Citizen Screen: Dynamic Duo Makes Local Films Seen Worldwide

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Rocky Friedman and Ward Serrill in front Fort Worden’s Wheeler Theater  [/caption]

Citizen Screen is a monthly column dedicated to film and film-related topics, sourced and curated by Port Townsend Film Festival.

This month’s column is by Ward Serrill, the writer and director of The Heart of the Game, released by Miramax, as well as The Bowmakers and Dancing with the Dead: Red Pine and the Art of Translation, plus ninety short films, including Building One House with Robert Redford and Wild America with Sissy Spacek.

When I moved to Port Townsend twelve years ago, as soon as I put down my bags, I headed directly to the Rose Theatre. In the lobby, I introduced myself to Rocky Friedman, who knew my work from my film, The Heart of the Game, which had played at the Rose.

Soon, I was at the Rose two to three times a week, devotionally immersed in the story of cinema, where in its seats I was studying for my own master's degree in the story craft of film. Through those frequent visits to the university of the Rose, a friendship born of a mutual love of movies developed between Rocky and me.

In 2016, he approached me with an idea for a film. In an early morning trip to the Kingston ferry, he had given a ride to luthier James Island, who told him the story of the hidden enclave of world-renowned bowmakers in Port Townsend. Rocky wondered if it was a story I would be interested in, and I replied, only if he came with it. Thus, was born the most generative professional and creative partnership of my life, which endures to this day. We enter the upcoming 2025 Port Townsend Film Festival with the first two of our current films from what we call The Meraki Project. More on that later . . .

Our partnership is clearly defined and fluid. Defined in that I am the director and determine the film’s creative path and have final say in that regard, while he serves as producer and oversees its funding. The fluidity arises from how we work together, communicating regularly and he advising on creative issues and direction of the project. While we may have passionate discussions in that regard, in nine years of working together, it has never once devolved into a conflict, and I have found that almost always, his creative insights are right on the money.

We shot The Bowmakers over three years, travelling to France and Brazil to tell the story. Before it was completed, Rocky approached me and asked, “Do you want to make another film?” He had come across the story of Red Pine, Port Townsend’s Bill Porter,  who is a world-renowned translator of Chinese poetry and author of travel and cultural books on China. Thus, became Dancing with the Dead: Red Pine and the Art of Translation, which premiered in 2023.

Rocky often joked that it was time to find our third film, so we could complete our trilogy (and DVD boxed set). We knew we had found a direction: local characters whose work resonated worldwide. But that third story proved elusive.

After a long period of searching, we instead came across the idea of a series of short films. We had discovered a number of stories that were compelling but did not have the dramatic arc to become a full-length film. We called this set of short films The Meraki Project. Meraki is a Greek word that means “passion to create” or “to put one’s soul into one’s work.”

Soon we had five short films in the works, including:

-The Flying Karamazov Brothers

-Animator Andrea Love

-Environmental artist Jeanne K. Simmons

-The Chimenti family sailmakers

-Poet Finn Wilcox and Photographer Steve Johnson

As filming unfolded, it became clear that one of the shorts—on the Flying Karamazov Brothers—indeed possessed the characters and dramatic arc to become a full-length feature. Profound Fools: The Flying Karamazov Brothers and the Art of Juggling will be released in 2027—thus, our trilogy will indeed be realized!

The other four shorts in the Meraki Project are underway, two of which, Andrea Aniamates: A Wooly Love Story on the renowned felt puppet animator Andrea Love as she creates Feltopia, the world’s first felt-doll, stop-motion video game and Wings for Ships: The Chimenti Family and the Art of Sailmaking, on the internationally renowned Chimenti familyof Marrowstone Island, who make handmade sails for tall ships will have their world premieres at this year’s Port Townsend Film Festival. The last two films in our series will debut later.