Seasons In The Valley Press Pack

Seasons In The Valley Synopsis 1

When the only permanent thing is change, what endures is the human spirit.
Hollywood veteran Elliott Gould lends his distinct voice to this gentle
documentary exploring the symbiotic relationships between the apple farmers of
NY’s Hudson Valley and their Jamaican labor. They are a microcosm of the
thousands who come to the US and Canada under the auspices of government
labor programs.

Since the origination of the “Bracero” program in 1943, and now under the
Department of Labor’s H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program, the apple
growers of the Hudson Valley and their Jamaican labor have been inexorably
linked.

“Seasons In The Valley” challenges our preconceived notions of migrant workers
as illegal vagabonds. Through the experiences of these Jamaican men, we
examine the triumphs and difficulties inherent to a program like H-2A. Sunny
Crest Orchards, W.G. Minard & Sons, Coy Orchards and many other long
established farms have not only been a way for these workers to feed their
families, but for some, like Herriston Slater, it has provided the financial engine
enabling them to rise from subsistence living to financial stability, allowing him
to become employer in his own right to others on his Island as they reap the
coffee he has planted as a result of his US sojourn

The film examines the social and economic impact this northern migration has
had on communities throughout Jamaica, and celebrates the tenacity and
obdurate optimism of so many whose livelihoods are now threatened.

This 84-minute piece was shot on location in New York’s Hudson Valley and on
the Island of Jamaica over the last five years. The film features an original score
and candid commentary from not only the workers, but also public servants
including the prime minister of Jamaica, and former Governor Pataki of NY.

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Seasons In The Valley Credits 1

When the only permanent thing is change, what endures is the human spirit.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Narrator Elliott GOULD
Written Produced & Directed by Adam MATALON
Co-Producers Kevin BURKE, Randy TREU
Associate Producer -- Jamaica Jennifer ARMOND
Editor Giacomo AMBROSINI
Composer Sam SUTTON
Director of Photography (US & JA) Kevin BURKE
Director of Photography (US) Aaron MEDICK
Post Production Sound Designer Jesse PETERSON
Assistant Editor Timothy DONOVAN
2nd Assistant Editor Valerie IANELLO
Additional Camera Andrew SMITH
Graphics & Design Aishiori KATAMURA
Production Assistants Andrew SMITH, Timothy DONOVAN,
Ashley RITTER, Sharyn FLANAGAN.
Post Production Assistants Sam CAINO, Kimberly DiMAGGIO, Denise
GOREY, Justin SCUTIERI, Masha
VASUKORA

Special Thanks To:
Adam Litwinski, Christopher A Cohen, Delores Crooks, Michelle Hickey, Zack & Suzannah
Matalon, Local 917, Michael Smallman, Vivian Taub, Janet Clunis, David Hausen, Stephen
Temperley.

The producers gratefully acknowledge the support of the following people and
organizations:
Courtleigh Hotel Kingston, Fiesta Car Rental Jamaica, JAMPRO, Jamaica Film Commission, Air
Jamaica, The Rose and Moses Corporation, Trident Properties Jamaica and The Director’s
Guild & Screen Actor’s Guild.
Seasons In The Valley was produced with the assistance of New York Foundations for the Arts
and New York State Council for the Arts.

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LOGLINE:

When the only permanent thing is change, what endures is the
human spirit.

49 WORD SYNOPSIS

Elliott Gould lends his distinctive voice to an emotional film, which
chronicles the journeys of Jamaican migrant workers, the plight of New
York apple farmers, and the bonds that have formed between these men
as they struggle to maintain their existence in an emerging and fiercely
competitive global economy.

