Appalachian Trail tales
VERNON I would never thru-hike the Appalachian Trail again, documentary filmmaker Brandon Imp said in response to a question asked after a screening of his film "Beauty Beneath the Dirt" at Vernon Valley Farm.
The film chronicles the five-month, 2,178.3-mile trek of a lawyer, an Ivy-league grad and a city chick, according to the official Web site, www.beautybeneaththedirt.com. What makes the movie unique, however, is its focus on emotional transformation, according to director Kate Imp.
The trail is a catalyst for three personal journeys, Imp said.
The film focuses more on transformation and relationships than the trek itself, she said. The film offers a balance of drama and comedy; its most stunning aspect, however, is found in the beauty of the trail itself the ever-serene landscapes provide a constant backdrop to the hikers emotional turmoil.
Making it local Vernon Valley Farms proprietors Kirk Stephens and Liz Walker echoed this sense of transformation to show the film turning a barn on their property into a makeshift movie theater for the July 5 screening. Stephens said that when he was contacted about the possibility of showing the film at his farm, he was immediately excited. He and Brian Imp have a mutual friend, who put the two together. Im a hiker myself," Stephens said. Its a subject near and dear to me. But he also felt a nervousness mixed in with the excitement, since it was the first time they have opened their property to the public. Walker and Stephens, her nephew, have been running the farm for three years now, though the property has been in the family since the 1800s.
Full house The excitement was well-justified as the barn was at capacity for the screening. Stephens even went as far as giving the 50 viewers a hay ride through the farm fields with a view of the mountains to get them in the mood for the film. While the screening was average in terms of size, Brandon Imp said that the barn venue was definitely the most unique stop on the tour, as bats chirped in the rafters above him during the question and answer session after the film.
Brother and sister Kate and Brandon Imp both had another unique memory of Vernon Township, this one during their hike: the boardwalk built for hikers through the marshlands off of Route 517. New Jersey would be the only state with a boardwalk on the trail, of course, director Kate Imp said during a recent phone interview, adding that she was almost expecting to find ice cream and French fries at the end. This memory came in just ahead of another local trail landmark for Brandon the Mayors House in neighboring Unionville, N.Y. Though now closed to hikers, the home of former Unionville Mayor Dick Ludwick was generously opened to hikers so they could stop and have a place to eat, wash and rest, according to Brandon Imp, who added that hospitality of that sort is unforgettable.
The stop at Vernon Valley Farm was the rough mid-point of what the Imps call the G2M (Georgia to Maine) Tour, which mimics the route of the trail itself. The filmmakers are trying to raise money to bring the tour to several East Coast universities as well as garner enough interest to get a commercial distributor.
To find out more look up Beauty beneath the Dirt on Facebook and YouTube or visit the films Web site: www.beautybeneaththedirt.com.
That's also the place to find their kickstarter page and make a donation.