Where do you go when the average home price is $4.5 Million, the cheapest freestanding house costs $1.8 Million, and you're 30 miles out to sea? Room For Us?: Confronting Nantucket's Housing Crisis invites audiences into the vibrant, diverse lives of Nantucket's year-round community as they grapple with the challenges of finding a home in one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets. From those living on the streets to families making over $180,000 a year, Nantucket’s housing crisis cuts across all demographics, threatening the very fabric of society. As one local puts it, “A place that rents for $65,000 a week is probably not something a teacher is going to be able to afford.” Despite significant investments in affordable housing and the efforts of a committed group of housing advocates, the unique pressures of living on a vacation island that caters to billionaires and millionaires has many locals asking: "Does Nantucket have room for us?"

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Room For Us?: Confronting Nantucket's Housing Crisis is the first feature documentary produced through Semester Cinema. Led by mentors Patrick Kennedy and Jasper Craven, the documentary unit spent three months living on Nantucket, from February to May 2024. Over the course of a seven week pre-production period, students were guided through lessons in documentary history, theory, research, and technical skills, while laying the groundwork for the production phase.

 

During the six week production period, students gained hands-on experience by rotating through roles that allowed students to sharpen their skills in camera operation, sound, directing, and editing, while directly contributing to the film. Students reached out to subjects, conducted interviews, managed equipment, and edited key segments, all in collaboration with their peers. The result was a truly unique and collective filmmaking experience.