'One Big Home' documentary to screen in Marion

Oct 9, 2017

The Elizabeth Taber Library is screening "One Big Home," a documentary 12 years in the making, on Sunday, November 5.

"One Big Home" follows one carpenter’s journey to understand the trend toward giant houses. When Thomas Bena feels complicit in wrecking the place he calls home, he takes off his tool belt and picks up a camera. He struggles to find a balance between the rights of homeowners and a desire to protect the character of their small rural town. Bumping up against angry homeowners and builders who look the other way, Mr. Bena works with his community and attempts to pass a new bylaw to limit house size.

This film was directed and produced by Thomas Bena who earned a degree in marketing from UMass Amherst in 1989. After he decided that working in the business world wasn’t for him, he grabbed a backpack and a surfboard and headed to Australia to “find himself.” Almost a decade later, he discovered Martha’s Vineyard. In 2001, he founded the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival. His film directing, editing, and producing credits include "Casa del Soul," a short surfing film, "Jumpstart My Vega," a travelogue/surf film, and "Capawock," a short film starring Wampanoag medicine man Luther Madison. "One Big Home" is his first feature-length documentary film.

The film will screen at 2 p.m, in Tabor Academy's Lyndon South Auditorium.

This event is open to the public at no charge, although a $5 donation ($10/family) is appreciated at the door. Parking is available at Tabor Academy in the Fish Center parking lot and the Academic Center oval both on Front Street and along Spring Street.