East Greenwich Roots Helped Filmmaker Kevin Morra On Path To Adventure

EAST GREEWICH, RI—Growing up in Warwick and then East Greenwich, Kevin Morra lived within a bike ride of the Odeum. He's been working in Hollywood for the last several years, but this weekend, he's back at the Odeum with a film set to premiere on Saturday, as part of the Rhode Island International Film Festival. His film, Finding Fronsdal, is part tribute, part adventure and part inspiration. It's being screened at 4 p.m.

"It's for people who have endured, or are enduring," he said. And the movie, which is a documentary, also has some scenes (shot in 16mm or 8mm film) showing East Greenwich and Bonnet Shores back in 1977 and 1978.

Morra had been working on Reality TV shows in Hollywood and advancing as a producer when his Dad died. The loss hit him hard.

"I felt his passing, his absence, to the depth of my soul," he allowed. It didn't seem possible to go back to Hollywood and continue with the same type of commercial projects. He wanted to do something meaningful, he said. He found out about an 85-year-old physicist whose age and other qualities reminded him of his Dad and started a project, backed by the American Association of Retired Persons, to produce a documentary about Christian Fronsdal, the physicist. So, the adventure began. Morra and Fronsdal were supposed to meet around Aug. 15 on a small atoll in French Polynesia called, Fakarava.

Not too many people know Fakarava. But Fronsdal, who was sailing by himself from Panama to French Polynesia over the course of several weeks, suggested it. Then, just before Morra was set to leave for Polynesia, all communication from Fronsdal stopped.

What to do?

He called the AARP and let them know he wanted to go forward anyway but could not guarantee Fronsdal would show up.

"It was a true adventure" at that point, he said. "I didn't even have a story." But the AARP was game, and the quest to find Fronsdal attracted others who came along and offered to help.

The film tells the story and answers the question how it all turned out. For tickets, click here.

Morra knew he wanted adventure after college. He had traveled around the world and couldn't imagine working in a cubicle.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that," he said. But it wasn't for him. He played rugby in Europe after he graduated from George Washington University, and then his brother, PJ, suggested he come out to Hollywood. He found work at MTV and quickly advanced from a production coordinator to a producer when reality TV exploded. He was in the right place at the right time, he said. Morra has produced and directed TV shows, such as Top Chef, Man Caves, The Henry Rollins Show and Project Greenlight. He's been nominated for an Emmy. But this documentary is a new chapter for him.