Documentary tribute to seven Quincy generals will screen at Block Island Film Festival
QUINCY − A 35-minute documentary produced by the office of Mayor Thomas Koch has been selected to appear in the 2024 Block Island Film Festival.
Co-directed by Koch's communications director, Lisa Aimola, and media director, Mark Carey, "City of Generals − Quincy's Modern Day Patriots" is a flag-waving tribute to seven home-grown generals who assumed positions of high command starting in the mid-1940s, including Gen. Charles Sweeney, who played a key role in the atomic bomb strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Aside from Aimola's and Carey's salaries, the city paid $600 to AppleCart Productions to edit the film, according to city records. Municipal Finance Director Eric Mason said donations from local business leaders paid for the bulk of production costs.
The documentary captures the dedication ceremony of the Generals Bridge and Park in September 2021 and is interwoven with interviews, photographs and images of Quincy neighborhoods and monuments.
"You can stand in front of a statue," Aimola said of the larger-than-life bronze statues honoring the seven men in Generals Park. "But what's the story?"
"The companion piece (to the park) is the documentary," Carey said. "It can be enjoyed by all citizens in the future."
In a common refrain throughout the interviews, the generals speak about growing up in Quincy, delivering The Patriot Ledger, working at the Fore River Shipyard and playing sports with neighborhood kids from Merrymount to Quincy Point. Some credit their parents and the city itself with ingraining in them the character to lead and attain high rank in the military.
"They're our Quincy neighbors," Aimola said. "It's so relatable, but so remarkable."
The documentary also includes footage of sculptor Sergey Eylanbekov at work on the statues in his studio in Italy. Eylanbekov also sculpted statues of John Adams, John Hancock and Abigail Adams that stand on the Hancock Adams Common.
Talking about the film's structure, Carey said variation is key to maintaining the viewer's interest.
"Straight-on shots of talking heads can be boring, even if (the talking heads) are interesting," he said. "By adding personal stories, other stories, then cutting to Sergey making the statues for the monument − those things give it layers."
Aimola said the festival will bring the documentary to wider audiences. There are also plans to incorporate the film into Quincy Public Schools' courses in conjunction with the 2025 "Quincy 400" celebrations of the city's quadricentennial.
Who are the generals in 'City of Generals'?
Gen. Joseph F. Dunford (retired), 36th commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps and 19th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dunford commanded U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen. James C. McConville, 40th chief of staff of the U.S. Army. McConville commanded U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The late Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, 32nd chief of staff of the U.S. Army. Sullivan died Jan. 2 at the age of 86.
Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, U.S. Army National Guard. McGinn was a deputy garrison commander in Iraq in 2004-05.
The late Gen. Charles Sweeney, U.S. Air Force.
The late Maj. Gen. Stephen T. Keefe, U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Brig. Gen. Ronald T. Rand (retired), U.S. Air Force.
The short documentary doesn't go into great detail about the generals' careers or the war efforts that some of them commanded. One exception is Sweeney, who served from 1941 to 1976 and died in 2004.
Sweeney is most known for his role in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 1945. He piloted support aircraft in the attack on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and commanded the plane that dropped the bomb known as "Fat Man" on Nagasaki on Aug. 9.
According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the bombings killed between 110,000 and 240,000 people, with the low estimate derived from U.S. military reports in the years immediately following the attack, and the high estimate from later studies by independent researchers.
Meet the filmmakers in the mayor's office
Carey and Aimola said they collaborated on a handful of projects before the documentary. They partnered on a short silent film called "Probation," which they made as part of the 48-Hour Film Festival.
Aimola said they pulled a genre, a prop, a character and a line of dialogue out of a hat, then were given 48 hours to write, cast, film and edit a seven-minute short.
"We'll never do that again," said Carey, who has worked in film, radio and music production for the past 40 years and hosts the "City View Podcast" with Koch.
The experience gave Aimola and Carey confidence to collaborate on another, more ambitious project. In 2018, they produced "Sweeney Killing Sweeney," a fantastical comedy starring comic Steve Sweeney, with appearances by other well-known comedians including Steven Wright and Jonathan Katz.
In the movie, an aging comic seeking national success begrudgingly removes local color from his act, including distinctly Boston characters, only to have those characters come to life and seek revenge.
At last year's Block Island Film Festival, Aimola won the best short-film director award for "The Nickname," which she wrote and directed in 2022. The film tells the story of Paige, an adolescent girl finding herself − and a nickname − while coming to grips with her grandmother's growing dementia. Carey co-produced the short and wrote the film score.
After winning the award at last year's festival, Aimola said organizers encouraged her to return with another submission, which gave her the idea to enter "City of Generals" this year.
"City of Generals − Quincy's Modern Day Patriots" will be shown at the Block Island festival Wednesday, May 29, at 3:45 p.m.
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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Quincy documentary honoring homegrown generals to be shown at festival
