September 12, 2018 — More than a year ago, Gloucester filmmaker Nubar Alexanian laid out his airtight case against the rapacious European green crabs for Bruce Tarr and the incredulous state lawmaker had a suitable response:
“There’s a horror movie happening in my district and I didn’t even know about it,” Tarr told Alexanian.
As Alexanian’s new documentary short film, “Recipe For Disaster,” makes clear, the call is coming from inside the Great Marsh, which stretches from Gloucester to the New Hampshire border.
“I live on the marsh here,” Alexanian said Tuesday at the Walker Creek Media studio adjacent to his West Gloucester home. “I fly-fish and fish for striped bass here all season long. I know this marsh really well. Last June, when I first heard about the green crab problem, it was pretty shocking to me. So I just started shooting.”
The nationally honored filmmaker and photographer, with a catalog of cinema and books to his credit, set out to chronicle the extent of the green crabs’ largely unabated invasion into the coastal waters near his home and beyond. And what Alexanian found astounded him.
“In the film, we say there are millions and millions of the green crabs here already,” Alexanian said. “Now I would say it’s billions and billions.”
Alexanian put the finishing touches on the final edit around midnight Monday and only a few audio tweaks remain before the film is set to be screened next Tuesday, Sept. 18, at Cape Ann Cinema & Stage on Main Street in Gloucester’s West End.