When Gloucester filmmaker Shep Abbott screened his documentary to a sold-out theater for the first time, he was thrilled to hear the audience erupt into a loud applause.
The film “Gloucester Speaks” will have an encore showing at 7 p.m. Monday, March 11, at the Cape Ann Community Cinema, 37 Whistlestop Mall in Rockport.
Abbott’s past work includes a documentary on St. Peter’s Fiesta in 1997. He also documented the dismantling of the last wooden fishing vessel, the Essex-built St. Rosalie. Segments of both appear in the new film. Additionally, he was awarded national grants to complete “More Precious Than Gold,” a documentary about Gloucester’s first 200 years, which won an award from the Gloucester Historical Commission.
“I see this film as a kind of ‘time capsule’ for future generations of citizens both near and far,” said Abbott in his opening remarks.
In “Gloucester Speaks,” he creates a visually lyrical film in which the narration has been woven together seamlessly from more than 90 interviews “with some of Gloucester’s most opinionated and eloquent talkers.”
Abbott captured video of fishing, fish processing, fish fertilizer making, building demolition, hotel building, festivals, concerts, City Council debates, mayoral debates, expert appearances by scientists, artists, poets, historians and more. It also includes the challenges brought on to the long-standing fishing fleet because of government regulations.
“The film, literally, is speaking for itself with no ‘all knowing’ narrator guiding us to a typically sensible and safe conclusion. It is narrated through the voices of its citizens,” he said. “For me, ‘Gloucester Speaks’ is a love song to the city that I spent my developing years working and playing in, and the one I returned to, finally, to find a home.”
An award winning filmmaker, he began his career in 1970 in East Africa, where he produced a documentary for ABC on the Serengeti cheetah and an independent documentary on the Maasai tribe. In other work, he was writer/director of “Outerscope,” a children’s series for New York State/NBC, and he was a cameraman on the production crew of the Academy-Award winning 1985 documentary on the Navajo tribe called “Broken Rainbow.”
When Abbott returned to Gloucester, he founded Fishtown Artspace in 1994, a youth arts organization which operated for 13 years until 2007.
In 2015, he began production on “Gloucester Speaks” to capture a flavor of Gloucester in advance of its quadricentennial.
“The 400th anniversary seemed to be an appropriate time to celebrate and question where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going, and that can be an ongoing community discussion regardless of the year,” he added.
The film starts out with details from 1606 when French explorer Samuel de Champlain called Gloucester Harbor “Le Beauport” and spans the next 400 plus years of the city, which is often described as the oldest fishing port in America.
He is pleased to debut this film in the city’s 401st year in 2024.
For tickets, visit capeanncinema.com.
Oscars party
Cape Ann Community Cinema, founded in 2007, once again holds it annual Oscars Viewing Party this Sunday, March 10, from 7 to 10 p.m. Doors openat 6 p.m. for the “Red Carpet” at 37 Whistlestop Mall, Rockport. Tickets for this benefit event are $25.
“We invite people to dress as glam or fabulous or as silly as they like, and come out for an enjoyable evening,” said cinema founder Rob Newton.
Film voting ballots are available online and at the door, and the guest with the most correct guesses will win a private movie party. Appetizers are courtesy of Whale’s Jaw Cafe. For details and tickets, visit capeanncinema.com.
Art consignments
The Rockport Art Association & Museum is receiving consignment submissions of works by historic American artists, highlighting the Cape Ann School, for its annual art auction. The consignment deadline is Saturday, March 9. The auction, in its 39th year, will be Saturday, May 4, online live only. The Auction Preview Exhibition will be on view for two weeks prior to the auction. Each year, the fund-raising auction attracts collectors from across the country, as well as those just starting an art collection.
The auction features works by master Cape Ann artists of the past such as Aldro T. Hibbard, Anthony Thieme, Emile Gruppé, Harry A. Vincent, Antonio Cirino, Frederick Mulhaupt, Jane Peterson, Max Kuehne, W. Lester Stevens, Marguerite S. Pearson, Charles Vickery, Paul Strisik, Charles Paul Gruppé, Harrison Cady, Mabel May Woodward, Carl Peters, Bernard Corey, Charles Movalli, Theresa Bernstein, Don Stone, and Al Czerepak, among others. The auction includes works by other prominent historic American artists.
For more information, visit www.rockportartassn.org/auction. To make a consignment appointment or for other details, contact Margaret Redington at 978-546-6604, ext. 1002 or auction@rockportartassn.org.
