Jay Craven’s film, “Lost Nation,” screens at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, July 25 and 26, at the Big Picture Theater in Waitsfield. Craven will appear at both screenings for post-film Q & A.
“Lost Nation” is a Revolutionary War-era action drama set in the early upstart Republic of Vermont. The picture stars Irish actor Kevin Ryan (“Copper,” Harry Wild”) as Vermont founding father and rebel schemer, Ethan Allen, who leads resistance to New Yorker land claims, launches an ill-fated attack on British forces in Montreal, and leads invasions by his Green Mountain Boys into Yorker strongholds of Guilford and Brattleboro.
“Lost Nation’s” parallel and intersecting story features Kenyan actress Eva Ndachi (“Beautifully Broken”) as pioneering poet, Lucy Terry Prince, who was enslaved at the age of 3 in western Massachusetts – and settled a Guilford, Vermont, homestead with her family during this same time. Like Ethan Allen, the Princes found themselves caught up in turbulent times that threatened their prospects for the land and freedom they sought. Like Allen, Lucy Prince upset the status quo in her assertive use of early Vermont’s legal and political systems to defend her family from encroachment, harassment, and intimidation.
Prince family antagonist, aspiring Guilford politician John Noyes, is played by Rob Campbell (“The Crucible,” “The Unforgiven”). British intelligence chief and former Green Mountain Boy co-founder Justus Sherwood is played by Barry Del Sherman (“There Will Be Blood,” “American Beauty”) and Lucy Prince’s daughter Drucilla is played by young actress and Spelman College student, Karma Bridges, daughter of popular rapper and film star, Ludacris. Vermont actors Rusty DeWees and Ariel Zevon plays Yorker Asa Locke and Mary Allen, respectively.
“Lost Nation” was shot on 52 Vermont and Massachusetts locations and includes 43 speaking characters, including Vermonters Ira Allen, Seth Warner, Gideon Brownson and Thomas Chittenden and founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and Samuel Adams (played by his direct descendent, Samuel Adams).
Acclaimed singer, composer, and Julliard-trained violinist, Mazz Swift, composed and conducted the “Lost Nation” film score. Swift plays lead violin in Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and has performed at Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Swift has composed and/or played with Vernon Reid, James “Blood” Ulmer, Whitney Houston, DJ Logic, Kanye West – and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra, among others.
“Lost Nation” is Craven’s 10th feature film. His work has shown at Sundance, Lincoln Center, The Smithsonian, and more than 500 cities and towns across the U.S. – and 53 countries. He is the recipient of the Vermont Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the 2023 Herb Lockwood Prize, a Golden Gate Award, the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces citation, and selection to the American Film Institute’s AFI Project 20/20. His 1993 film, “Where the Rivers Flow North” was a finalist for Critics Week at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Tickets are available at the door – or in advance at www.kcppresents,org or at the door. For more information contact Jay Craven (
