Epiphany in Progress... The Film

The film

Epiphany in Progress was completed in 2002 and broadcast on GBH-TV, followed by broadcasts on several other stations in the public television system. The feature version of the film is 57:40.

Director's statement on making Epiphany in Progress

I started this project in August 1998. I had spent the past year traveling to festivals with my recently completed documentary about an Arabic singer named "Umm Kulthum." I was ready to start a new film, one that was closer to home. I knew that I wanted to film children discovering things, figuring things out. A friend called to tell me about a new school that was opening in less than a week. I ran to meet the two people who were the driving force behind Epiphany, a small, faith-based, private school for low-income kids in Boston. They were as excited about having their first year documented as I was about doing it.

I soon found my way to the cinematographer Eli Chapman. Just out of film school, he was talented and willing to work for a pittance on a long, as-yet unfunded project. We used a mini-DV camera, and I took sound. Working with available light and shooting entirely hand-held, we were able to move fast and catch situations as they unfolded before our eyes. Everyone quickly got used to us. The school opened with 41 children and a small staff; we felt we could really wrap our minds around these individuals as they began to form a community.

Many parallels emerged between the filmmaking process and the new school. Racing to get ready, we both started with high ideals. As the school moved from idea to reality, unforeseen divisions and crises emerged, and we all learned a great deal about each other. The school and I both had to scramble for money to keep our projects alive. By year's end, the kids had made real progress, and the school felt like a happy place, though it was a different place than the one I had first imagined. It took me several years to complete the film. The school is flourishing.

Production Anecdote
"A morning in February"

In February 1999, halfway through the school year, the building where Michal Goldman's office was located was set on fire. She got the news early on a Sunday morning, and she and Eli Chapman went to the building. Smoke, fire trucks, water, devastation. But the section of the building where her office had been was still structurally sound enough for the fire marshal to allow them to spend 15 minutes there before the building was torn down. She took the original tapes from Epiphany in Progress from the heavy steel cabinet where they were stored. Half a year's work and an entire project hung in the balance as Goldman and Chapman checked these small mini-DV tapes. To Goldman it still seems miraculous that the tapes were completely undamaged. At that point her commitment to the project became complete.

Making the film | About the film crew | Film credits

Feature version | Epiphany School | Epiphany's first year | Epiphany School now |