LEWISTON — For two hours Friday afternoon, Todd Nilssen stood in the back of the The Dolard & Priscilla Gendron Franco Center’s screening room and watched people watch his film. It was the first showing of “The Last Stop,” Nilssen’s just-finished documentary about the controversial Elan School for troubled teenagers in Poland. He was stressed, […]
Elan
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Elan documentary added to Emerge Film Festival
LEWISTON — Emerge Film Festival has added a last-minute screening of “The Last Stop,” a new documentary about the controversial former Elan School in Poland, to its roster next week. Festival President Ramsey Tripp announced Friday that it would be showing Friday, April 28, at 12:30 p.m. at the Franco Center. New York filmmaker Todd […]
advertisement
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Livermore Falls Advertiser, Maine
Families vent frustration at Maine’s cold-case unit, push new victim’s rights bill
AUGUSTA — In 1980, a dog found Wanda-Jean Mitchell’s head in the woods in Poland and brought it home to his owners. A police search party found her body two days later. The teen had been missing nearly a year, since the day before her 15th birthday. She’d run away from home. Sheila Simoneau said […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
State police: Elan student’s death investigation continues
Seven months after opening an investigation into the sudden death of an Elan School student back in 1982, police said this week the case remains open and active. Pam Newell, that student’s sister, is ready for answers. “I don’t have any,” the Lewiston woman said. Newell’s brother, Phil Williams Jr., was 15 when he died […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Police say investigation into Elan student’s death nearly complete
Nearly 34 years after Elan School student Phil Williams Jr. was buried in an unmarked grave, his sister Pam Newell and their father this weekend visited a headstone bought for him by strangers through a GoFundMe campaign. “It was closure for us, partially,” Newell said Monday. “I tried to climb in the grave with him […]
Posted inMaine
His family asks: What really happened to Phil at the Elan School?
For 33 years, Pam Newell thought her brother died of a freak brain aneurysm while he was a student at the infamous Elan School in Poland. Two weeks ago, a stranger turned up and told her there’s something she should know.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
N.Y. filmmaker focuses his camera on Maine school for troubled teens
New York filmmaker Todd Nilssen is in the final stages of a two-year effort to produce a feature-length documentary on the notorious Elan School for troubled teens. He’s a former student who says he’s not concerned about whether it will be hard for some people to watch. It probably will be. Nilssen, 28, said that […]