concerned citizens turn amateur filmmakers

A true example of small town activism, the film “The Squamscott River: Exeter’s Connection to the Sea,” is the creative result of local collaboration to protect a natural resource. The film will be screened for the public at Exeter High School on Wednesday, Feb. 4. 

The idea for the film began about a year ago, when Michael Lambert of Exeter attended a town land-use meeting involving development options that posed harmful consequences to the Squamscott River. Only 15 rivers in New Hampshire are protected by the state’s department of environmental resources, a short list that does not include the Squamscott but does list three other Stafford and Rockingham county rivers: the Lamprey, the Isinglass and the Exeter. Lambert feared that unless community members begin to recognize the Squamscott’s value, the six-mile stretch of tidal water will remain unprotected. He decided it was time for lights, camera and action.

Although Lambert had never made a film before, he didn’t think twice about his choice of medium. “Everyone has grown used to receiving their information in this format,” he says.

According to the N.H. River Management and Protection Program, in order for a river to be designated for protection, an interested individual or organization must develop a nomination outlining the river’s values and rally strong local support from residents of the riverfront communities. The film aims to build that support.

“I want people to walk out of the film with warm fuzzies about the Squamscott River,” Lambert says. He wanted “to make a film that did not bang people over the head or scare people away with environmental stuff.” 

“The threats are far more subtle, and so is the film,” Lambert says.

Kyle Glowacky, the film’s 20-year-old director and friend of Lambert’s son Jeff, calls the film a portrait piece. “We are trying not to say anything, we just show the beauty of it,” says the Exeter native and current Emerson College film student.
The film’s 25-minute duration mirrors the amount of time it takes to travel the river by boat from its start at Exeter Falls to where it empties into Great Bay.

“The film is pretty much a trip down the river,” says Glowacky, who has spent the last year arranging footage captured from Lambert’s boat and overlaying it with historical images of the river provided by the Exeter Historical Society.

Lambert says he is pleased with how the homegrown effort turned out. “It is hard to get something done to completion,” he says. “You work for an hour to get five or six minutes. I’m just glad that it wasn’t an hour.”

But more time will need to be invested to make the Squamscott a protected river. Currently in New Hampshire, tidal rivers are not eligible for protection, a limitation that Don Clements, chair of the Exeter River local advisory committee, would like to see lifted. Recruited by Lambert to aid in the film project, Clements is also working with the DES Rivers Council to add tidal rivers to the state’s river protection act. He is hopeful that the film will rally local concern for the Squamscott River.

The film will be screened to the public on Wednesday, Feb. 4, in the Exeter High School auditorium at 315 Epping Road. Glowacky was a long-time employee at the Ioka Theater and had hoped to screen the film there before it closed. “My personal goal was to screen the film at this place that I love, that sits on the Squamscott, but we chose another public place to emphasize that this film is for the public,” he says.

The free event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with live music by Bob Moore, a local acoustic and folk musician whose solo guitar work is featured in the instrumental portions of the film. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. followed by a question and answer session at 7:30 p.m. Representatives from the N.H. Department of Environmental Services and N.H. Fish and Game will be present to talk about the Squamscott River.

For those unable to attend the screening, the team hopes to also show the film at Philips Exeter Academy, Great Bay Discovery Center and Brentwood Library, but future dates have not been scheduled. To stay informed, visit Lambert’s blog at exetertowncrier.wordpress.com.