- 'Tending Fires' is a documentary about a rite of passage experience created for 7 adolescent boys -- tending a fire alone in the Catskill Mountains by themselves for over 24 hours. It's about the multi-generational circle of men who supported it, the impact it had on their parents, and the larger ramifications for community when culture is created.—Anonymous
- Tending a fire, alone in the woods, for 24 hours. "Tending Fires" is a documentary about a rite of passage wilderness challenge created for 7 adolescent boys who were each taken to a different spot in the Catskill Mountains and asked to create and tend a fire alone for 24 hours without food, phones, knives or other distractions -- and then were welcomed back into a circle of men from their community. The documentary is not about the individual boys or their specific personal experiences on that rainy solo weekend. Instead, it is about the archetypal rite of passage experience as reflected in the multi-generational circle of men who set up the challenge, support the experience and maintain a central fire around which the men gather and hear from those who periodically check in on the boys. These men are not named but are instead identified by their roles of 'uncle' and 'big brother' figures. The documentary is also about the suspended moment for the parents. The mothers articulate the bittersweet tension between being a caretaker and letting the boys go. The fathers speak about their own unintended rites of passage ("accidents we were lucky to survive") and the profound role of their fathers and mentor uncle-figures during their adolescence.
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