Rough Blazing Star (2023)

Experimental documentary film

Rough Blazing Star

Total run time: 44:04 / HD video, Super 8mm, performance, & microfilm / single-channel / 2023

A new experimental documentary film project from artist/filmmaker Christopher Wiersema examines anarchism, local history and memory, Emma Goldman’s writing, and a shared love of flowers. Told through a poetic inquiry and response to the text and research - beginning with a visit to the Old Labor Hall in Barre, Vermont - the social center of the Italian anarchist and socialist community in the early 1900’s.

Interviews with 105 year old Italian elder, Alba Rossi, and Giuliano Cecchinelli, renowned Italian stone carver - both long time residents in Barre, Vermont.

Winner of the Vermont Public Award for Best Documentary: Made Here Film Festival // April 2024 // Burlington, Vermont

Distributed by Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre. Contact bookings@cfmdc.org for screener requests and programming inquiries.

“Rough Blazing Star is an experimental, non-fiction film about Barre, Vermont; more specifically it's about Emma Goldman, Italian anarchists, flowers, stone cutters, rock quarries, music and everyday life.

Christopher’s body of experimental work is inspired by the Avant-garde filmmakers of the 1960s; the films are fractured and use collage-like techniques to create an atmospheric non-linear narrative. The work is not easy and it demands attention; the audience is provided flashing clues, cacophonous audio and the space to free associate. (I'm reminded of the abstraction of Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas).

Rough Blazing Star was made in the same spirit: you may think Emma Goldman will be the film's primary subject, but Christopher darts from one character to another insisting that this film is about a community of ideas.”

-Michel Negroponte, Filmmaker and Educator

Winner of the Vermont Public Award for Best Documentary: Made Here Film Festival // April 2024 // Burlington, Vermont

World Premiere: Film Screening & Fundraiser for the Old Labor Hall // October 8, 2023 // Barre, Vermont