Free Second Saturdays at CAM
Cape Ann Museum, at 27 Pleasant St., Gloucester, holds its “Second Saturdays” event March 9 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and every second Saturday of each month. Admission is free for residents of Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester and Essex. Explore the galleries to learn about Cape Ann, along with a number of activities to choose from, ranging from finding your house in the photo archive, taking a free Highlights tour, or listen to music.
History series talk
Cape Ann Museum presents its next CAMTalk: History Series with the program “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” featuring author Linda Coombs this Saturday, March 9, from 1 to 2 p.m. at the museum, 27 Pleasant St., Gloucester. This program focuses on early American history from an Indigenous perspective, which highlights that the new land already was inhabited by many Indigenous communities.
Coombs is an author and historian from the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, and lives in the Wampanoag community of Mashpee on Cape Cod. Among the highlights of her varied background, she worked for 30 years in the Wampanoag Indigenous Program of Plimoth Plantation, including 15 years as its associate director; and nine years at the Aquinnah Cultural Center. Presently she does independent museum consulting.
Registration required for all attendees. Free for members, $10 for non-members. Livestreamed on Vimeo and Facebook. For details, visit capeannmuseum.org.
Women’s book talk
Sawyer Free Library, 21 Main St., Gloucester, presents a Women’s History Month program with an author talk by Aime Card, who will discuss her book “The Tigerbelles: Olympic Legends from Tennessee State.” Joining her in the conversation will be Jean Duffy, author of “Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World.”
The event takes place Thursday, March 7, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.
“The Tigerbelles tells the epic story of the 1960 Tennessee State University all-Black women’s track team, which found Olympic glory at the 1960 games in Rome. The author tells a story of desire, success and failure — of beating the odds –against the backdrop of a changing America,” according to a program statement.
Card is a nonfiction editor for Pangyrus literary magazine and a board member for the Women’s National Book Association, Boston Chapter. The talk is in partnership with the Bookstore of Gloucester.
The art of Ted Hoague
The artwork of Ted Hoague will be on view in the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church entrance gallery, with a show opening on Sunday, March 10, at 4 p.m.
Hoague began painting in 1958 and found his calling in portraiture. He attended Montserrat College of Art in Beverly for one semester. This show will feature portraits of models that Hoague painted at the Rockport Art Association. The Cape Ann Museum has loaned its portrait “Sylvester” for the show.
Shackleton’s expedition
Gloucester Stage Company presents a film/music event with the movie “SOUTH: Ernest Shackleton & the Endurance Expedition” and live accompaniment by the Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 8, at the theater, 267 East Main St. in Gloucester. The audience will have a unique experience to learn about the story of this ill-fated Antarctic expedition.
The orchestra performs an improvisational score for the 1919 silent film, which was shot and edited by Frank Hurley, official photographer for the expedition. Shackleton was already a famous explorer when he hired Hurley to accompany his crew on the journey across the South Pole, but within 80 miles of Antarctica, they became trapped in the ice.
“What followed this moment of disaster is one of the greatest adventure stories ever told and an unbelievable tale of survival, and Hurley managed to save many of the stills and motion picture film he shot of the harrowing experience,” according to the program. Run time is about 80 minutes. All ages. For details and tickets, visit gloucesterstage.com.
Something different
Gloucester Stage Company presents a family event with “Yellow Bird Chase with Liars and Believers” at 3 p.m. this Sunday, March 10, at Gloucester Stage Company. The show is described as an adventure of masks, puppets, and gibberish.
“When a clownish maintenance crew finds a magical bird, the gang is taken on an adventure racing over land, across the sea, and through the air — battling pirates and monsters — how far will our heroes go…without ever leaving the maintenance room? Touring after a successful run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Yellow Bird Chase is fully accessible to the Deaf and hard of hearing community, as well as to non-English speakers,” according to a program statement.
For tickets, visit gloucesterstage.com.
Adult music lessons
Cape Ann’s Madeleine Downs will host a String Workshop for Beginner Adults on violin, viola and cello with instruments provided at Whale’s Jaw Cafe in Rockport. RSVP by Sunday, March 10, at madeleinedowns2@gmail.com.
Around Cape Ann is a column devoted to events happening on Cape Ann and artists from Cape Ann performing elsewhere. If you would like to submit an item, contact reporter Gail McCarthy at 978-675-2706 or gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com at least two weeks in advance.