Gloucester HarborWalk #1: Mini clip from The Greasy Pole 2010 Doc
Channel: Gloucester HarborWalk
Date: 2012-05-12

Emile Doucette, Thomas Papows, Michael Pallazola
CoffeeBlack Productions
excerpt from award winning short film doc The Greasy Pole
Filmmakers: Emile Doucette, Thomas Papows, Michael Pallazola
CoffeeBlack Productions

America's oldest fishing port, Gloucester, MA, is a community steeped in tradition with a culture and character unlike any other. The St Peter's Fiesta is the epitome of Gloucester's storied heritage, and the crowning point of the festival is a sporting event unlike any other: the Greasy Pole.

As Gloucester natives, we have grown up with the Greasy Pole all our lives and heard stories of the years of bumps, bruises, laughs, and tears from some of the most fascinating and endearing residents of Gloucester: the Greasy Pole walkers. In March of 2009 we competed in the International Documentary Challenge, a timed filmmaking competition where filmmakers have 5-days to make a 7-minute film. Our film, The Greasy Pole, beat out over 130 other teams from around the world to win the Documentary Educational Resources (DER) Award.

Through the encouragement of DER (an organization that helps independent filmmakers secure funding for their films), and many friends, family, and residents of Gloucester, we have decided to create a feature-length version of the film, with an end goal of having the film aired on broadcast television.