Our documentary film crew visited Montserrat, a Caribbean island plagued by multiple eruptions in the 90's which destroyed much of the small country's infrastructure. We found residents facing ineffective support from their sovereign government, The United Kingdom, causing the systematic loss of population as a direct result of mishandled redevelopment efforts. This neglect is clearly preventing the nation from returning to their once thriving economy and dynamic culture.
Trailers:
Director
John Hunter Mottern
Editor
Amy Schrob
Creative Director
Scott Presler
Executive Producer
Eric "Lucky" Machlup
Second Camera
Ben Braun
Original Music
Peter Neff
Amazing Crew
Renee Harris
Adrian Tenta
Lilian Mottern
NEWLY RELEASED DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE CARIBBEAN ISLAND OF MONTSERRAT
PRESS RELEASE Documentary film: Beauty for Ashes
The documentary film Beauty for Ashes released to the public with website access for viewing is now available. The story of the Caribbean Island of Montserrat is a riveting contemporary tale of natural disaster, post-colonial/post-slavery neglect by a sovereign nation and the tenacity of a people to attempt cultural survival to save their island nation.
This film outlines the history of multiple volcanic eruptions over a span of many years. These eruptions devastated a large portion of the island, including a thriving capital city. A once financially stable and culturally unique country is now faced with a rapidly declining population which has been forced, due to economic neglect by their sovereign governance, to relocate. Montserrat is a British overseas territory and falls under the political control of the UK. These dynamics sting of a colonial system that barely changed with the dismantling of slavery and remains an unfair scenario which leaves the existence of Montserrat as a nation in great peril. The death of a nation is a real possibility.
The issues of Montserrat and their journey to forge a clear path for their future is very much at hand. Every month that passes leaves fewer people on the island. The larger questions of who should be governing the country are being continuously debated. The goal of the film is to highlight the story of the natural disaster and the cultural issues being debated in a beautiful way. The journey belongs to the people of Montserrat and the future can only be decided by them.
SCREENING: Updated weekly for screening schedule.
Press Contact Requests
John Mottern
(508) 740-0260
motternphoto@aol.com
website:
Also available on YOUTUBE
Article of release, print and general distribution:
Release of BEAUTY FOR ASHES a film about the Caribbean Nation of Montserrat fighting for survival after multiple volcanic eruptions.
On July 18, 1995 the long dormant Soufrière Hills volcano erupted in the Caribbean island of Montserrat, beginning 15 years of devastation that left more than half the British Overseas Territory uninhabitable, destroyed the capital city of Plymouth and drove two-thirds of the inhabitants into exile.
John Hunter Mottern has directed "Beauty for Ashes," a moving documentary film that explores the human cost of a natural disaster compounded by neglect from the United Kingdom through the voices of people who remained or were driven into a global diaspora.
Yet after a quarter century of more eruptions, hurricanes and the COVID pandemic, the once idyllic "Emerald Isle of the Caribbean" faces an uncertain future.
Mottern has named his documentary from a passage in the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament - "To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."
A recent screening of the 90-minute documentary in Natick, Mass. attracted about 100 viewers including several members of Montserrat's diaspora and former premier, the Honorable Donaldson Romeo.
The premier from 2014 to 2019, Romeo said Montserrat needs "a clear plan to get out of its dependence on the U.K. government" and restore its economic infrastructure to improve living conditions to attract expatriates to return.
He charged the U.K. government with letting Montserratians who remained on the island to largely "fend for themselves" while providing those who settled in England with a "package" of housing, social, educational, economic and medical benefits that discourages them from returning home.
A current Opposition Member of Montserrat's Legislative Assembly, he has urged the U.K. to fulfill its obligations as per Article 73 on the United Nations Charter which requires members to recognize that the interests of inhabitants of territories like Montserrat are "paramount" and to accept "as a sacred trust" the obligation to promote their well-being.
Romeo "speculated" that the failure of the British to provide aid for urgent and development needs in a timely manner has encouraged depopulation and an economic crisis that would allow them "to take over Montserrat".
"The truth will set you free," he told viewers after the screening. "Unless we fight for self- determination, it will not happen."
Mottern served as the documentary's director and director of photography. He credited Amy Schrob and Scott Pressler, of ONE80 Visual in Natick, Mass., for their technical expertise and artistic creativity as editor and art director, respectively. Also Mottern extended high praise to Second Camera, Benjamin Braun, who was a major contributor to the success of the film. They all previously collaborated with Mottern on an earlier feature length documentary that examined the impacts of social media.
Mottern thanked executive producer Eric Machlup for "bringing great passion and insight” for "Beauty for Ashes" that continually inspired himself and crew members during filming and post-production.
An award-winning photographer reinventing himself as a documentarian, Mottern has created a 90-minute film that examines three interlocking stories about a natural disaster, post-colonial governmental neglect and the dream of preserving their island culture by inhabitants who never left and expatriates who both seek ways to preserve their former way of life.
Their voices convey a pain and shock that hasn't gone away.
