Alumnus Documents the Extreme World of Summer Camp

For many people, memories of summer camp last a lifetime—whether because their moms still won’t throw out those painted rocks they made or because they’ll never forget the guitar tabs to that Blink-182 song they memorized for the talent show.

But it is the pride, confidence, and blind loyalty learned through sometimes intense summer camp competition that is the focus of 2007 School of the Arts alumnus Louis Lapat’s new documentary, Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story, screening Saturday at Anthology Film Archives.

The film follows the boys of Camp Ojibwa during the last week of summer, when the campers are divided into 12 teams and compete in a series of competitions ranging from basketball to musical theater. To these kids, nothing matters beyond first place, and second place winners have been known to discard their trophies in the lake.

The film has been a labor of love for Lapat—he used an earlier version of the documentary as his graduate thesis, and has now spent about three years editing 110 hours of footage. Lapat himself attended Ojibwa for four summers beginning in 1990, and appears in the film in animated, autobiographical vignettes. One of the film’s strengths is that the kids treat the camera as if it were another camper, but Lapat notes that this was one of the hardest challenges he faced while making the film.

“There was something very insider about summer camp that made the characters somewhat unsympathetic,” Lapat noted about an early cut of the film. “Kids at camp have their own language. They care about things that people outside of camp don’t care about ... The film had to translate these insider camp ideas into greater universal themes.” Friendship, underdogs, learning to lose—indeed, the lessons that Lapat ultimately addresses in the film can apply to anyone, even if he or she has never set foot inside a summer camp.

Lapat credits his Columbia education for the skill to think as a storyteller. “When I started shooting, I looked for compelling characters,” he said. With advice from his mentor, School of the Arts Professor Eric Mendelsohn, Lapat crafted his story by paring down the footage to focus on just seven characters. “What I found, at least with this documentary, is shooting it was infinitely easier than editing it,” he said.

As for Win or Lose’s future, Lapat hopes to find television distribution and a DVD release. And personally? “I think I’d like to get a job and be told what to do for a few months.”

Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story will show at Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Ave. at E. 2nd St.) this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are free, and popcorn and beer will be served.