Rhode Island International Film Festival 2009

ON THE LAKE: Life and Love in a Distant Place tells the true story of the tuberculosis epidemic in America in the 1900s and globally today through the lives of those that were infected and who died -- but also of those who survived. More than scientific facts and figures, ON THE LAKE touches that rare emotional cord of what life was like for millions of people infected with TB, while providing a glimpse into human nature when faced with a large-scale epidemic.Through powerful storytelling, ON THE LAKE shines new light on a major period in our collective history that has been forgotten -- and a disease that many today think is "dead," but is in fact the number-two infectious killer globally (after HIV/AIDS).The feature documentary opens with America in the early 1900s -- the free-spirited era of Marconi, Edison and the Wright Brothers. But there is a dark side to the dawn of the American Century: A disease that no one understands is the number-one killer of the time. People are suspicious of strangers and even family members. Victims of the White Plague, as TB is known, are shipped off to remote sanatoriums, where doctors hope fresh air, months or years of bed rest, and good food will prove curative. Many die -- but many survive, and even meet and fall in love.ON THE LAKE tells this story with rare footage and stills (some never seen publicly before), interviews with TB experts, and interviews with TB survivors and their relatives. Production began in November 2007 at a state-run hospital on a remote lake in northern Rhode Island -- a hospital that began life in 1905 as a tuberculosis sanatorium. Granted access to the hospital's entire photographic archives and records, the filmmakers began to depict the desperation Americans felt with this disease that can be spread by a simple cough or sneeze. They captured harsh conditions endured by patients -- sleeping outdoors year-round (even in snowy winters), for example.From Rhode Island, production moved to Saranac Lake, New York, the largest treatment center for TB patients east of the Mississippi; Denver, Colorado, the largest center in the West; Massachusetts; Baltimore, Maryland; and North Carolina.The emotional heart of the movie is the many accounts of people, some now in their 80s, who survived TB and years in what was essentially exile -- miles from home, in a strange environment, cut off from family and friends except for occasional visits and letters. Many of these stories are told on camera. Two of the most powerful, by people now dead, including the beautiful Barbara Bowie who died young at a sanatorium, are told through still photographs and letters that the filmmakers found -- letters that are read by actors and actresses providing voiceovers. The dominant theme of all of these emotional stories -- some ending happily, others not -- is the resilience of the human spirit in the most difficult times. Destined to die, the 19-year-old Barbara Bowie writes to her sister from the sanatorium on May 14, 1949: Dear Lorraine,It's beautiful out again today. Oh to be well and out of here. I wish they'd tell me something really definite. But I'll have to wait for another Xray, I guess.Gee, I haven't had company all week. I'm so lonesome. If I ever know anyone in a place like this when I'm well, I'll visit them as often as I can. Dad promised he'd be up this week, but I haven't seen nor heard from him. I wish he'd call me and tell me he's not coming. Or write. Everett, too. I get ready for company every single Thursday, and I have company alright! Disappointment. That's about all. Good thing we have movies &Lots of Love,Barbs Interwoven with these stories is the medical drama of tuberculosis, an ancient disease that predates the Egyptians. As the 20th Century unfolds, doctors and nurses move beyond the regimen of fresh air, long bed rest and good food to a number of bizarre (by today's standards) surgical procedures and treatments. Eventually, hundreds of sanatoriums across America open -- in virtually every state. And then, in the 1940s and 1950s, effective antibiotics are developed. The disease seems to have been conquered.But it is not.Although the incidence in America today is low, thanks to the country's high standard of living and advanced system of health care, globally TB is a pandemic, with 1.7 million TB deaths and 9.2 million new case in 2006, according to the U.N. World Health Organization. Most of these are in Africa, India and China. And even in some parts of America, TB is on the rise. To help tell this part of the story, the filmmakers brought to camera two of the world's leading TB experts: Dr. Richard Chaisson, Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Michael Iseman, University of Colorado.Even before the film was completed, ON THE LAKE was accepted as a member of the Geneva, Switzerland-based worldwide Stop TB Partnership (www.stoptb.org), whose board is run by an executive committee that includes members of the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.One hour long with an original musical score, ON THE LAKE is the first title offered by Providence, R.I.-based Eagle Peak Media (EaglePeakMedia.com), the production company founded in May 2008 by David Bettencourt and G. Wayne Miller. Bettencourt is the award-winning director of the 2007 regional hit YOU MUST BE THIS TALL: The Story of Rocky Point Park. Producer and writer Miller is an award-winning staff writer at The Providence Journal and the author of seven published books.Eagle Peak Media is a non-profit company specializing in film production, Internet content and distribution, and the printed word. Story is our passion© So is social responsibility.