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Library Journal, 3/15/2009
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6643244.html

Seasons in the Valley. Color. 84 min. Adam Matalon, Chatsby Films, 212-
462-2600; www.chatsbyfilms.com/seasonsinthevalley.html 2008. DVD
$285 (Rental: $60). Public performance. SOc SCI

Each year, thousands of nonimmigrant alien laborers come to the United
States for temporary or seasonal agricultural work under the auspices of the
Department of Labor's H-2A visa program. This documentary, warmly
narrated by actor Elliott Gould, provides a detailed and encouraging glimpse
of the program's operation in the resplendent apple orchards of New York's
Hudson Valley, where a group of Jamaican men come to work each year.
Candid on-location interviews here and in Jamaica create a richly textured
portrait of how the program mutually benefits the workers and their
employers, the close relationship between them, and the challenges they
share in an increasingly globalized economy. Most poignant, however, are
the testimonies of the workers themselves as they share their hopes of
improving their families' lives back in Jamaica, as well as their experiences
of discrimination while in this country. In English, with occasional subtitles.
Recommended for most libraries. Trailer at www.seasonsinthevalley.com.
Robert A. Sica, Eastern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Richmond

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Elliot Gould will narrate the debut feature documentary from director Adam Matalon, “Seasons In
The Valley”, which will premiere at The Rhode Island International Film Festival on August 9th ,
2008. Hollywood veteran Elliott Gould lends his distinct voice to this gentle documentary exploring
the symbiotic relationships between the apple farmers of NY’s Hudson Valley and their Jamaican
labor. They are a microcosm of the thousands who come to the US and Canada each year under the
auspices of the U.S. government’s H2-A temporary agricultural labor programs. The film is an
intimate look at the workers lives, charting their experiences with racism, immigration control and
the struggle for personal betterment in a fiercely competitive world economy. This 87-minute piece,
was shot on location in New York’s Hudson Valley and on the Island of Jamaica over the last five
years. The film features an original score and candid commentary from not only the workers, but
also public servants including Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, and Governor George
Pataki of NY.
5 / 5 (1 Votes)

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Jamaica News Bulletin - Jamaican News, Sports and Entertainment.

quot;Seasons In The Valleyquot; - A look at Jamaican farmers in the US
Thursday, 31 July 2008

A new documentary highlighting the experiences of Jamaican farmers on the US work program is set to premier at The
Rhode Island International Film Festival on August 9th 2008.

Narrated by Hollywood veteran Elliott Gould, quot;Seasons In The Valleyquot;, is the debut feature documentary from director
Adam Matalon - an emerging filmmaker and writer who started his directorial work in children's TV on the acclaimed
series Sesame Street.

With his distinctive voice, Gould takes us through this gentle documentary exploring the symbiotic relationships between
the apple farmers of NY's Hudson Valley and the Jamaican labourers, who come to the US under the auspices of the US
government's H2-A temporary agricultural labour program.

Produced by Chatsby Films, the 87-minute piece was shot on location in New York's Hudson Valley and on the Island of
Jamaica over the last five years. The film features an in-depth look at a small group of Jamaican men who come to the
US every year to work in the apple orchards of New York's Hudson Valley. It charts their experiences with racism,
immigration control, and reflects on the strong bonds they have with the American farmers for whom they work. These
Jamaicans are a microcosm of the thousands who come to the US and Canada under the auspices of diminishing
government labour programs.

The film features an original score and candid commentary from not only the workers, but also public servants including
Jamaica's former Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller and former Governor of New York, George Pataki.

Matalon describes the film as a symphony.

quot;We are all conditioned to see modern documentary as propaganda machines, but the seasonal nature of agriculture is
about the passage of time. It's sweet, harsh, triumphant and soul destroying in almost equal doses. I wanted a film that
washed over you rather than hit you on the head.quot; Co-producer and twice Emmy nominated Director of Photography,
Kevin Burke said, quot;Once we started shooting, I realized I was watching the consequences of a global economy unfold in
front of my eyes.quot;

The creative team includes two other international members; Italian film editor Giacomo Ambrosini, and British composer
Sam Sutton, who created the original score, and was on board and sketching from the second year of production.

When asked about the original ideas for the score, she laughed.

quot;There were so many! I knew Adam wanted to evolve music that didn't fall into clichés, and although Jamaica plays such
an important part, he didn't want any reggae. We listened a lot and identified several themes that worked. From there, I
started to write in earnest. Adam wanted the music to be an integral part of the story.quot;

Editor Ambrosini, whose previous doc work was the untitled Red Hot Chili Peppers film, said, quot;As a European working in
the United States, I was well aware of the immigration rules and regulations, post 9/11. My own experience made me
even more sympathetic to the Jamaicans' journeys far from home. I was also fascinated by the complex global economy
that effects even a small farmer.quot;

After the films premiere in Rhode Island, the film is scheduled to screen at several New York area venues and will
premiere in Paris in October.

