Jon Bowermaster: LLI Presenter and Adventurer

by Felice Gelman

Introduction

LLI has been fortunate to have several courses from filmmaker Jon Bowermaster in recent years: Around the World by Sea Kayak, Sail Freight on the Hudson, Environmental Hopes and Risks, Jon Bowermaster Presents. We know him as a filmmaker and committed environmentalist. That’s certainly correct. His newest film, The Keeper, following Hudson Riverkeeper John Lipscomb over his 25-year tenure, premiered in November at the prestigious DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary film festival. But his body of work is much broader. He describes himself as “a writer, filmmaker, and adventurer.”

Adventurer?

Definitely. One of Bowermaster’s first assignments for the National Geographic Expeditions Council, in 1988, led him to cover a seven-month dogsled journey across Antarctica. He has explored all the world’s oceans by sea kayak, journeys documented in films, lectures, and books. He shared that experience with LLI in a SummerFest class in 2021.

The Environment is Everything

Jon says, “Everything we do is connected to the environment, even if that isn’t the direct subject.” In cleaning out a storage unit, he found newspaper stories he had written in the 1970s, and even those included a lot of stories on the environment. “The environment has become ever more present in people’s daily lives. They are conscious of how doing simple stuff hurts the environment.” In Ghost Fleet, his award-winning film about the enslavement of shrimp fishermen, we can see how environmental and human rights issues are deeply entwined.

Hudson River Stories

For the last dozen years, Bowermaster has focused on Hudson River stories. “You don’t have to travel halfway around the world to find good stories,” he says. His just-released feature-length documentary, The Keeper, screened at the Woodstock Film Festival and Upstate Films last month, is just one of his many films celebrating the Hudson. You can watch Hudson River Stories: Hope on the Hudson or listen to his weekly program, The Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster, on Radio Kingston, Mondays from 6 to 7 p.m., or archived here.

And on Wednesday, January 28, at WinterFest, we will all have a chance to hear Jon share notes from his 20th trip to Antarctica and discuss his new film The Keeper.