Fall 2012 Issue - Colby-Sawyer College

Reviving a Filmmaking Tradition
by Kimberly Swick Slover
In a magical revival of a
tradition created decades
ago by the late Professor
Emeritus Don Coonley,
Windcrossing: A Festival
of Sight and Sound was
launched in April and
featured students’
Capstone videos and
independent short films
written and produced by
alumni. More than 300 of
Professor Coonley’s former
students, colleagues and
friends—along with
current students—flocked
to Sawyer Theatre for the
festival.
Professor Coonley,
a filmmaker, writer and
educator who joined
the Communication
Studies Program in 1989,
founded the college’s
video production program
and Festival of Lights,
which each semester
offered a venue for
Following the films, Communication Studies graduates
Will Peters ’06 (left) and Mike Mooney ’02 came on stage
to answer questions from the audience. They directed the
festival’s short films and are the co-founders of Hammer &
Saw Films.
34 Colby-Sawyer College Magazine
students’ video productions.
After the professor’s
retirement in 2008,
video production courses
continued at Colby-
Sawyer, but the festival
faded away.
When Coonley died
in June 2011, two former
students, Mike Mooney
’02 and Will Peters ’06,
began discussing ways to
celebrate their mentor’s
life work and engage
current students in the art
form he loved and nurtured
on campus. Mooney
and Peters, co-founders of
Vermont-based Hammer
& Saw Films, conjured up
an idea to bring a film
festival back to campus:
They would lead the effort
for two years, directing
the films and coordinating
casts and crews, and then
pass it on to current
students and faculty. The
idea was embraced by
Associate Professor Donna
Berghorn, Coonley’s friend
and former colleague in
Communication Studies
(now Media Studies).
The new festival premiered
two independent films,
“It’s Not Not Safe” and
“The Check Up,” that were
adapted from 10-minute
plays written by Mooney
and Peters respectively.
Current students, alumni,
staff, faculty and community
members made up
the casts and crews. The
festival also featured a
Hammer & Saw short film,
“Exit 7A,” written by Asher
Ellis ’06, another of
Coonley’s former students.
It was an exhilarating
experience for Mooney and
Peters—and for many
others. “As independent
filmmakers we rely strictly
on what we can do ourselves,”
Mooney says, “but
with the additional firepower
and young minds
behind ‘The Checkup’ and
‘It’s Not Not Safe,’ we
were able to put together
two short films. That
couldn’t have happened
without everyone involved,
especially Donna
Berghorn.”
The audience was
locked in—laughing,
gasping, clapping—
throughout the films and
lingered afterward to
talk to the directors, actors
and writers. Professor
Berghorn still hears from
students and alumni
in person, on email, on
Facebook and on the
phone. “People are genuinely
excited,” she says.
“It was wonderful to see
so many students interacting
with alumni. There is
so much energy going
forward; students will pass
on their excitement to our
new students.