Ep #042: Nathan Fitch, Micronesia 2004-2007
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Nathan is a filmmaker and visual journalist based in Brooklyn. He currently works in the video department of The New Yorker and recently finished his first documentary film, Island Solider, based in Micronesia, where served as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
On this Episode:
- Skating boarding on a wrecked ship, run aground off an island in Micronesia
- Learning the craft of documenting and telling stories in the Peace Corps
- Island Soldier, Nathan’s film about U.S. military soldiers recruited from Micronesia
Photos from Nathan’s Story
Nathan Fitch’s Peace Corps Story
Where and when did you serve? What did you do?
Federated States of Micronesia, 2004-07. I arrived as a youth and community volunteer and was assigned to do historic preservation work.
What is one of your favorite Peace Corps memories?
Spearfishing.
What is one of your least favorite Peace Corps memories?
Being sick.
What do you miss about the Peace Corps?
Community.
What is something you learned in the Peace Corps?
Patience.
Island Soldier
Nathan Fitch recently finished his first feature-length documentary film, Island Soldier. He served as Director, Cinematographer & Producer.
A remote archipelago of hundreds of tiny volcanic islands in the western Pacific, The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is an independent nation of 100,000 citizens, and a protectorate of the United States. In recent years, the country has become a “recruiter’s paradise” for the U.S. military, especially since 9/11. Yet they have lost fives times more soldiers, per capita, than any U.S. state. The film captures a tightly knit island community — a microcosm of economic, social and political change, as the high price for military service in a foreign nation’s wars cuts deep.
For more about the film: http://www.islandsoldiermovie.com
For more about Nathan: https://www.nathan-fitch.com