November 19, 2007

Marc Hersch
Film Maker

In 1999 Marc Hersch convinced his wife Monica to leave their high paying, secure jobs, their home, close circle of friends, and family to sail their 42 foot sailboat wherever the wind took them for the next six years. Courageous enough for two people to do, but Marc and Monica decided to do this with their 11 year-old son Joel. Being a former educator, Marc was able to home school Joel on the high seas. To meet him today, you might be tempted to take to the open air for several years yourself, if you have a school age child to give him or her the same education as this clearly very well adjusted, intelligent young man who seems highly motivation with a good sense of the world around him.  It just so happened that the night of his dad’s presentation was also the night of Joel’s 21st birthday. The talk began shortly after he and his entourage of friends arrived. 

Referring to Bruce Chatwin’s book, The Songlines about Aborigines in the Australian outback, Hersch talked about how he was inspired by the idea of how we each have our own narrative. When an Aborigine goes on their walkabout, a rite of passage into adulthood, they go off into the wilderness and trace the path of their ancestors; this path is called their songline. It is their story.

“Every one of us is the story we tell,” Hersch told the audience. “Our narrative tells us at any moment in time who we are. It creates us,” he said, as the songlines create their world into existence for the aborigines. “We are the stories we tell.” As he explained how it is virtually impossible to do walkabout in this modern world.  “The one place we can walkabout is setting sail. It is the one remaining wilderness.”

 So off Marc went with his family, but when the Hersch’s arrived back in Santa Cruz , they discovered the world had changed. “We left good jobs, a house, boats, friends, etc. We came back and thought we could just drop back in and pick up where we left off. We came back to a post 9/11 world, Bush, the Iraq war, friends who were refinancing and getting rich by having bought more houses...We came back to a dip in economy. No one wanted to hire me…Times had changed. Things I had to contribute, like education, no longer valued. It was all about the “bottom line”.

 With his son’s college tuition looming over the horizon, “I didn’t have time to be powerless, I needed to act,” He put an ad on Craig’s list for people interested in creating a promotional video involving sailing. With some background in television production and a little bit of help in the initial stages from a documentary film maker named Michael Colin, he decided to make a film. He sailed to Santa Barbara “one of the most beautiful islands I know,” and with his three other crew members including his good friend Howard Wright who also scored the music, they shot the film in two days with a camera bought at Costco on the way to this latest adventure. “I was still reading the instruction manual on the way to the harbor.”

  Twenty hours of filming and several months of editing later, he had his movie packaged on dvd. ‘Around Santa Cruz Island, The Jewel of Southern California’s Offshore Islands,’ was picked up by a distributor fairly quickly and has been doing so well, the audience at Cava was able to get a sneak peek at his next film, still in production.  His first film, however, can be found on Amazon.com for $34.95. It gives a history of the Island , sailing tips, anchorages, and other special features, but the main thing it does is let you be a part of a fun adventure with Marc, Monica, Howard, Grace Usui, and Captain Joseph Rodgers. If we are lucky we might get another chance for an evening of stories and adventures with Marc Hersch when his next film is ready for viewing. Maybe for Joel’s 22nd birthday.