Documentary bringing Leominster history to life
6-part series a collaborative effort led by Council President Mark Bodanza
LEOMINSTER Episode one of a new six-part documentary series, “Nation Rising,” premiered on Leominster Access Television on Feb. 23. The series, written and hosted by longtime resident and City Council President Mark Bodanza, focuses on how the story and people of Leominster have helped to shape the nation and vice versa.
“I decided that it would be a great idea to have a video documentary of Leominster’s history, the purpose of which is to show how local history is influenced by national events and how local people and local events have an impact on the national story,” Bodanza said. “What impact did the people of Leominster have on the bigger picture?”
The project is a collaborative effort. Mark Bodanza’s brother, David Bodanza, narrates the series, which is produced and directed by LTV Executive Director Carl Piermarini, and LTV staff members and others are lending a hand as well. Alan Redstone is doing the sound and film archivist Jack Celli is involved.
“This is a whole staff effort,” Piermarini said.
Piermarini and Mark Bodanza have a process they go through when crafting an episode — read through the script, decide on images to use, figure out what needs voiceovers, and then it all comes together.
“Carl and his entire crew have done an amazing job, they are well trained,” Mark Bodanza said, adding that he was high school classmates with Piermarini and several other LTV staff members. “It is a natural collaboration — my historical passion and interest and interest in the community, which they have as well. My talents in writing and their talents in videography, sound, film production, and everything it takes to make a documentary.”
Jane Paszko did a voiceover for Mary Rowlandson, a colonial woman featured in the first episode that shines a light on the beginnings of Leominster.
“The second episode will delve deeper into Leominster becoming its own town separate from Lancaster,” Bodanza said. “As we go on, we talk about how Lancaster folks acquired land in 1701 from Native Americans that became Leominster and other towns and the details behind it, how it impacted race relations with Native Americans and how these early settlements were formed here.”
Bodanza, who said Leominster’s “mother town” was Lancaster, said he sees “the transaction differently” than David Wilder, who wrote “History of Leominster Massachusetts” in 1853. “History is not static,” Bodanza said. “Contributions come from people who are not necessarily icons. They are looked at as just as important as icons when it comes to how our nation and community developed.”
Bodanza has penned books about Leominster’s history himself, including “Risk Takers & History Makers: The Story of Leominster”, a 444-page book published last fall that details the city’s history from before its official inception to modern day. His fascination with his hometown’s history prompted him to visit the state archives in Dorchester six years ago to see Leominster’s 1740 charter in person.
“It was an ‘aha’ moment when this woman brought it out,” he said.
Piermarini said he sent a crew with Bodanza to capture the visit; some of the footage will be used in “Nation Rising.”
“Mark has been thinking about doing something like this for a while, so we saved the footage thinking we would use it,” Piermarini said.
While Bodanza has been thinking of doing the documentary project for quite some time, it was over the summer last year that he decided to get finally down to business.
“I wanted to debunk some historical myths,” Bodanza said. “One of things addressed is what religious freedom meant in early America. A lot of us understand that pilgrims came to create a nation that was tolerant of other religions and people could come and practice their religions freely. My interest in doing this is to shed some light on the watered-down history we learned.”
Bodanza said the goal is to keep each episode half an hour or less; the second episode is currently being produced.
“I am hopeful that young people will get inspired by it,” he said. “Watered down history that is sometimes not even true, kids can get turned off by it. People and kids know when they are being snowed. I think kids can handle the real truth. This is my version; everyone approaches facts differently. This is my take.”
The first episode of “Nation Rising” is airing on LTV’s public and government channels, and subsequent episodes will premier and stream live at http://streaming.leominster.tv/la.