Filmmaker to document Barrington White House renovation
Hundreds of people in the Barrington area have come together to support renovating the White House, the 116-year-old building that represents the earliest days of Barrington.
This week, organizers added a Hollywood filmmaker to the list.
Jeff Baustert, who has lived in the Barrington area since 2007, has been making movies and documentaries in Los Angeles since 1987.
On Tuesday, a day before he flew back to L.A. to work on a documentary, Baustert was there, large camera in hand, to film the groundbreaking ceremony.
Baustert said he first heard of the restoration over the Fourth of July, when the village let residents see inside the old place before it was closed for the rehab.
“I'm hearing of people dropping six figures helping this renovation,” Baustert said. “I would love to be able to do that, but this I can do.”
Baustert intends to film all aspects of the project, from the 116-year history of the house, to the fundraising, to what he calls the “This Old House” part of the project — seeing exactly how the work gets done.
Baustert spoke with project organizers on Monday to hammer out some of the details before shooting.
He said he does not know what form the work will ultimately take but thinks he will release short videos for the project's website throughout the renovations in addition to putting together a half-hour documentary.
“Whatever it becomes is what it becomes, but I am going to document it, and we'll see what happens,” Baustert said.
Born in Elgin, Baustert grew up in Minneapolis and moved to L.A. in 1987 to make what he calls “small movies,” including many documentaries. He said moving to Barrington in 2007 has not slowed down his film work at all.
“That business is so decentralized now as long as I can get to O'Hare, I can get anywhere,” Baustert said.
“Whether the films are in Atlanta, Louisiana, Los Angeles, New York, wherever the production is I'm going to go because that's the way the business is these days.”