Following the success of the first Movies from Marlboro film intensive, film professor Jay Craven again assembled a team of 30 college students (from 10 colleges) and 20 professionals last spring semester to produce a feature film. This year the hands-on practicum shot a film on Nantucket Island, based on Pierre et Jean, Guy de Maupassant’s 1887 story of a family strained by secrets revealed and illusions shattered. 

“Maupassant’s novel broke ground in the late 19th century for its complex psychological characterizations,” says Jay. “It was cited as an influence by writers including Tolstoy and Nabokov, and Henry James called it ‘Maupassant’s masterly little novel’ for its potent themes.”

While Maupassant’s novel was set in Normandy, the film adaptation, called Peter and John, will be set in 19th-century Nantucket. The cast includes 2014 Golden Globe winner Jacqueline Bisset, Emmy winner Gordon Clapp, Christian Coulson, Shane Patrick Kearns, and Spanish actress Alicia Sanz in her U.S. feature film debut.

This year’s Movies from Marlboro program started in January with an expedition to the Sundance Film Festival, followed by seven weeks of study, training, and pre-production work on the Marlboro campus. Participants then moved on to Nantucket for seven weeks of pre-production and production that fully immersed students in the culture and practice of an ambitious film shoot.

“During our 14-week Marlboro film intensive, I saw students reach beyond their grasp to show remarkable strength, solidarity, and stamina, combined with a growing mastery of dozens of new skills, across the board,” says Jay.

One student told Jay she felt “worthy” for the first time in her college experience, because she had been relied upon to provide meaningful participation (and hard work) for something larger than herself. Another talked about experiencing “good stress”—the kind that comes from doing something new, important, nourishing, and engaging, while still under pressure to perform.

“Our completion of the Peter and John shoot marks an important milestone, mostly for the 14-week educational part of the program, which I believe was successful,” says Jay. “Our second big milestone will be to determine whether we have made a good and compelling film. That measurement will have to wait until we’ve completed post-production.”

The previous Movies from Marlboro production, Northern Borders (Potash Hill, Summer 2011), premiered to a sell-out crowd at Brattleboro’s Latchis Theater last year, launching a 100-town tour of New England. “This project is as ambitious for its educational goals as it is for the production we mount,” says Jay. “I believe that this year’s session added to what we accomplished in 2012. And I’m excited to imagine further development.”