The Shakers - Tom Davenport, Frank DeCola

Film by Tom Davenport, Frank DeCola
Produced by Tom Davenport, Frank DeCola, Daniel Patterson
Cinematographer: Tom Davenport
Sound: Mimi Davenport, Don Berman, Dan Barnett
Editing: Louise B. Steig
Copyright: 1974, Tom Davenport Films
30 minutes, Color
Original format: 16mm, 1974

The Shakers

The Shakers tells a story about some of the last remaining women of the oldest and most successful experiment on communal living in the United States. Over the last couple of centuries they were able to maintain there traditions and standard of living. They live peacefully, loving and celibate, and are generally open to new members.

Director Tom Davenport lets the Shaker women speak, he lets them tell the stories of there lives and gives them room to contemplate the rich history of there communities. While the women speak the viewer often sees archival photographs and drawings of era's long gone.

As a thorough research into the Shaker way of living this may not be the best document, but it is a great first gaze.