The film was produced with the assistance of New York Foundation For the Arts (NYFA) and New York State Council on
the Arts (NYSCA).

Source: PRWEB

Seasons In The Valley Director’s Statement 1

Director’s Statement by Adam Matalon

This is more a stream on consciousness than a clearly fashioned statement. I
found myself untouched by the first pages I wrote.

I think this film is brooding. It’s lyrical and it’s guttural. It’s about loss. It’s about
tenacity. It’s about a willful spirit to live and very importantly it is about the
dignity of labor and the nature of hope.

I think I also proved my own tenacious nature to myself in completing the film
against some occasionally stiff adversity.

The cultural differences and expectations between an Americans perception of
success and those brought up in a depressed second tier economy like that of
Jamaica are vastly at odds. This is a film about people who understand the
difference between their needs and their wants.

It is comforting and reassuring to me that the American and Jamaicans, who
inhabit this piece, are truly magnificent in their connection and appreciation of
each other. Together they wage a war that they all somehow know they must lose
as the realities of economic globalization take hold. But they do keep smiling and
they keep working and together they muddle through. It’s a microcosm of life, an
inexact science, and in this vein we have made this piece.

While the film could have been solely about globalization or connected squarely
with the racial issues the Jamaicans face outside of the farming community, I
wanted to address this film as a success story and a film that spoke of the
immigrant labor without the middle class assumptions and political patronizations,
which have traditionally suggested them as slaves. I wanted a film that was
orchestrated and related like the parts of a symphony and it is for this reason that
the music and b-roll often speak so loudly. I wanted a film that held the mirror up
to nature and reeducated us to the realities of food production. I wanted people to
understand that when they buy that cheap and beautiful red apple from China or
Venezuela or France or any number of producing countries that they might well be
putting at risk an American farmer or negatively impacting the upward mobility of
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a young man or woman in Jamaica. I fervently believe in our right to choose that
cheap red apple. However I wanted to simply make observations about these cost
based decisions, which I hope will have impact on people’s understanding of the
global nature of our ever-evolving consumer society.

In North America, the notion of color and racism is a monstrous chasm in our
society and one I fervently hope is lessening but again, mostly created by and
used by Americans against each other, and as tools to negate the value of
‘outsiders’.

In Jamaica, Black is simply a color and one of the many rainbow colors of an
Island people with background from India, China, Africa, Europe, the Middle East
(my particular background), and their indigenous Taino and Arawak Indians. The
concept of being labeled ‘African American” is anathema to the average Jamaican
and they use “American” with a kiss of their teeth and an upward glance as a
negative reference to someone ‘uppity’.

There has been a tradition of films in the area of immigrant and farm labor that
paint a picture of failure, and have become propaganda for various parties to
brandish as it suits them. To me it appears that they have done little to solve the
negative issues or market the positive. While in many cases they may have
elevated the status of the filmmaker, they have not elevated the livelihood of the
subjects. I cannot suggest for a second that this film will do anything to solve a
grossly disproportionate economy. Or to put food in people’s mouths.

The film is a testament to the contributions of the men who come here and a
celebration of the future that they are providing for those around them. While they
inhabit an imperfect system with obvious real and potential failings, I wanted to
make a strong case to suggest that there is good and bad in everything.

The notion of betterment is not an American invention. It is a universal theme
shared by those across the globe, and for the farm workers, the acceptance of
struggle and sometimes seemingly unfair adversity on that road to self-sufficiency
is an acceptable price to pay.

I am forever touched that Philbert Bailey, who started working at nine years of age
without the ability to read, has found knowledge, relative prosperity and helped to
put several children who are not his own through school. This man who lost his
childhood forever, has granted it to others without an expectation of recompense.
This moves me deeply even as I write the words.

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I am blessed in my life to have been raised across two continents and to have
been taught to celebrate differences of language, society and color and I believe it
helped me to keep making this film even when it seemed that it would never end
in anything but endless boxes of wasted tape.

