Director Amy Nicholson Talks HAPPY CAMPERS on SOUNDS with Tom Needham

SOUNDS with Tom Needham

HAPPY CAMPERS, the opening night film for the Port Jefferson Documentary Series, chronicles the final days of a working-class summer colony in a scrappy trailer park that just happens to hold the secret to a rich life.

In a waterfront campground off the coast of Virginia, residents spend their summers living spitting distance apart in rust-bitten RVs. They chuckle about the modest rent they pay for a million-dollar location, but what makes them the luckiest people in the world is more than just stunning sunsets, it’s the community they’ve created.

Beneath cliched trailer park stereotypes lies an unlikely utopia where all are welcome. Neighbors help each other out, and share everything from power tools to simple pleasures. Loneliness and isolation are inconceivable.

When their affordable paradise is sold to developers, the residents brace for eviction and the loss of friendships that span generations. They hold tight to their final days in the sun. The well-heeled crowd that takes their place will never be as wealthy.

Amy Nicholson is a New York-based filmmaker and commercial director whose projects often explore the essence of Americana with a humorous eye and a warm respect for her subjects. Nicholson’s most recent documentary, a short titled Pickle, won multiple audience awards, was selected for The New York Times’ Op Docs, and was featured on the Criterion Collection alongside Errol Morris’ Gates of Heaven. Pickle was also nominated for an IDA Award and Cinema Eye Honors. Nicholson has produced and directed several features. Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wild Ride won the Special Jury Prize at DOCNYC and was held over twice at the IFC Center. Muskrat Lovely premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival and was broadcast on Independent Lens. Nicholson’s films have screened at Hot Docs, Sheffield, Full Frame, DOK Leipzig, BFI London, Camden, Traverse City, Rooftop Films, and the MoMA. They have been reviewed by Variety, Indiewire, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.