Port Jeff Doc Series Ends 2011 Fall Season with Semper Fi: Always Faithful

The showing of Semper Fi: Always Faithful ended the Fall 2011 season of the Port Jefferson Documentary Series. Produced by Todd and Jedd Wilder, it is the story of Jerry Ensminger, a Marine, who, questioning the explanations for the causes of his nine year old daughters death, found that the US Marine Corp was to blame. The movie describes the process of uncovering the cause, water on a Marine base and the subsequent actions on the part of the Marine Corp.

Unfortunately I missed the showing however, Lyn Boland, a co-Director for the series and shepherd for the evening reported that there were 70 people in the audience.

"Our speaker, Todd Wider, producer, was ill but despite the short notice, we were able to set up Skype in the theater and get his image up on the big  screen for the Q&A," she said. "We were all amazed that it worked.”

Lyn said that she though that the audience was really moved (and shocked) by the film.

"There were at least seven people in the audience with a connection to the Marines so it was an important evening for them," she said. "I felt great when, at the end of the evening, a lot of people asked when we were starting in the spring!”

(March 3 at .)

The movie was produced by filmmakers Jedd and Todd Wilder from Setauket and they are no strangers to the Port Jefferson Documentary Film Festival. Client 9, shown in April is another of their hard hitting documentaries. 

Earlier I asked Lyn how she picked Semper Fi: Always Faithful.

“When we saw Semper Fi last spring at Tribeca, it was one of those stories that you can't believe had been kept under wraps,” she said. “The plot involves  environmental issues that started at Camp Lejeune in the fifties and continued until the 80's.”

Lyn continued, “What made it even more personal, is that when we started telling friends about the film, we found several who had been at Camp Leguene during that period, who had no idea what was going on.”

Wrapping up our discussion, Lyn, showed her understanding of the documentary.

“As with many of the best documentaries, Semper Fi: Always Faithful, is not just an expose, backed up with documents and graphs, it is the story of a very brave Marine who was able to look past the loyalty that was part of life and dig for the truth, no matter what the impact," she said. "These are the kind of people who say 'I don't want another person to go thru this, to wonder what happened to their loved one.'"

This, in essence, is the vision of the the shepherds running the Port Jefferson Documentary Series: Lyn Boland, Barbara Sverd, Honey Katz, Lori Rothstein and Phyllis Ross. Volunteers all they bring six great programs to Port Jefferson every Spring and Autumn.

The movies and the discussions they bring about are all very stimulating. See you in March.