I am enormously indebted to all the people who helped me make this film and to
those who have shared their thoughts on camera. The faces in this film and those
who inhabit the many hours are a select group who will remain with me forever,
whatever may come my way.

I must also thanks those family and friends who have humored me including my
wife and kids who don’t quite get it “Daddy are you still making a film about
apples?!”

There are two people whose lives passed during the making of this film. Lola
Richardson who originally introduced me to Russell Holze and later became his
wife left us early in 2008. I hope she will be watching over Russ’s shoulder. My
father died two odd years ago from Alzheimer’s. ‘Zackie’ and I shared a difficult
relationship and he knew little or nothing of this film as his disease crippled him,
but I always knew Jamaica was his secret sanctuary and the home of his boyhood
memories. It was this mysterious and magical Jamaica that I grew up with and
may well have been the reason I took this on. His voice can be heard singing in
the credits on a recording of Cordelia Brown recorded in 1948.

There remains a single person without whom it could not have been completed
and that is my producing and writing partner Kevin Burke. Thanks Brother!
Adam Matalon Garrison NY
June 2008

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Producer’s statement by Kevin Burke 1

Producer’s Statement by Kevin Burke
I can’t address the mythology of Chatsby Films without talking about
“Seasons in the Valley.” It’s the project that launched a company and
has been the emotional center of my cinematic ventures with Adam
since we started running around apple orchards six years ago.

I had known Adam for about a year when he called me to help him
with his documentary.

“Can you give a me a day here and there as a DP?” he asked me one
day, in the fall of 2001. My first inclination was to say “no.” I’ve done
my share of freebies since breaking into the business, and my
experiences have been mostly negative. I worked too many hours on
low or no budget projects that never got finished, or, if they did get
finished, never saw the light of day.

But, when I did my homework, I discovered Adam had already set up
a website, had applied for and received grants, and had written a very
compelling project narrative. Working with him would be different.

So, I joined Adam, Randy Treu, Aaron Medick, and Michelle Hickey one
day up at Sunnycrest Orchards in Hudson, New York. We taped the
men as they pruned trees, and shot a couple of interviews. Most of
them were really shy and reticent to talk on camera, after all, this was
their livelihood and they were probably concerned about keeping their
jobs. Soon, however, they warmed up to us, and realized we were on
their side. The men who talked to us had great things to say. We were
watching the consequences of a global economy unfold in front of our
eyes, but these guys were just concerned with providing for their
families. In fact, so concerned, that they were prepared to be apart
from them for six to nine months at a time. This was a really great
story.

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Producer’s statement by Kevin Burke 2

I kept coming back, of course. During our car rides between orchards,
Adam and I would talk about how great it would be to start a company
and produce our own stuff. This could be a great way of life for us! We
both shared similar aspirations and sensibilities, so the talk became
serious talk, and eventually action. Chatsby Films was officially formed
in 2003.

After many visits to the orchards, and two lengthy stints in Jamaica,
the film slowly evolved into what it is today. Sam brought forth her
stirring music, Giacomo carefully sifted through hours of footage to
assemble the puzzle. Adam adeptly conducted the whole post-
production symphony, and I do mean symphony, because the end
result is a “musical” experience, both aurally and visually. I hope what
comes across is the respect we feel for these guys, who travel so far to
build a better life for themselves.

I’m thankful for Adam’s friendship and the collaborative shorthand
we’ve developed over the last six years, and while I’m proud of the
mark I put on this project, I’ll be clear that this is Adam’s film. During
the production of Seasons, I was a cinematographer, cheerleader,
salesman, web designer, graphic artist, and I gave my opinions when
consulted, but Adam made the damn film. He got the inspiration and
ran with it, got a crew together, raised money, dipped into his own
pocket, chased down crucial interviews, wrote it, directed it, tweaked it,
and did the poking and prodding that you need to do in order to get
the job done. That’s what a filmmaker does. If you think it’s easy, I
suggest you pick up a camera and see how far you get.

Kevin Burke
June 2008

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Production Notes 1

Production notes by Adam Matalon

I had the pleasure of meeting Russell Holze at a holiday party hosted by my
neighbor, Russ’s soon to be new wife, Lola Richardson. It was December 2001 and
we were all still rocking from the events of September 11th.

