VAN BUREN, Maine – A Memphis-based husband and wife film team, Five and Dime Studios, found their way to the northeast border of the country to shoot a documentary about the town of Van Buren.
The studio consists of Austin and Mackenzie Winder, a married couple who have been doing video work since 2020. They most recently shot a documentary for Victor, Colorado.
“They’re a gold mining town,” Austin said of the Colorado community. “Then, we came over here to Van Buren. There’s obviously a lot of history here. It’s just a really special spot.”
Five and Dime Studios got its name because Austin’s grandfather once owned a five and dime store in Pennsylvania. The company’s branding features a digitized version of that store’s old logo.
And while the business sometimes enlists the help of editors, most work is done by Austin and Mackenzie. Austin handles filming and editing the videos and Mackenzie handles the marketing and organizational aspects of the business.
Mackenzie said the company came about as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which sent many workers home. At that time, she said businesses still needed video marketing to survive.
“We had a big market with that, and we just started from there,” she said. “We were doing it locally, because no one was traveling at that point.”
Once travel restrictions loosened, they began shooting documentaries about towns across the country.
Austin and Mackenzie have been on the road for close to two months. After working in Colorado, Austin said they went to Pennsylvania.
“I’m from Philadelphia, and we were having a family reunion in Pennsylvania right after shooting our Colorado documentary. I’ve been to Maine, but she never has, so I wanted to take her,” he said.
From there, they began researching towns in Maine and Austin said they were drawn to Van Buren, a border town with a population of roughly 2,000.
“What made us originally interested in Van Buren was the Acadian Village, the Gayety Theater, and the renovation of the town,” he said. “They’re an up and coming town trying to revitalize themselves. And there’s so much potential here.”
And when Austin reached out, Van Buren Town Manager Luke Dyer also happened to be in Philadelphia working with students at Drexel University on a project involving the town.
“Luke said it was very serendipitous when we called, because he had just told the council a few days before, ‘We’ve got to have a video of what we’re doing,’” Mackenzie said. “And two days later, Austin calls.”
The town funded the documentary with a $7,500 grant from the Maine Tourism and Marketing Program. The grant required a $7,500 match from the town, which the town council unanimously approved earlier this year.
Dyer said the documentary’s goal is to capture the town’s assets, which include the aforementioned Acadian Village as well as recreational opportunities along the St. John River, the ATV trail system, events like the Christmas Town Celebration, and the town’s overall revitalization.
“My experience working with them has been excellent,” Dyer said. “They have made quick rapport with community members in an attempt to capture the current vibe resonating around town about our revitalization efforts.”
The Winders arrived on July 15, and will stay until August 5. The documentary should be finished within the next three months. Dyer said he and officials will host a community event for the release of the documentary, but that it is too early to announce any dates as they are still in the early planning stages.
The Winders said they enjoy the experience of entering a new community and hearing the stories of its residents.
“It’s fun to come in as an unbiased, unprejudiced person with no previous knowledge of any of these people, who all generally know each other, and hearing their different stories,” Mackenzie said.
A significant part of the documentary’s focus, in addition to highlighting the town’s resources and revitalization, is telling the story of Van Buren’s unique culture.
“We come in and sit down with people who have these stories, who have that heritage, and we let them tell their story,” Austin said. “It’s just our job to capture it and turn it into a good story.”
