Starboard Light is a love story of place and connections. The film is a poignant portrait of the people who shaped a house into a place where a family gathered for multiple generations. The small cape house in Chatham Massachusetts became a magnet that drew people to it like a moth to light. Does a family make a house or a house make a family. It is clear that it is little of both.
The archival footage that Nick Fitzhugh incorporated into the film helps to provide the history and the longevity of this old house and its importance to the family. And his filming of the house in more recent times draws you in, so that you can feel the harbor breeze and hear the floors creak. You can't help but want to be there and experience what he and his grandparents, his cousins, aunts and uncles, and extended family did over decades. But the energy and love that his grandparents, and great grandparents invested in this place made it come alive. Without them, there would be no gathering place. They created an ethic of caring and returning home to Chatham that would become ingrained in all of the children, and their children.
It is a poem and a beautiful piece of film making that many families will identify with. Whether it is a hunting camp, a small cabin on the ocean, a multi-generational home — each begins a tradition of belonging and connecting with family. And when that place is no longer, the challenge is keeping that tradition alive. I believe that this family will succeed.
The archival footage that Nick Fitzhugh incorporated into the film helps to provide the history and the longevity of this old house and its importance to the family. And his filming of the house in more recent times draws you in, so that you can feel the harbor breeze and hear the floors creak. You can't help but want to be there and experience what he and his grandparents, his cousins, aunts and uncles, and extended family did over decades. But the energy and love that his grandparents, and great grandparents invested in this place made it come alive. Without them, there would be no gathering place. They created an ethic of caring and returning home to Chatham that would become ingrained in all of the children, and their children.
It is a poem and a beautiful piece of film making that many families will identify with. Whether it is a hunting camp, a small cabin on the ocean, a multi-generational home — each begins a tradition of belonging and connecting with family. And when that place is no longer, the challenge is keeping that tradition alive. I believe that this family will succeed.