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Holyoke, MA by Jaime Cornejo, ©RUSTEDfilm2026

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Hello everyone,

My name is Jaime Cornejo. I’m the director and producer of the short documentary RUSTED. I’m a grad student in the IMA Program at Hunter College, living in Western Massachusetts. RUSTED began five years ago and has changed over time. It is now an urgent story about the aftermath of DeIndustrialization and its impact on America’s working class.

RUSTED shares how Holyoke’s working class endured factory closures, layoffs, and lost their culture and identity.

Generations of immigrant workers from Ireland, Germany, Poland, Eastern Europe, Italy, French Canada, and Puerto Rico built Holyoke’s working class and made it a center of the paper industry.

The film must be delivered by December 2026, seven months after I finish my thesis. After filming and interviews, RUSTED is now entering its most intense stage: editing and post-production.

That’s why I’m reaching out for your help now. Please donate to my GoFundMe and become a vital part of finishing RUSTED. Your support means the difference between completing this important film and falling short. I work part-time in a deli just to get by, but every hour away from editing slows progress. These next seven months are critical. I need to pause my job and fully dedicate myself to editing, sound, and final post-production. Without your generosity, I won’t have the income I need to finish.

I started a GoFundMe to help me afford the final months and finish RUSTED the right way.

If you value independent filmmaking and local stories, I hope you’ll help.

For years, I’ve managed nearly every part of this project myself. I’ve commuted between Western Massachusetts and New York City while completing my Master’s. Balancing daily life and telling this story well is becoming harder. My resources are running low, and I must return to the deli. Some days feel overwhelming, but the film must be finished.

The film is in editing. Structured sequences, B-roll, and sound are being developed. Most key interviews are done, and final interviews, as well as narrative connections, are being added. To finish the story well, I need additional time, support, and funding to achieve a successful outcome. Every donation helps complete production and final interviews, editing, sound design, color, and final delivery. Your support lets me focus fully on the film without cutting corners.

Please donate to my GoFundMe today. Even $5 or $10 brings me closer to delivering this film. Your support gives me time to stay in the editing room when it matters most. If you're not able to donate, sharing this post is a powerful way to help. One share could reach someone who cares about projects like RUSTED and wants to support meaningful storytelling.

I just need your help for one final push. Your contribution will directly shape the outcome of RUSTED.

Thank you to everyone supporting this journey and project.

GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/1637ea587

PS: You can find more on its website RUSTEDFilm.com and Social Media: Facebook, Instagram

https://preview.redd.it/o23fckkerm0h1.png?width=620&format=png&auto=webp&s=1198635e1a8355a401af499b87c1f6fc371d2fab

Hello everyone,

My name is Jaime Cornejo, and I'm the director-producer of my thesis documentary, RUSTED. I've been working on this project for the past 5 years, and I'm reaching the point where I need to enter post so I can deliver it by December 2026.

Rusted is a historical portrait of Holyoke—a city frozen in time by the brutal process of deindustrialization. Through the collective memory of its diverse immigrant working-class, the film reconstructs the 1960s and 1980s, when Holyoke’s factories went silent, and the community endured decades of economic decline, disinvestment, and stagnation that continue to this day. I'm trying to draw a direct connection between this collapse and the rise of neoliberal policies that left a path of destruction not only in Holyoke but throughout America's Rust Belt.

This is how the project unintentionally started

About five or six years ago, after finishing my B.A. in Global History at UMass Amherst, I began a historiography project for my Master’s application in Latin American history. I loved the research and reading, but writing was my biggest challenge. As someone with dyslexia, I struggled a lot with this part. English isn’t my first language—Spanish is—so I face these difficulties in both languages, which makes pursuing a career in History even harder.

At that time, I was working as a video editor, a skill I picked up at my first job in the US back in 1999. I started to ask myself why I should spend 5 to 7 years in a field that would force me to face my biggest struggle, when I could use my video editing experience to approach history in a new way. That’s when I thought about pursuing a Master’s in Film or Documentary. In February 2021, just after the pandemic, I found an opportunity at the Integrated Media Arts program at Hunter College (CUNY) in New York City.

I filled out the application forms, but I needed a portfolio. Mine was short because I didn’t have a photography project, which left a big gap. So I started looking for a good camera and began learning about different lenses and cameras.

I bought a used Canon 5D Mark III with a 50mm lens, got permission to enter an abandoned paper mill in Holyoke, and spent half a day walking through the factory taking pictures. By the end of the day, I had a huge collection of photos and found myself drawn not only to photography and cinematography, but also to Holyoke’s history. Without realizing it, the project that started my filmmaking career has now become its foundation. As I keep working on my thesis project, RUSTED, these early photos mean even more to me and help keep me connected to the story as I go through the emotional journey of making a documentary.

Now I’m sharing some of the photos I took. You might have seen a few of them in other posts on the Rusted website, but this is the first time I’m showing them in this way. I hope you enjoy them, and I’d love to hear your thoughts or comments.

Thank you!

RUSTED: What happened to Holyoke's Working Class?, Short Documentary (December 2026)

RUSTED - a fim by Jaime Cornejo (December 2026)