Private Project

FILL THE NEED

Three individuals who reside within a small-town of Cortland, NY join a newly formed mutual aid group and assist the community by providing food in a fresh new food network of cabinets that have popped up across the area.

  • Amelia Ponirakis
    Director
    Pesky Landline
  • Amelia Ponirakis
    Writer
    Pesky Landline
  • Caroline Kaltefleiter
    Producer
  • Dawn Barrie
    Key Cast
    "Dawn"
  • Emme Honnes
    Key Cast
    "Emme "
  • Jeanette Littlehall
    Key Cast
    "Jeanette"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Student
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 8 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 8, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Purchase College, SUNY Film Conservatory (BFA)
Director Biography - Amelia Ponirakis


Amelia Wyeth Ponirakis is a filmmaker based in Upstate New York. She is currently studying to get her BFA at Purchase College, SUNY Film Conservatory. Prior to this she studied two summer's in a row at the New York State Summer School of Media Arts (NYSSSA) her concentration being in 16mm and 8mm filmmaking. The kind of filmmaking Amelia often invests into making are documentaries, experimental works on analog/digital, and narrative films grounded in realism. In addition to Amelia's work she also runs a podcast series "The Celluvoid" where she interviews film and media artist about their body of work.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Amelia Wyeth Ponirakis was a second year film conservatory student while she was in the process of making her sophomore documentary debut FILL THE NEED (2021) during the ongoing global pandemic. She made the tough decision for her 2020/2021 academic school year to stay at home to complete her work. Opportunity struck when a new mutual aid group had formed within her town, she believed it was something that absolutely had to be documented. Often with documentary they start as one idea and then morph into something perhaps slightly different. This was exactly what had happened in the case of this documentary. The mutual aid group Amelia was documenting had suddenly broken up in April. She was able to problem solve and narrowed her thesis down still maintaining the themes of mutual aid but capturing the essence of it solely through the food cabinet networks that had emerged across the town.