Lehigh Students to Premiere Documentary Film About Sands Casino and South Bethlehem

Where Bethlehem Steel once stood now stands around 3,000 slot machines, a poker room and more than 200 table games at the Sands Casino.

A decade after the casino’s opening on May 22, 2009, Lehigh graduate and undergraduate students have created a documentary that takes an in-depth look into the history of the Sands Casino and its relationship with the Bethlehem community.

The documentary, “Betting on Bethlehem,” highlights how the casino has helped revitalize the area and improve economic growth after the loss of Bethlehem Steel, as well as the reaction from the community during the time it was being developed and the community’s current opinions.

After a year of interviewing, recording, editing and marketing, the film will premiere this Thursday, May 2, a few weeks before the casino’s 10-year anniversary. The free viewing will be held from 6-8 p.m at Donegan Elementary School, 1210 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem.

The documentary started as a Mountaintop Summer Experience research project in summer 2018 with Delaney McCaffrey ’19, graduate student Caroline Kelliher ’18, Kari Moffat ’17 ’19G, who were advised by Michael Kramp, director of the film and documentary studies program and associate professor of English.

The idea of a documentary on the Sands started two years ago after Kramp talked to Mary Foltz, professor of English and the co-director of the South Side Initiative, about assessing how the casino has affected Bethlehem since its opening.

Although the project stemmed from Kramp’s idea, Moffat says Kramp emphasized throughout the project that this documentary should be student-led.

“We asked [Kramp] for guidance and what story we should tell, what should we look at first, [and] he was like, ‘this is your project, you can do what you want,’” Moffat says.

Kramp says he wanted the students to take the initiative and have the confidence to pursue their ideas, and he was there to help them “take the steps they want to take as filmmakers.”

During the first few weeks of Mountaintop, the students spent most of their time researching about the casino’s history and what the media has written about it. They looked at local newspaper articles and researched the archives at the Bethlehem Public Library.

The student filmmakers wanted to make sure they were able to get voices from different people impacted by the casino’s development, such as residents, community leaders and Sands Casino representatives.

They knocked on people’s doors to listen to their stories about the Sands and to learn about their reactions when they heard it was going to be built 10 years ago.

“The best part was we immersed ourselves in this network of Bethlehem, and everyone knew each other, ” McCaffrey says. “We would ask the same question about the story to someone, and by the end, we knew all the answers.”

Moffat says it was like a “waterfall effect,” where one person they interviewed would give them a name and then that person would give another, which helped the students get background information and engage with the community. She says it was a collaborative process with people in the area.

“Everyone was excited to lead us in different directions,” Moffat says. “It was exciting for us when we would go out into the community, and we would go into a coffee shop and people would know us and they would wave to us … It was a lot of cool experiences being able to talk to others.”

The students involved in the film include:

Delaney McCaffrey ’19, an IDEAS major studying journalism and computer science and engineering with a minor in documentary story-making, served as a filmmaker.

Claire Silva, a graduate student in English, had a community engagement role.

Brielle Paul ’20, an English major with a minor in marketing, worked on marketing the film.

Donterrius Walker (Amari) ’19, an Africana studies major with a concentration in hip hop, served as a music producer for the project.

Caroline Kelliher ’18, a graduate student in English, served as a filmmaker.

Alexandra Gonzalez ’19, an architecture and design major, served as a graphic designer.

Kevin Kirner ’19G, a graduate student in American studies receiving a graduate certificate in documentary film from Lehigh, was the creator of an accompanying podcast for the film called “The Gamble.”

Jessica Mun ’21, an anthropology and global studies major, had a community engagement role.

Kari Moffat ’17 ’19G, a graduate student in American studies with an undergraduate degree in journalism, was a filmmaker on the project.

Story by Madison Hoff

Images courtesy of Delaney McCaffrey ’19