Film society and historical society to screen Delmarva Roots films March 25

Rehoboth Beach Film Society and Milton Historical Society will co-present Delmarva Roots, a series featuring films about Delmarva’s history and/or by Delmarva filmmakers. March’s presentation includes two films, “A Ninth Life” and “White Gold: Delaware’s Oyster Industry,” both of which will be screened starting at 7 p.m., Friday, March 15, at the Milton Fire Hall, 116 Front St., Milton.

Admission for this event is $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased online at www.rehobothfilm.com or by calling the Rehoboth Beach Film Society at 302-645-9095, Ext. 1.

“A Ninth Life,” from Milton-based filmmaker Pamela Preston, is the short story of Jim and Paige, whose lives intersect over the course of two decades. Through their uniquely developing relationship, Jim comes to some realizations that send his tidy belief system into a tailspin.

Delaware filmmaker Michael Oates’ latest film is “White Gold: Delaware’s Oyster Industry,” a sharply focused documentary about changing coastal life. Leipsic, Little Creek and Bowers Beach were once flourishing aquaculture communities, relying on huge harvests of Delaware Bay oysters, known as white gold. Schooners sailed the bay dredging as many as 900,000 bushels annually.

Today, the annual oyster harvest is less than 15,000 bushels, and all but one of the schooners is gone. Yet the commercial watermen endure. Oates’s film captures this history alongside the story of one man’s struggle to bring the last wooden schooner back to its former glory.

The mission of the RBFS is to promote the art of film and, through outreach initiatives, to entertain, educate, and enrich the cultural life of local and extended communities.