Ethnographic Film Series

Organised by SOAS Department of Anthropology & Sociology in conjunction with Royal Anthropological Institute

Wednesday 9 March 1pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre, Lower Ground Floor, Main Building, SOAS

Mr Coperthwaite: Spring in Dickinson's Reach, Anna Grimshaw, 2014, 82 min.

In 1960, Bill Coperthwaite bought 300 acres of wilderness in Machiasport, Maine. Influenced by the poetry of Emily Dickinson and by the back-to-the-land movement of Scott and Helen Nearing, he was committed to crafting what he called "a handmade life." For more than 50 years until his death in 2013, Bill Coperthwaite lived and worked in the forest.  This film is the first part of a four-part work that charts a life as it unfolds through the different seasons.  Spring in Dickinson’s Reach establishes, literally and metaphorically, the scope of Bill Coperthwaite's world and it explores the unique environment he crafted in the Maine forest.  Q and A with the filmmaker, Anna Grimshaw (Emory University), will follow the screening.  

For further information on the films please contact: RAI Film Officer, Caterina Sartori, film@therai.org.uk

All are welcome, booking not required.