You Must Be This Tall: The Story of Rocky Point Park
Come with your family - Come with your friends - It's the Rocky Point tradition - Because it's summertime again! The park's old jingle really said it all.
Since 1847, New Englanders flocked to a beautiful spot along the Atlantic Ocean, for a game of Sunday baseball, for a picnic, for a music concert, or to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl. In 1996, the rides were sold off and the park was closed.
In 2007, all the buildings were demolished. Rocky Point Park was gone, but not forgotten. You Must Be This Tall: The Story of Rocky Point Park is the story of this once great amusement park told entirely by the people who lived there, who worked there, and who spent every waking moment of every summer at the park.
From Babe Ruth to George Bush, from the first Presidential phone call to a devastating hurricane, You Must Be This Tall captures all the memories left behind at Rocky Point, leaving future generations with a visually-stimulating reminder of the way things were.
When to watch:
There are no upcoming airings of this program
About the Director
Emmy award–winning filmmaker David Bettencourt is a born storyteller who believes that documentary filmmaking is as much about raising awareness as it is entertainment. As Co-founder of A Tree with Roots Music, a non-profit organization dedicated to the celebration and preservation of song, Bettencourt has had the opportunity to travel the world documenting its culture and customs. In sharing these stories and traditions, he hopes viewers will gain greater global perspective while also connecting to the universality of the human experience.
Bettencourt recognizes that interesting and impactful stories are everywhere. Sometimes in your own backyard. The native Rhode Islander is endlessly inspired by the people and history of his home state, having earned accolades for his Rhode Island themed documentaries: You Must Be This Tall: The Story of Rocky Point Park, It’s a Bash! and Behind the Hedgerow.
Bettencourt earned his MFA in Cinematography and Film/Video Production at Boston University in 2001 and went on to teach film studies and documentary filmmaking to a new generation of storytellers. Bettencourt encourages filmmakers to shine a light on topics they are passionate about by simply picking up a camera and making a movie.