In 1842, a radical, Abolitionist commune boycotts the cotton industry by growing silk, but in the face of financial ruin, its visionary leader ultimately discovers he's capable of betraying it all.
Tucked in the mountains of Western Massachusetts, George Benson leads an Abolitionist commune that's seemingly living the dream. Black and white activists live together farming, sharing resources, embracing radical education and religious practices, and cultivating silk - "a free cloth, unfettered by the evils of slavery." They hope to, quite literally, show the world that a better way is possible. But despite its grand intentions, things flounder when they can't make ends meet. George's wife - whose inheritance is secretly financing the commune - can't bear to see her father's money be squandered away with no hope of return.
Tensions mount when some members propose adopting a socialist economy - but when a flood wipes out their last food reserves, the community is pushed beyond its limit. Under threat of his wife, George covertly sells the property to a cotton manufacturer to save his family's personal funds. Black commune members call out George's grave betrayal, while white members flail in a recognizable flurry of shock and disbelief. The community unravels... its underbelly strewn out across its fields.
Erica Fae brings radical stories from history onto the stage and screen. Her first feature film as writer/director/producer/actor, To Keep the Light (on a woman lighthouse keeper in the 1860s), was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize (International Critics’ Prize/Mannheim), Best Director (Berlin Indp), Best of Show (BendFilm), Best Emerging Director (St. Louis Int’l), 2 Best Narrative Feature Awards (Ojai and Port Townsend), and 2 Best Cinematography Awards (Woods Hole & Las Vegas). It also screened at Vancouver Int’l Film Fest, and was nominated for festival prizes at Woodstock, Florida, Nashville, New Hampshire, Filmfest DC, and Salento (Italy). She also won Best Short and Best Actress prizes for her short, Christine 1403; and her play, Take What Is Yours (on suffragist Alice Paul) was named a Critics’ Pick in The New York Times and Backstage. Her recent play, Saved Again and by Him - based on and interrogating Sarah Wakefield's 1860 memoir from the Dakota Uprising - premiered at the New Ohio, NYC. She is on the acting faculty at the Yale School of Drama (now David Geffen School of Drama at Yale), has taught Directing Actors at Columbia's Grad Film Program and The Film Academy Baden-Württemberg (Germany). She wrote on Directing Actors for Filmmaker Magazine, and was a guest panelist at Sundance on filmmaking and social justice. To Keep the Light is distributed by Gravitas (US/Canada) and Flix Premiere (UK/France), and is available on Amazon Prime.
Catherine - Louisa Jacobson
George - Hudson Oz
David - Ato Blankson-Wood
