Just about every movie you’ve ever seen has a hero, but when we look around our daily lives, it’s sometimes difficult to see the heroes hiding in plain sight, in our families and our neighborhoods.
But several young filmmakers from the Sag Harbor area didn’t have trouble finding their own local heroes this fall.
The filmmakers were prompted by the first-ever Hometown Heroes Short Film Competition at the Hamptons Doc Fest to create a short film “honoring the local everyday heroes who have made a significant impact in the local community.”
Pictured Above: Robert Browngardt of Sag Harbor (left) and his grandson Zachary (right), who made an award-winning film about him this fall.
“Superheroes aren’t just fictional characters from comic books or movies. They’re everyday heroes who made a difference in our lives and our neighborhoods and our local community,” the festival’s Education Director, Stefanie Anarumo, told the crowd gathered at Hamptons Doc Fest’s Shorts and Breakfast Bites program Dec. 8, where the winning Hometown Heroes film, “The Crow’s Nest: A Sag Harbor Story” was screened.
“This is the seed of the idea behind Hamptons Doc Fest’s Hometown Heroes Short, where middle and high school students, through their own creative vision and storytelling,” find the heroes in their community, she added.
In all, five films received awards.
Zachary Browngardt, a freshman at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor, took home first place for his film, “The Crow’s Nest: A Sag Harbor Story,” about his grandfather, Sag Harbor native and U.S. Navy veteran Robert Browngardt.
Susanna DiSunno, a senior at East Hampton High School, took second place with her film “Peggy DiSunno: Long Island Sound Chorus.”
The film follows Peggy DiSunno’s 20-year career as Choral Director of the Long Island Sound Chorus, Sweet Adelines International, “capturing her hero’s musical talents, dedication to her choir and its members, and the joy they bring to audiences all over Long Island,” according to the festival organizers.
Ollie Dianora-Brøndal, a homeschooled 6th grader from Sag Harbor, took third place, interviewing author and ecologist Carl Safina in “Carl Safina: A Voice for the Voiceless.” Ollie has known Safina for about four years, and heard so many of his stories, but decided in this film to focus on the author’s relationship with a screech owl, Alfie, who he rescued, and his latest book, “Beyond Words,” about what animals think and feel.
Ollie’s brother, Finny Dianora-Brøndal, a homeschooled high school sophomore, received an honorable mention for “Bill Persky — My Hometown Hero,” his interview with television director, screenwriter and producer Bill Persky. Ollie also knows Persky well, and had an in-depth perspective on the producer’s trove of stories. In one of Ollie’s favorites, Persky tells of taking his daughters, who were obsessed with the the actress Farrah Fawcett, to a party that the actress attended. He told them to stay away from her, but Fawcett caught on, asking the girls why they kept avoiding her, and they ended up having a long conversation with her, poring over photographs of her work.
Leo Dekleva Hawker, a 7th grader at Pierson Middle School, took his camera along to work with his grandfather, Richard Cohen, for his film “Rockwater.” The film is named for Cohen’s company, which specializes in installations of stone and water features.
The winning film, “A Crow’s Nest: A Sag Harbor Story,” is a sensitively edited short that intersperses interviews with Robert Browngardt, recollecting his life in Sag Harbor and in the Navy with family photographs. It tells the story of a man who was born in the house he now lives in on Palmer Terrace, and traveled the world as a Naval officer before returning home, where he’s the hero of his 10 grandchildren.
“I look up to him a lot. Every day after school, on my way home, he tells me stories,” said Zachary in a talk-back after the film screening. “My whole life, he’s been a very important person. When I found out about this competition, I knew right away there was no other person I could choose.”
Robert Browndardt, 85, who spent 21 years in the Navy, retired with the rank of Lieutenant. He attended 14 different service schools and was stationed throughout the country on aircraft carriers and destroyers — in San Diego, Long Beach, and Alameda, CA, and in Norfolk, VA and Newport, RI, where his final assignment was to take care of the sailboats at the Naval Academy.
“There was so much pride,” he said of his family’s service — his brother was an Army B-25 pilot whose plane, dubbed “The Sag Harbor Express,” was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire over the Philippines in 1945, and his uncle, a World War I veteran, was a treasured family member who lived in their family’s house in Sag Harbor for 40 years. His son Carl, Zachary’s father, also served in the Navy.
Growing up in Sag Harbor, he remembers, “The people were the most important thing. Everybody helped each other out.”
Zachary also relied on that community spirit in producing his film. He had taken a filmmaking workshop in middle school with filmmaker Kevin Quinn, who let him borrow a camera and mic to make the film. His uncle, a professional video editor, helped him through the editing process.
“People don’t realize that editing is the most difficult part of filmmaking,” said Zachary, who is planning a career as a filmmaker.
“Next summer, I’m probably going to have to get a job, but I’m working on a film with a friend, and I hope to be able to make one or two films this summer,” he said.
The film, inspired by “Taxi Driver” and “Catcher in the Rye,” is “about a kid whose parents died in New York City in a fire and he moves to Sag Harbor in the 1990s and moves in with his grandparents.”
The ending, he says, is a “big twist,” which will remain a secret until it’s ready for prime time.
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