Tangier documentary to air Saturday

• Proceeds from a showing of “Pieces of Tangier” will go to pay a share of a seawall project.
• The film will be shown at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 19, at Onancock Baptist Church.
• Roberts will introduce the film and answer questions afterward. DVDs also will be for sale.

Pocomoke City native Jenny Roberts, 29, chose Tangier Island as the subject of her master’s thesis at the Ohio University School of Film after learning about the erosion problem threatening the existence of the 400-year-old Virginia waterman’s community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.

Roberts grew up on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, but she had never visited nearby Tangier Island and hadn’t heard much about the island’s erosion problem.

Fewer than 500 people now live on the 3-mile-long island, which according to some estimates is losing up to 30 feet of shoreline a year.

Then, at the same time she was trying to decide on a topic for her master’s thesis, she encountered former Tangier Island resident Carrie Crockett at a party in summer 2011. Crockett told her about the numerous challenges faced by island residents.

“I just got really lucky. I was at my older sister’s engagement party, and one of the guests at the party was a girl from Tangier. ... She and I got talking — she found out I made films and she said, ‘Wow, you should do a film about Tangier, where I’m from.’ ”

That chance conversation led to a two-year effort that resulted in the documentary movie, “Pieces of Tangier.”

Proceeds from a local showing of the 45-minute film will go to help Tangier pay its share of a multimillion-dollar seawall project.

An agreement involving state and federal funding to build a seawall and jetty to protect the island’s harbor was announced in 2012, but construction hasn’t begun yet.

The film will be shown at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 19, at Onancock Baptist Church in Onancock.

Roberts will introduce the documentary and answer questions afterward. She will also have DVDs of the movie available for sale.

Information about the film is at http://www.yellowbicyclefilms.net.

Tickets cost $5 each and are available at the Book Bin in Onley, Marsh Jewelers on Onancock, Mamersass Boutique on Chincoteague, T’s Corner in Oak Hall, Tangier Island Cruises in Crisfield, and Market Street Boutique in Pocomoke City.

“Pieces of Tangier” is the first long-form documentary made about Tangier’s erosion problem.

Roberts, who now works as creative services producer at WBOC-TV and has a production company called Yellow Bicycle Films, is the director, cinematographer and editor of “Pieces of Tangier.”

She received an Indie Award of Merit for the documentary, which was shown last year at the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival.

About a month after her conversation with Crockett, Roberts and her sister took a day trip to Tangier, experiencing it as many tourists do each summer.

“Just seeing it ... how beautiful it was and knowing this (erosion) was going on” sealed in her mind the idea to focus on Tangier Island for her thesis topic.

She and a film school acquaintance, Matt Fillmore, spent a few days on Tangier island in August 2011, trying to make contacts and starting to film.

“We would just go out with our camera. ... We tried to make ourselves visible.”

Tangier residents are used to people coming to the island and talking about getting their story out, but many times it stays just that — talk.

“They’ve had a lot of people come and tell them that,” Roberts said.

Still, the islanders gave her and Fillmore the benefit of the doubt.

“People were receptive enough to at least take the chance.”

Tommy Eskridge, a Town Council member and owner of Four Brothers Crab House, was among their first contacts.

They returned to Tangier Island for a weekend in October and for a month in winter 2011-2012 to continue filming — recognizing Tangier Island isn’t the kind of place where one sets up an appointment a month ahead for an interview and swoops in and out in a day or two.

“It’s the kind of place where you’ve got to spend time,” Roberts said.

The winter trip gave her insight into a different side of Tangier from what most visitors see.

“I was really interested in the mundane times when the tourists aren’t there.”

They made another weekend trip in February and returned in March for a basketball tournament, a popular island event.

It was during one of those visits a tragic, fatal house fire happened on Tangier Island. They decided against filming during the fire but attended a church service the day after. (Footage of the service is included in the documentary.)

“It really showed how they came together in tragedy,” Roberts said.

In summer 2012, Fillmore left for Malaysia to work on his own documentary project, while Roberts stayed on Tangier Island for the entire summer, rounding out the seasons she had experienced island life.

“This film isn’t a tourist trip to Tangier — it’s getting to know this community. ... It explores just what life is like there,” she said.

Roberts had basically finished filming in August 2012, but she returned to the island one more time in November 2012 to cover the signing of an agreement between federal and state officials to build a seawall off Tangier Island.

Roberts screened her completed movie two nights last summer at the Tangier History Museum, before showing it at other local venues, including the Mar-Va Theater in Pocomoke City, a coffeehouse in Snow Hill, Maryland, and the German School in Washington, D.C.

“I just relish these opportunities to show it and to show it in any venue I can,” she said.

But seeing the reaction of Tangier Island residents to her work was special. They thanked her for making the documentary “and told me I did a good job representing them.”

Additionally, the screenings gave Roberts a chance to thank them back.

“I got to explain to them for the first time ... why I wanted to make this film and what impact it had on my life.”

She said she came to appreciate her own small-town upbringing more than she ever had before after spending time on Tangier Island and seeing how close its residents are.

“I have a greater sense of appreciation for this area than I ever did.”

cvvaughn@dmg.gannett.com

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IF YOU GO

• “Pieces of Tangier,” a 45-minute documentary by Pocomoke City native Jenny Roberts, will be shown at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 19, at Onancock Baptist Church.

Tickets cost $5 each and are available at the Book Bin in Onley, Marsh Jewelers on Onancock, Mamersass Boutique on Chincoteague, T’s Corner in Oak Hall, Tangier Island Cruises in Crisfield and Market Street Boutique in Pocomoke City.

Ticket purchasers also are eligible to win prizes (and do not have to be present to win), including a round-trip ferry ride on the Joyce Marie II from Onancock; a round-trip ferry ride on the Steven Thomas from Crisfield; an overnight stay for two on Tangier at Hilda Crockett’s; gift certificates for Mallards in Onancock, the Blarney Stone Pub in Onancock and the Watermen’s Inn in Crisfield; a Chesapeake Bay bracelet from Marsh’s Jewelers in Onancock; one hour of financial counseling by John Fiege; a cake from Becca’s; the Tangier Island Cookbook by Patsy Young; and copies of Kirk Mariner’s book, “God’s Island: The History of Tangier.”

For more information, contact Ker Place at 757-787-8012.

• To donate to the Tangier Seawall Fund, mail a check made out to The Town of Tangier to: The Town of Tangier, Attn: Renee Tyler, 4301 Joshua Thomas Lane, Tangier, VA 23440. Put “Seawall Fund” in memo line of check. Call Tangier Town Manager Renee Tyler at 757-891-2438 for more information.