In careless chitchat I learned that he was an apple farmer and that his source of
labor, namely Jamaicans was drying up and with it his livelihood. The
government’s shortsighted approach to a host of issues was making it impossible
for those in agriculture to survive.

The truth is that on any other day I might have walked away with an interesting
insight, a sense of distress and a keen knowledge that there was nothing I could
do to improve his lot. But he did say Jamaicans didn’t he, and my father was born
and brought up on that wonderful island where many of my family, both close, and
cousins I barely know, reside. I found myself ruminating on the conversation for
several days and listening in my head to his description of the men as they arrive
in early February. I was completely unprepared for what happened next. I picked
up the phone and asked if perhaps I might come up and photograph the orchards
and the men. I didn’t really know what it was that I thought I would do with the
stills, but as a keen photographer, it seemed to me that it would be visually
stimulating.

I was at that time working as a 1st AD on The Book of Pooh, a big budget 3D
animated series for Disney. I was feeling very removed from my formative years
in theater where creativity was front and center. I had just started writing again
after a period of five years, where I committed nor more than phone numbers to
paper. I suddenly found myself hatching a plan to make some kind of a film about
this – maybe.

I had no infrastructure, no camera, no budget, and no crew. What I had was a
feeling of fate and a drive that became overwhelming to me. I picked up the
phone to Randy Treu who at that time was a close collaborator and said, “We have

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Production Notes 2

to make a film.” The decision was made before we ever stepped foot in the
orchard.

The months that followed were an emotional rollercoaster. At first we appeared to
the Jamaicans like aliens, these crazy guys with a camera walking with them
trying to engage them in conversation, when their preference would have been for
us to leave.

We must at first have appeared to be joy riders checking out the people who really
work. But this IS our work and we returned again and again. Sometimes it was
three of us, sometimes five, sometimes just myself. DP’s Aaron Medick and Kevin
Burke, both of whom were working with me on The Book of Pooh eventually
became addicted to the orchards having succumbed to my requests for free
services and would follow my wild goose chase around the various hills and dales.

One night as I flashed my DGA card for free movie tickets, Andy Smith, just out of
college and an assistant manager at Hoyt’s, decided to stalk me in order to ask
how he could get into the business. He came on board as an intern and soon after
was joined by his friend Tim Donovan who, by the time we hit post, had been
working with us regularly and had evolved into the assistant editor. Both of them
became integral and have graduated as full time members of this crazy film
industry. Another who joined us at that time was Ashley Ritter who was a shy
retiring girl in her first year in college who was scared to death by our hard-nosed
production jabber. For some reason she inherited a loving nickname, which bares
no resemblance at all to her physical proportions – chunky.

Muddy days, rainy days, snowy days, days when we could hardly feel our fingers
and toes enough to hit record. The film barely registers these images but they
were the foundation for the trust we built with the Jamaicans. It was through this
visible commitment and tenacity on our part that we began finally to blend into
the landscape and the fabric of their day to day.

Well over a year into the process Kevin Burke had already become a producer of
the film when suddenly Russ was given a hammer blow by the weather and
decided to bow out of the business immediately. The film, which started life with
the title A Final Season looked like it would be dead in the water. All of our footage
was predicated on Russ’s story and now there would be no ending. Mother nature
was laughing at us and we spent a few bereft days feeling like we had lost our film
forever.

But just like farmers, I am blessed with stubborn tenacity, coupled with a self-
doubt that enabled me to see that to quit outright would be an utter failure. I
remember walking around my rural back yard staring and feeling like I’d been
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Production Notes 4

just fine. I secretly hope that the former minister will see this, and regret his
arrogant stance. Del Crooks the commissioner of film was incredibly helpful in
assisting us through the customs bureaucracy and was very generous in her
introductions to press and other interested parties.

Kevin and I gave ourselves a single day off on this trip and spent a marvelous day
at Lime Key with my cousin Janet Clunis.

Back in New York I was beginning to feel the pressure of time. We had already
been making the film for three years and I was used to shooting film and TV in a
matter of weeks. Yikes! I began to think ahead to post.

