By Mary Overly Davis
I am not going to offer my opinion on climate change, but honestly, this year has been a doozy. Our August 9th flood was followed by months with no precipitation. Wild fires were rampant. Then, breaching that cycle, we were presented with more snow during Thanksgiving week than we’ve seen in entire years. It was an inauspicious heavy wet snow that dragged the pliable lilac limbs to the ground. Same with the delicate berry-laden burning bush whose limbs bounced back upright with the impending warmth. My ancient golden locusts did not fare as well. Already tenuous from a Summer storm which contained a misdirected micro-tornado, its brittle limbs came crashing down.
But the real shocker was the power grid failure. Andes was plunged into darkness for days. No one can recall such a catastrophe. Those lucky enough to have generators kept them humming along out in the open—providing an eerie stroll through town—like swarms of mosquitos buzzing over a swamp in a feeding frenzy. Resembling the other recent epic weather event of the century, the Community Day flood, neighbors were out offering commiserations, food and old-fashioned amusements.
Then came fifty-degree temperatures, torrential rain, threat of another flood, followed by an Arctic blast and more snow. Honestly, why bother shoveling? Fifty-degree days will be on the freezing days’ heels soon enough. As the Winter weather cycle began in earnest, I needed a reprieve.
Enticed into New York City at the least provocation, what took me this time was a big event–the world premiere of Calico Rebellion, a feature length documentary featuring Andes. I tried on about five dormant “new yorkie” outfits, packed my ubiquitous black pants and white shirt in a bag and rode into the show on my daughter’s coattails. She had been invited to the premier for her filming contributions. Some readers may have attended a screening of selective passages of the previously titled film The Town that Shot the Sheriff a couple of years ago. Directed and produced by part-time Andes residents, Victoria Kupchinetsky and Misha Gutkin, the final version does not disappoint.
The film’s brilliant evolution entailed more than a name change. Calico Rebellion showcases our community with contemporary live action cinematography in our surrounding hills and forests, the Hamlet of Andes, and the Bi-Centennial Community Day celebration in 2016. Calico Rebellion “stars” many local illuminati. Andeans Buffy Calvert, Jim Andrews and Laurie McIntosh tell the story behind the 1845 shooting of the Undersheriff Osman Steele with charm, authority and artistic reverence. Furthering the historical telling are Ray LaFever, Scott Hill, and Carolyn, Burr and Rudd Hubbell. Rudd is filmed gingerly traipsing through the rugged hills in his family’s original Calico Indian costume, a shotgun cradled in his arms while standing on a precipice pensively overlooking the Catskill Mountains.
The extensive use of animations skillfully designed by Matvey Kulakov enhances the storytelling and helps lend a mythical quality to the 19th century events and characters. For those that need a refresher on the history of the Anti-Rent war, following is the synopsis provided by the Dances with Films film festival.
“In the lush woods of New York’s Catskill Mountains, a mythical memory lives on. Of a time when men – armed with rifles and pitchforks, disguised in eerie leather masks and calico gowns – descended from the hills to stage the “Second American Revolution”
Two hundred years ago immigrant farmers in the Catskills, fed up with oppression and exploitation by absentee landlords, staged a rebellion known as the Anti-Rent War. The uprising changed the course of history, paving the way to land rights across America and to the formation of a new political group — Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party.
Today, although largely forgotten, the historic uprising lives on through direct descendants of those rebellious farmers. CALICO REBELLION explores a pivotal moment in American history, and a community’s unique and enduring connection to the past through the songs, stories and costumes preserved from the 1840s. Part historical “true crime” story – part meditation on land and belonging in America – CALICO REBELLION is a meditation on small town American history, identity, idealism and the violence that percolates beneath the surface.”
I do hope this film finds a “local premiere” venue. We have Victoria and Misha to thank for showcasing our surroundings so beautifully and giving us all even more to be appreciative and proud of. As I watched the film, sitting in the comfort of the theater’s reclining seat, flanked by my daughter and her pals who attended in support and curiosity, my heart was full, those visceral pulls of the hills tugging at my heart. After an abbreviated New Year’s morning walk in a melodious rain, I write ensconced in my little snow globe of a cabin. As whiteness covers the surrounding hills and lies gently on every branch, I am reminded we are mere stewards of this land and regardless of the crazy weather we can always feel renewed by the beauty that Rudd Hubbell shows us from his precipice in Calico Rebellion.~