Rob Banish has won 14 awards at film festivals around the world. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

BETHEL — Rob Banish, creator of the film ‘Two Fridges‘, which included a few shots of Bethel locals, is in the process of creating a new film – this time, a documentary, featuring a family in Bethel.

This family is currently unnamed, as Banish does not wish to reveal the details just yet. However, he has said that this family has “really taken me in and accepted me.” He added, “They’re the closest thing I have to family in 400 miles.”

This is Banish’s first time experimenting with documentaries. “I had never even considered or thought about making documentaries before,” he said. His interest in creating documentaries came from a desire to share the story of this family. “There are certain things that they need help with, and I’d like to raise awareness to their situation,” he said.

So far, Banish has found the process to be far different from creating a traditional movie. He explained, “There’s no way to plan a documentary. There’s something freeing about not knowing what I’m doing and seeing what we get.” When it comes to the process, he said that, “I’m trying to treat it kind of like a research paper.”

He has described the filming process as collecting his data, which will eventually come together into the full form of the documentary. When it comes to structure, Banish is unsure of the exact shape of the final project, but hopes to have a combination of home videos of the family and interviews, with clips taken from his time staying with them.

While Banish comes from New York, he has grown fond of the small town energy of Bethel. “It took some time to adjust to living here, but I came to love it and the people that are here,” he said. “So many towns are missing community and I want to show that community is still out there.”

When it comes to any further details about the film, Banish has been doing his best to keep the specifics of the project under wraps until the filming is complete. He added that, “In Bethel there’s only so many people, and the second somebody sees you doing something everybody knows about it.”

To avoid too much extra input that might affect the documentary, Banish has declined to say which family the documentary is about. At the moment, he plans to finish the filming process this coming summer. Original filming began back in the summer of 2024, which would give him a year’s worth of film to edit together into the final progress. “I plan to do it season by season,” he said. One of his shots includes the first snowfall of winter, which he mentioned hoping to use as a transition into the winter season.

When the film is complete, Banish hopes to show it at the Gem, as well as submitting it to the Outdoor Film festival. This project is currently occupying all his focus, and he says that, “I’m not working on anything else until it’s done.”

However, he has formed an online page called the “Punchout Collective” where he arranges fundraisers and support for projects by other artists. Thanks to time between filming, Banish says he’s “Dedicating all my free time outside of work and this project helping fun and promote other artists and their cool projects.”