I brought on board two international creative partners Giacomo Ambrosini and
Sam Sutton. Giacomo is an Italian editor. Sam is a British composer. I was very
interested to work with them as neither had preconceived notions about the
subject. Both had grown up very removed anything in the film and their objective
view was something I sought. Both had great ideas about how to illustrate the
story.

Giacomo started the long haul on the first rough cut in September of 2006. He was
presented with about 75 hours of footage, which had been culled and noted over a
period of 8 weeks by assistant editor Tim Donovan and several PAs.

Sam and I had decided from the get go that we didn’t want ‘Jamaican’ or ‘Hudson
Valley’ music as it appeared cliché to me. She started to work and began to send
me rough melodic sketches. Some made it, others didn’t. I am thrilled with what
evolved and my only disappointment was that we never had the funding to record
a truly orchestral and symphonic version of what Sam wrote. She and I have often
spoken of a screening accompanied by an orchestra. We continue to dream.

The film began to find pace as veteran Hollywood actor, Elliott Gould, joined us. I
had shyly asked him if he would consider doing the VO and he had agreed to see
an early rough cut. He was taken with the bees in particular. Also taken with the
rough cut was Jesse Peterson our post sound designer who had never done a doc
and wanted to create an aural environment.

Our final interview was with George Pataki in February of 2007. I had been waiting
for some time to ask for an interview. I didn’t want to hear from a governor. I
wanted to hear from the farm boy who grew up in the valley. I got a little bit of
both, but I think there is a sparkle in his eyes when he talks about the blossoms.

There are several fascinating interviews and people who never even made it into
the original 2 hour rough cut. One of my favorites was with Robert Morganthau
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Production Notes 3

duped before finally picking up my spirits and the phone to assure the rest of the
team that there was hope. To complete ‘something’ would be success, but what
would that be?

We decided that we must look beyond the first story meet more farmers and start
again. It was in fact the best thing that could have happened. We looked beyond
the original subject matter and in doing so we created the film that it has become.

The new orchards and the new stories evolved and in the process we met
Herriston Slater one of the strongest characters for me. The only thing we share is
an exact age. Everything else about our backgrounds is different except that we
are both committed to an attempt to control our own destiny. I felt close to him
from the moment we met.

Our first trip to Jamaica was fraught with stress about how we would best
approach the guys and the government interviews. We were financially strapped
as our very limited grant money from NYSCA was not useable for production
outside of the US.

I got on the phone and cut some great deals and Randy and I both sucked up the
cost of our own airplane tickets. Later we would get support from Air Jamaica.

Once on the island we made good headway and cemented the relationship with
Slater. We built the foundation for the second trip where we would make our
strongest mark with meetings at the film office and with advice sessions from
some of my family members many of whom were seeing me for the first time in
years.

We had already made our first trip to Jamaica when Randy exited gracefully after
two very tough and committed years on the project. Personal dilemmas and the
financial reality of the film won out. While he has not been in the picture for some
time his contributions as a producer and in helping me write the original narrative
were tireless.

Our second trip to Jamaica allowed us to speak to government representatives as
well as see the men at home, this time as trusted individuals. We even talked our
way into an interview with Portia Simpson Miller who as I write is Prime Minister.
She told me about Leaford Williams, who’s book she had read in college and I am
indebted for the introduction to this warm character who was one of the first to
visit the US in 1943. Our only irritation was that the then Minister of Labor decided
that we had not given him enough notice and refused to speak to us. I calmly told
him that this was his ‘shot’ and if he wanted to say something good about his
program now was the time. He offered us a nervous permanent secretary who did
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Production Notes 5

who continues his duties as Manhattan DA. He spoke with glee about how as a 5
year old he was allowed to push the plunger as they would dynamite holes in order
to plant apple trees on his family’s farm. I guess I have an entire disk of DVD
extras!

Giacomo and I went at it seriously over a period of the last 12 months and refined
it to a 105-minute version, then a 98-minute version, and then to 93 that we
screened publicly as a rough cut, and then finally, without any mercy into the 87-
minute film you will see.

