jumP Edits New School Documentary for Academy Award-Winner Wade

jumP's Michael Saia and William Zitser, in close collaboration with Academy Award-winning Director Cynthia Wade, recently completed editing Living the Legacy: The Untold Story of the Milton Hershey School, a stirring documentary recording the ongoing educational efforts of the central Pennsylvania institution.

Saia and Zitser faced the formidable task of editing hours of film into a concise and powerful 73:27 finished product while capturing the scope of an institution with 100 years of history and more than 1,500 students, and simultaneously showcasing a fifth-grade pupil and her family, beneficiaries of the school's mission to serve underprivileged children.

The documentary's plot centers around a troubled family whose story is typical of the Hershey School: Jerrica Bechtold and her brother are taken into the residential boarding school while their formerly crack-addicted mother retreats to her parents' house to work toward full rehabilitation. A third child - who was not admitted to the school - stays with the mother. The three children struggle behaviorally and academically but ultimately find motivation and success, primarily through the school's considerable counseling resources.

The two editors deftly intercut interviews of the family, Hershey School alumni, students, counselors, host parents and instructors together with written onscreen narrative, silent action scenes, and voiceovers to deliver Wade's vision in a powerful, compelling fashion. In one particularly moving sequence, Jerrica is shown in various settings, adjusting to life in a beautiful new school and a bright new home, which alternates with film of her mother driving toward their ramshackle country home, recanting her slide into drug dependence. The contrast in surroundings, the looks of intense loss and confusion on the faces of parent and children both, and the mother's gripping narrative voiceover fuse to perfectly deliver the emotional story.

In other sequences, black-and-white shots were used, stylized borders around interviewees' monologues, or stills of the surrounding landscape to create atmospheres of hope, frustration, or determination, as the scene requires.

School officials commissioned Wade to produce the documentary as part of the Milton Hershey School's 100th anniversary this year. Wade, in turn, chose Saia and Zitser to handle the film's editorial.

"Cynthia was a real pleasure to work with. Noted Saia "She is at once collaborative, and possessed of a vision that never wavered over the almost yearlong process of shooting and cutting. Perhaps most interesting was how the story unfolded before our eyes over the course of the project, sometimes joyfully, sometimes heartbreakingly."

The Milton Hershey School provided a free public showing of the documentary Sept. 26 at 4 and 7 p.m. on campus, the film was screened at the Times Center on October 6, and the Sundance Channel and the Independent Film Channel will show the film beginning in October.

This latest effort editing a major piece follows jumP's 2008 collaboration with Director Benita Raphan on a 27-minute experimental documentary, Great Genius and Profound Stupidity, which the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival selected for a worldwide premiere in competition. The Sundance Channel also broadcast the film.

"jumP has always been involved in projects of varying size and complexity; documentaries, features, and shorts, as well as a full slate of commercial work. jumP Managing Director Dee Tagert states. "Michael and William are particularly expert at untangling the many facets of a lengthy story and creating a clean, simple final film. I'm sure they and jumP will tackle many similar projects in the future."
The Creds

Film Title: Living the Legacy: The Untold Story of Milton Hershey School
Director: Cynthia Wade

Editorial: jumP/NY
Editor(s): Michael Saia, William Zitser
Managing Director: Dee Tagert
EP: Elizabeth Krajewski
About jumP:

jumP is an award-winning, New York-based creative editorial boutique focusing on commercials, features, short films, music videos, and emerging media content. The firm works with a wide-range of top-tier brands, directors, and agencies continually delivering powerful and efficient results for each of its clients. The company roster includes Partner/Editors: Luis Moreno and Michael Saia, Editors: Lin Polito, William Zitser and David Bryen, Partner/Managing Director: Dee Tagert and Executive Producer: Elizabeth Krajewski.

Documentary