Nantucket Project Opens Sunday Screening To All, Free Of charge

The Nantucket Project is finally back after a two-year hiatus during the pandemic, and organizers have something big in store for island residents.

On Sunday, the Nantucket Project is inviting the entire island community for a free viewing of The Illumination, an award-winning short film on longtime island summer residents and philanthropists Gordon and Luli Gund.

"We consider this the greatest story we have had the honor of sharing at The Nantucket Project," said Daniel Honan, the head of TNP Labs.

Anyone interested in attending should find their way down to The White Elephant on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. to take in the film free of charge (just don't try to park at the hotel!) and celebrate the legacy of Luli Gund, who passed away in March 2020.

As Honan says, The Illumination "is at its heart a love story," and it captures the heartwarming relationship between Gordon and Luli Gund. “I wouldn’t have done anything like what I have without Lulie,” Gund told N Magazine back in 2017.

At the age of 30, Gordon Gund was rendered completely blind by a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa. This loss would have derailed most, but Gund’s condition actually set him on a course of discovery that is now having profound effects in the fight to cure blindness. This story - which is part of the focus of The Illumination - not only illustrates how a person learned to live with adversity, but also how he turned weakness into a strength that’s now changing the future of mankind.

The Gunds have donated generously to numerous Nantucket non-profits over the year, and Luli was actively involved with the Nantucket Conservation Foundation.