Seasons In The Valley has been a hard film to make. We have had support from
several areas, NYFA, NYSCA, Air Jamaica, private contributions and the generous
support of our own pocket books. It has remained throughout, a largely unfunded
venture that appeared impossible on paper and was brought to life by a group of
youthful committed and tenacious people who saw an adventure.

I think we all feel a bond with the Jamaicans and the American farmers, and the
film was created in situations similar to the adverse conditions in which they exist.

Since we began with our mini DV camera six years ago, there has been a digital
revolution, a continued reduction in Hudson Valley farming, a move towards more
propagandist documentary styles, and a war the continues as I write.

The film has opened my eyes to a host of things. In making this film I have found
and lost personal bonds, I have learnt to repress my own natural instinctive
human propensity to make assumptions and judgments. I have had peace and
nerve jangling frenetic moments. Most importantly it re-taught me to look in
people’s eyes and try to see who they are.

I love this film in the true sense, which is to say that there have been times I have
hated it. It has supplied me with pain, intrusions, inconvenience warmth, laughter
and joy.

In the six years we have been working on this Kevin and I have produced and sold
a narrative feature, four Sesame St. DVD’s, a 38 minute short which went to
Cannes, award winning commercials and corporate pieces and we have cemented
a strong alliance as co-writers but this film has remained a constant.

This is the film that made me a filmmaker and I will miss you.

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Editor’s statement by Giacomo Ambrosini
As a film editor I became Interested in working on Seasons in The Valley the first
time I met Adam. I was curious and fascinated by the story and then with the
footage itself. I was immediately and completely hooked: the characters in this
film made me fall in love with this project.

As a European working in the United States, I am well aware of the immigration
rules and regulations and how things changed after 9/11. I think my own
experience made me sympathize even more with the Jamaicans in the film and
their journeys far from home. As someone who's interested in local food systems
I was delighted to get to know the farmers themselves and to learn about the
work involved in running a small farm in today’s complex global economy.

As in every documentary, the editing process was a challenge and a journey. I find
editing a documentary more difficult than editing a scripted feature, as the story is
primarily written in the editing room. Working with a director like Adam was a very
good experience for me, and a very positive collaboration, made easier by the fact
that he is an editor, too. I remember that we almost locked out a structure
verbally from the get go, as Adam had a very strong sense of what story he
wanted to tell; the first part of the film came very naturally and was edited fairly
fast, while the second one was a little trickier and took more time. The quot;downward
spiralquot;, as Adam and I named it, which refers to the inevitable downfall of
agriculture in the Hudson Valley region was edited and re-edited and re-edited and
re-edited...

The film also presented a challenge because the footage revealed two very strong
characters, but Adam and I didn't want to make a film only about them. It was
difficult at times because of how powerful and interesting they are.

In the end, I am very pleased with the final cut and to have worked with Adam on
this project. I like to think we found a voice, which speaks with pride and sadness
at the relentless nature of societal changes, and I sincerely hope that this voice
will finds its place. It deserves to be seen.

Giacomo Ambrosini
June 2008
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Sound Designer Notes by Jesse Peterson

'Seasons in the Valley' is a special film that I feel lucky to be a part
of.

This project was my second feature as a lead sound designer/editor
and I feel that I learned as much as I contributed. From a technical
point of view, this picture forced me to approach my work from a
different angle than what I was used to. Up until this job, most of my
work featured the sound design as a character or lead element. Like
making a shot of a P.A. dumping a bucket of dirt on our hero's head
sound like a mortar attack.

'Seasons' is a sad and powerful story where dialog and VO is
everything. While trying to keep the audience from noticing what I did,
I had to take a run and gun doc and sell it as a 5.1 presentation.

I studied other feature docs and 'less is more' is truly the name of the
game. I carefully chose backgrounds fade points from scene to scene
and focused on staying invisible, real vs. hyper-real.

Adam is very passionate about music and Sam's score is beautifully
composed. In the final mix, Adam was literally the conductor while my
fingers on the faders became the orchestra. I really enjoyed that
collaboration and those sessions added to my skill set enormously.

I have definitely left this project as a more well rounded and confident
editor and mixer and am really looking forward to the next Chatsby
film.

CHATSBY FILMS NY
NY, NY 10001 USA
Tel +1(212) 462-2600 Fax +1(212) 929-7567

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