We Were an island

Real-life couple, Art & Nan Kellam spend a lifetime in isolation on an island off the coast of Maine.

Directed by Peter Logue

Winner announced Friday, June 11th!

Watch the DKAF interview with actors Chris Henry Coffey and Jennifer Mudge. They talk about what it was like to work on movies in the wilderness, like Montana and We Were an Island, and how their connection as a married couple informs the projects they work on.

Peter Logue is a director, screenwriter, and editor based in Rockport. He has directed and shot eight documentaries with subjects ranging from German resistance during WWII to a group of homeschoolers who share a love for Shakespeare.

“We Were An Island” imagines the life of Art & Nan Kellam, a couple who moved to an uninhabited island off the coast of Maine in 1949. Whether in response to the horrors they witnessed in international news during World War II or from a desire to take on a life project that was utterly unique, the couple built their own home and lived in near isolation for the subsequent four decades. During their time on Placentia, the Kellams experienced both independence from society and a connection with nature that seem nearly impossible today. They lived a life of their own design, and yet not without challenges. Their story is an apt metaphor for what it means to enter a life partnership, what is gained and what we each give up. Ultimately it is a grand accomplishment just to remain on that ‘island’ of our own design.