"The volcano took everything from us. ... I was so scared. Everything was a sudden darkness," recalled Jackie Dublin, now living in London. "You'd think it was the end of the world. You asked yourself, 'Am I going to get out of this?'"
Wilifred Sanders, a member of the clergy, remembered her husband's guilt after directing a young mother with her child to a village to join her husband. The woman, Alicia Joseph and her three-year-old, were among 19 residents killed by the eruption.
"We had to leave. We just couldn't deal with it," recalled Sanders. "A film of ash covered everything."
The documentary includes grim scenes of residents living in crowded and unsanitary shelters provided by the government after the initial eruptions.
An expatriate identified as Mr. Mowery, who had lived in a shelter after the first eruption, observed, "The personality and culture of the Montserrat people is that they need their own place. They need houses to move into."
Katja Jobe, a former social development advisor for the U.K. Department for International Development, observed that providing residents with inadequate housing after the initial eruptions "affected the people of the island in the most horrific way."
"It's up to the British government to help there. Over 25 years there's been much progress. But it's taken far too long. We should have done much more," she said.
Life in the U.K. left many of an estimated 8,000 evacuees, alienated and yearning for their close-knit former home.
While the British government awarded full residency rights in the U.K. in 1998 and citizenship in 2002, a member of Montserrat’s diaspora, Spencer Alexander said his grandparents and other elderly had died before their time while living in London with its cold weather and unfamiliar food.
While England has spent some US $700 million on recovery efforts over a twenty eight- year period, Montserrat officials and ordinary citizens blame the U.K. government for failing to restore the island's economic health and resolve a "housing crisis" in a timely manner that has left residents in a state of "economic serfdom," said Mottern.
In the film residents and expatriates express the pain of losing an idyllic home while seeking ways to preserve the gravely threatened culture that gave them their identities.
By juxtaposing images of gorgeous beaches, happy children in their school uniforms and busy market scenes the film reminds residents who stayed and expatriates of the heartache of losing their culture.
Performing double duty as the film's director of photography, Mottern captures Montserrat's spectacular natural beauty before the eruptions and the stark devastation of homes and vast expanses covered with ash afterwards.
As a photographer who covered the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Boston Marathon bombings, Mottern films the faces of present and former Montserrat residents with respectful compassion as they tell their stories of losing a paradisiacal island home and their dreams of recovering it.
Montserrat is an internally self-governing overseas territory of the British Commonwealth. It recognizes King Charles III as head of state. The governor is appointed by the king.
Some British officials conceded the government is taking too long to restore Montserrat's ravaged infrastructure or provide vital services to attract back evacuees living in the U.K.
As a former photographer for the Boston Globe and Agence France-Presse who has accompanied several U.S. presidents on trips, Mottern captures the cynical arguments of English politicians discussing Montserrat’s future while primarily focused on fiscal considerations that have slowed its recovery.
In the earlier years following the eruption, Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development in the U.K., charged Montserratians with unrealistic expectations about the amount of help the British government could afford and suggested they would be asking for "golden elephants" next.
More realistic politicians like Andrew Rosindell, a U.K. Member of Parliament since 2001, observed, "It's up to the British to help them through a very difficult period. It's been 25 years, a quarter of a century. While much progress has occurred, I think it's been much too long to resolve the issues and give people on Montserrat places where they could safely live. We could have done much more, much sooner in my opinion."
As the director, Mottern brings a photographer's sharp vision for Monserrat’s spectacular natural beauty before the eruptions and the stark devastation of homes covered with ash.
More than a dozen varied residents and evacuees explain why they hope to return to Montserrat rather than remain mired in modest comforts abroad but far removed from the community and culture of their former island home.
The former Premier's older sister, Sharon Romeo, explains that in Montserrat's island culture "People aren't allowed to cry. I don't think we ever allowed ourselves to mourn. Quite honestly, I think we should have had a Wailing Wall to let ourselves cry."
Justin "Hero" Cassell, who gained fame for writing the hit song "Hot, Hot, Hot," urged expatriates to "get more nationalistic so we can have our own identity." "We need to grow a sense of community," he said.
At a June 9th screening of "Beauty for Ashes" in Natick, Mass. Romeo told viewers that Montserratians must fight the U. K's post-colonial attitudes for "self-determination" to gain full political rights and reinvigorate the island's economy to attract tourism and encourage other investments.
"Montserrat is safe, peaceful and green with warm sunshine and black sand beaches. It is perfect for a holiday and to build or buy a retirement home," he said. "With a high quality fiber connection to the world, the sky's the limit for working and operating a business. There are unlimited opportunities in the digital sector."
Mottern said he plans to enter "Beauty for Ashes" in several festivals. It can currently be viewed on-line from the film’s website www.beautyforashesmontserrat.com.
(About the author of this article)
After teaching at colleges in Fiji, Saudi Arabia and China, Christian Bergeron began his 28-year journalistic career as a reporter for the BVI Beacon newspaper in the British Virgin Islands. After returning to the U.S. he spent 26 years covering the news in Boston and central Massachusetts. He earned 35 awards for his reporting from the New England News and Press Association.
