Filmmaker Jack Ballo screening documentary in Princeton
By Anthony Stoeckert, Packet Media Group
As Jack Ballo was making movies about poverty and its effects in third-world countries, he found out about a story involving homelessness right in New Jersey.
While making a movie about poverty in the Dominican Republic about five years ago, Mr. Ballo learned about Tent City in Lakewood. Tent City is a community of homeless and poor people who established homes in tents on what the Tent City website describes as unused public land.
Tent City was established in 2005. Mr. Bello started filming there in May of 2012, returning regularly through Christmas of that year. His resulting film, “Destiny’s Bridge,” premiered last summer, and is receiving several screenings, including one at the Princeton Garden Theatre in Princeton, April 17, beginning at 7 p.m. A Q&A with Mr. Ballo will follow the screening.
The movie tells the story of how Steve Brigham, a homeless minister, founded the camp, and the government’s efforts to remove him and 80 other people living there. It also follows the residents’ efforts to create a “self-sustained” shelter, called Destiny’s Bridge.
”The film is about the Tent City story, Destiny’s Bridge is really just a concept for housing the homeless that the homeless themselves came up with,” Mr. Ballo says. “We learn in the documentary about how important community and ownership is to returning a homeless person back into society. ‘Destiny’s Bridge’ is about rehabilitation, something that nobody talks about when they are discussing homeless issues. It’s about taking what we can learn from Tent City and using it to move homeless people forward and getting them the counseling, treatment and job training that they need.”
Mr. Ballo, who lives in South River with his wife and two children, has worked in video production for 30 years, working mostly on corporate accounts. His experience in the Dominican Republic sparked an interest in making documentaries about social issues and including a “humanitarian theme.”
”All of my films are about people who have a passion to help others and make a difference in the world,” Mr. Ballo says.
He says his movie was filmed in the cinema verte style, and that it has a story designed to engage the viewer.
”It’s not a traditional type of documentary that has a narration and includes interviews (and) homeless statistics that tell you what you should think,” Mr. Ballo says. “It is more like a reality show where you follow several stories at the same time. The stories unfold in real time over the eight months I was filming at Tent City. I was going there three to five days a week and started to learn about people’s stories and things going on in their lives.”
He adds that the movie doesn’t dwell on sad stories of how these people became homeless.
”We’ve heard all those stories already,” he says. “It’s about who they really are and what struggles they are dealing with and what joy was in their lives at the moment I was filming. This up-close approach brings the viewers into Tent City and allows them to see exactly what is going on there.”
One story his movie follows is about a couple who, he says, had their baby taken from them when they were evicted from the apartment they lived in. Another is about a veteran named Charlie who learns his niece has cancer.
”We learn from Charlie that homeless people go through the same day-to-day problems that everyone else has and that they can overcome problems and find happiness in the simplest ways,” Mr. Ballo says. “The stories about the residents coincide with the main conflict for the homeless. They are being evicted by Lakewood Township and are in a heated court battle that has a surprising ending.”
Mr. Ballo says that some good footage had to be left out of the movie; that’s going to happen when you film 100 hours and edit that footage down to 80 minutes. One sequence he liked was what he filmed the the day after Superstorm Sandy.
”It came out great,” he says. “But I couldn’t find a place in the film to put it, because it didn’t tie into any part of the story.” He adds that some additional scenes will likely be included as extras when the film is released on DVD.
”Destiny’s Bridge” has had three screenings, all of which sold out. “people are moved in a way that I never expected,” he says. Their interest extends to his Q&A sessions with him and Mr. Brigham.
He says that “Destiny’s Bridge” is really about characters and story, and that as people watch it, they forget they’re watching a documentary.
”There are arrests, lawsuits and lawyers all mixed in with very interesting people living in a community who are trying to find their way back into society,” he says.
The Princeton Garden Theatre is located at 160 Nassau St. For information on the theater, go to www.thegardentheatre.com or call 609- 683-4656. For information on Destiny’s Bridge, go to www.destinysbridge.com.

