Saperston to share journey about life through film
By Joi Harris
Staff Reporter

After graduating from college, Eric Saperston, producer and director of the film, “The Journey,” said he decided to take a year off before beginning a career documenting the Grateful Dead and to work at a ski
resort in Aspen.

Nine years, 176 interviews and 370 hours of tape-footage later, Saperston will share his journey with students at 7 p.m. tonight in Ed Landreth Hall Auditorium.

Robin Williamson, community service coordinator, said students, Abbey Jones, Ruth Morris, Rahwa Neguse and Danielle Gardner first heard Saperston speak during the Community Outreach and opportunity League Conference in Atlanta last Spring Break.

Staff members from eight departments and organizations within the Division of Student Affairs collaborated to bring Saperston to campus in response to the four students’ requests.

Saperston said he changed his focus from documenting the Grateful Dead in 1993 after his mentor, Tony Smith, challenged him to make the trip more meaningful.

“I then decided that I would call up some of the most powerful people in the world and ask them if I could take them out for a cup of coffee,” Saperston said.

The following seven years, Saperston traveled cross country taping his experience with his dog Jack and friends David Murcott, Paige O’Brien and Kathleen Kelly in his 1971 Volkswagen Bus.

The result was a 90-minute nonfiction film, which documents interviews with former President Jimmy Carter, comedian Billy Crystal, former Texas Governor Ann Richards, F.B.I. Director William Sessions and “The Fonz,” Henry Winkler.

Campus Life Coordinator, James Parker, said bringing in Saperston, as a result of student recommendation, shows the power and influence the student body has in shaping programs during their college experience.

“When you have the opportunity to do something that students are pulling for, it speaks volumes to the potential of the program,” Parker said. “Students know what can be impactful in shaping and changing their lives.”

Neguse, a sophomore sociology and biology major, said the most appealing thing about Saperston is that he showed it is okay for people to step out and make their own path, rather than “conform to the mold.”

“(He demonstrated that) to be a leader of your own life, you have take the initiative and find the meaning of life and why you do the things you do,” Neguse said.