Lewiston
A series of lyrical vignettes explores the cultural encounter between two radically different communities—one Somali, one white—that coexist in a precarious balance.
-
Jacob RobertsProducer, Director, Editor, Sound Recordist
-
David ShayneProducer, Director, Editor, CInematographer
-
Austin WeberSound Recordist
-
Project Type:Documentary
-
Genres:Poetic, Observational
-
Runtime:18 minutes 18 seconds
-
Completion Date:July 30, 2019
-
Production Budget:3,500 USD
-
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:Yes
-
Student Project:No
-
Camden International Film Festival 2019Camden, ME
United States
September 15, 2019
World Premiere
Official Selection -
El Dorado Film Festival 2019El Dorado, AK
United States
October 12, 2019
Arkansas Premiere
Official Selection -
Vermont International Film Festival 2019Burlington, VT
United States
October 18, 2019
Vermont Premiere
Official Selection -
New Hampshire Film Festival 2019Portsmouth, NH
United States
October 19, 2019
New Hampshire Premiere
Official Selection -
White River Junction Indie Films 2019White River Junction, VT
United States
November 2, 2019
Official Selection -
Bates Film Festival 2019Lewiston, ME
United States
November 7, 2019
Official Selection -
Brooklyn Film Festival 2020Brooklyn, NY
United States
May 29, 2020
New York Premiere
Official Selection -
Athens International Film and Video Festival 2020Athens, OH
United States
Ohio Premiere
Official Selection
Jacob Roberts and David Shayne are filmmakers based in New York. Created during their senior year at Harvard College, LEWISTON is their first short documentary. Since graduating, David has continued to work on films, including the feature documentary SOME KIND OF HEAVEN (Sundance 2020), and Jacob has turned his focus to comedy writing. As undergraduates, the two collaborated on a variety of creative projects, including "Hasty Pudding Theatricals 169: Casino Evil" (co-authors). Jacob is from D.C. and David grew up in Nashville.
LEWISTON is an intimate portrait of an American experiment of living. A crowd of Muslim worshippers prays in an ice hockey rink. An aging Mainer reflects on his unlikely neighbors. Somali women in vibrant colors frisk and frolic at a wedding feast in a conference center. These scenes of cultural collision offer a glimpse of life in Lewiston today. Midway through the film, the
audience learns that Donny Giusti has been killed during a drunken brawl between white and Somali Lewistonians. In the latter half, we see the radicalization of one of Giusti’s close friends and a Somali family’s struggle for normalcy as the city reckons with renewed racial tension.
Background:
In the early 1990s, civil war in Somalia forced thousands of Somalis to seek asylum in the United States. These initial refugees settled in Minnesota and Georgia. In the early 2000s, a secondary migration of Somali-Americans took place as thousands relocated to Maine in search of better schools and cheaper housing. Lewiston, Maine, a small working-class city with a history of French Canadian immigration, proved especially appealing. Initially, white Mainers—from hate groups to the mayor of Lewiston himself—discouraged this relocation. In the wake of the financial crisis, however, white and Somali Lewistonians reached a sort of détente as Somali businesses revitalized Main Street. Recently, Lewiston has faced a resurgence of xenophobia.