BAAM at The Gem Presents “Voices from the Barrens” with filmmaker Nancy Ghertner and Brian Altvater, the President of the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company

Join BAAM at The Gem on Monday, November 18th at 6:00 pm for a screening of “Voices from the Barrens: Native People, Blueberries and Sovereignty” with filmmaker Nancy Ghertner and Brian Altvater, the President of the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company.

“Voices from the Barrens: Native People, Blueberries and Sovereignty,” documents the wild blueberry harvest of the Wabanaki People from the USA and Canada. The film focuses on the Passamaquoddy tribe’s challenge to balance blueberry hand-raking traditions with the economic realities of the world market, which favor mechanical harvesting. Each August, First People of the Canadian Wabanaki, the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet (Wolastoqiyik) tribes, cross the US/Canada border into Maine to take part in the tradition of hand raking blueberries with their Passamaquoddy brothers and sisters. This crossing to Maine’s blueberry barrens isn’t considered “agricultural labor,” but is a part of the traditional harvest from the earth.

The Wabanaki come to the blueberry barrens of Maine to participate in the largest wild blueberry harvest in the world. This migration is part of their traditional sustenance life-style, a way of gathering from the earth. Families and extended families arrive at company owned camps and live in cabins on the remote barrens of Washington County. During the weeks of the harvest they hand rake the blueberry gullies and fields and at day’s end share camp activities.

Conversations in the cabins and the fields are interspersed with stunning views of the glacial barrens of Down East Maine as the film follows the rakers’ lives. In interviews with the tribal-owned company and elders from the Canadian Wabanaki, the film documents the Passamaquoddy Tribe’s struggle to find a necessary balance between traditional work and the realities of tribal financial independence.

Nancy Ghertner, documentary director, began research into the hand harvesting of blueberries in Down East Maine in 2013 with field videography, interviews, and visits with blueberry companies in Washington County. The unique story that became “Voices from the Barrens” began with an invitation by an Eskasoni First Nation family from Cape Breton, to visit their camp. This led to Nancy’s meeting the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company and filming their harvests. Through encounters and interviews with ninety people the story unfolded. The production team visited First Nation communities at Elsipogtog, New Brunswick, Eskasoni, Nova Scotia and the Passamaquoddy communities of Sipayik and Motahkomikuk in Maine to meet tribal elders and hear their personal stories of this gathering tradition.

Brian Altvater is the President of the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company. He is also chair of the Schoodic River Keepers, a committee dedicated to protecting the waterways of Peskotomuhkatik, including the Schoodic or St. Croix River. And he is the Wabanaki Wellness Coordinator with Maine-Wabanaki REACH (Reach stands for Restoration, Engagement, Advocacy, Change, and Healing); this is the association that initiated the Maine Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Brian is a “Voice” in the actual story in “Voices from the Barrens.” He has seven grandchildren. Brian is the proud grandfather of 7 grand-children and great-grandchildren. 

Nancy Ghertner is a visual artist and filmmaker, and the director of “Voices from the Barrens.” She is a former faculty member of Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Film and Animation. She has directed and produced numerous documentaries, including the award-winning “After I Pick the Fruit: The Lives of Migrant Women,” and “In Our Own Backyard: The Hidden Realities of Women Farmworkers.” She is an active member of human rights organizations in New York State where she lives and advocates for the rights of immigrants, farm workers, and Indigenous People. She met the Passamaquoddy people at Sipayik in 1970 when she was studying at Colby College. “Voices from the Barrens,” was started from her research into agriculture labor across international borders. And for her, most importantly she in totally committed to her six grandchildren. 

Social Hour at 5:00 pm

Introduction to the film by filmmaker Nancy Ghertner via zoom at 6:00 pm

Q&A and discussion to follow with filmmaker Nancy Ghertner and Brian Altvater, the President of the Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company via Zoom

Tickets are “Pay What You Can” benefiting Bethel Area Arts & Music.