 10, at 6 p.m. at LTV Studios in Wainscott.

Spanning more than a decade, “One Big Home” documents the story of a carpenter who worked on the construction of ever-bigger houses in the town of Chilmark on Martha’s Vineyard, became concerned about its impact and decided to take action. Trading his toolbelt for a videocamera, he engaged the community through listening and debate, built a consensus and created a coalition of individuals committed to realizing more thoughtful house size and land use practices that respected and protected their town’s history, character, quality of life, affordability and environment, while sustaining a vibrant economy.

East Hampton is presently confronting the impacts of intensifying and expanding development on the community and the land. Thanks in large part to the efforts of Build.In.Kind/East Hampton, a grassroots advocacy for “rational restraint” and “more modulated proportions” in development, the Zoning Code Amendments Working Group was convened in 2023 and charged with identifying loopholes that allowed egregious violations of the spirit of the code, if not the letter, and the Town Board recently adopted multiple amendments to the code aimed at controlling “super-sized” houses that loom over neighboring properties and detrimentally impact neighborhood character and the environment.

“We are so pleased to screen this film again, as it continues to be relevant to the East End and now even more timely to what is happening in East Hampton,” Esperanza Leon, cofounder of the Wainscott Heritage Project, said in a statement. Bena, she said, “aptly portrays different and opposing viewpoints in his documentary, exposing his own struggles as well as he goes on the journey to restore balance in his community. Those who appreciate the special character of their community will relate to Thomas’s story and feel hope at what is possible when people come together for the greater good.”

“The film is a testament to how the active engagement of citizens can achieve constructive change,” said Jaine Mehring, founder of Build.In.Kind/East Hampton. “When we first screened it for the community in October 2022, it was inspirational, but the idea that we could accomplish real change here still felt remote. But here we are now, two-plus years later and 20 months into a formal town process to evolve East Hampton land use codes.”

Admission is free and advance registration is encouraged via bit.ly/4gYewmE. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.