Filmmaker Statement

"Love of the Land" focuses on farmer Romaine Tenney’s connection to his land, his sense of place, and what progress means in 1960s Vermont. There is a power to this story. It taps into what New Englanders think about progress and what are the benefits and downsides of it. 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of Tenney's passing. The short animation uses a rotoscope animation technique, where the animator digitally draws/traces over recorded video frame-by-frame. The four-year project began in 2020 and consists of almost 3,000 digitally hand drawn frames.