HELP US FILM THIS EVENT!

Hi, I’m Heather Quinlan, and I’m directing a feature-length documentary, “Staten Island Graveyard,” about an African-American cemetery that was illegally seized by New York City in 1954, turned into a gas station and then a strip mall.

Part of the film uncovers the story of this site, where the Second Asbury AME Church once stood—alongside what was then known as Cherry Lane Cemetery—starting in 1850.

The other part of the film is about the site’s future, and how it’s being fought for, by the descendants of those buried there as well as local activists and politicians, as they work to make it the memorial it should be.

I’m excited to let you know about new developments since my previous GoFundMe, and how you can help. As was said by NPR reporter Arun Venugopal for “All Things Considered”: “This is a story that needs to be told.”

WHAT WE NEED TO FILM

On May 20, 2023, the street that runs next to the strip mall will be co-named “Benjamin Prine Way,” after the most well-known person buried at Cherry Lane. Benjamin Prine was the oldest living formerly enslaved person from Staten Island, so renowned that when he died it was reported everywhere from The New York Times to the Chicago Tribune and Iowa Quad Cities. And yet his own descendants had never heard of him. That’s how complete the obliteration of the site had been. But now the graves will be remembered, and he’ll make history once again, as this will be the first time an NYC street is co-named for a formerly enslaved person from NYC.

But May 20th will also mark a reunion for Benjamin Prine’s family of 20-25 people who will be traveling to Staten Island from all over the country. We want to film them meeting again at the co-naming, as well as sitting down at the dinner table together for the first time in decades—while discussing what they want the site to become. This will be one of the most integral scenes of the film.

WHY WE NEED YOU

This will be a critical part of the documentary. The story of Cherry Lane has spoken to more and more people, as we’ve gotten tons of terrific press—including NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered”; NowThis; WNBC-TV; WCBS-TV; 1010 WINS; WCBS 880; and an upcoming article in The New York Times—but we can’t complete the film on good word-of-mouth alone. We are waiting on several grants, and even Viola Davis has expressed interest in the film, but it’s a long and competitive process and in the meantime, just as Cherry Lane’s rebirth will depend on people, getting the vision of this film realized will depend on you.

Before this rapidly approaching date, we need to raise money to pay for:

• Camera people (3)

• Audio person

• Editor

• Production assistants (2)

• Location costs

• Food costs – Since we will be feeding close to 30 people this will be big!

This will be an extremely rewarding event on so many levels, so we appreciate any amount you can give to capture it on film. Because without this event there is no film.

WHY THIS IS WORTHWHILE

We’ve come so far already—Santander Bank, which is an anchor business of the strip mall, has committed funds to memorialize the site, working with the DOT, which is putting a KnowNYC public-education sign on the corner, and the NYC Parks Department, which is planting a cherry tree in honor of Cherry Lane at the front of the strip mall. And the co-naming is a huge step toward public recognition that this was a cemetery—and it still is.

We also have a great team—when I first started this project it was me filming a video of cars driving over the site on my iPhone. But thanks to the generosity of donors from my previous GoFundMe, I was able to work with the great Anthony Q. Artis as a cameraman. Now we have Producers Caroline DeVoe and Kelly Sheehan, whose film “Mariachi High” aired on PBS; Editor Crockett Doob, who edited the Oscar-nominated “Beasts of the Southern Wild”; and Consulting Producers Donald Thoms, former VP of Programming for PBS, and Peggy King Jorde, Project Executive for the Memorialization of the African Burial Ground in Manhattan. And as you can see from the trailer, we can make a terrific film.

I’ll end with a quote from Ms. King Jorde: “Archaeologists say that what defines us as human is how we bury our dead. So imagine a community that was deemed inhuman. Then when a mother or a father of African descent is burying their dead, they’re reclaiming the humanity of an individual in a society that says you’re not human. They are engaging in a revolutionary act. And so that is what makes this ground sacred and this film crucial.”

Thank you for your time, generosity, and belief—now together, let’s get this film made!