Films Tell Stories Found Upon Return to Midcoast
By Bob Keyes
Filmmaker D’Arcy Marsh returns to his roots, quite unexpectedly, with a series of short films called “Between the Tides” about the wonders (natural and otherwise) of midcoast Maine.
Marsh, who lives in the Boston area and has won an Emmy for his television work, began making movies when he spent time in Maine as a young boy. He went to camp in Tenants Harbor in the 1940s, and later worked there as a counselor.
He has since gone on to big things in the TV and film industries, and is back in Maine this summer to work on the short-film project.
“Anybody in the film business, when they start making films, they always make shorts, because they can’t afford to do anything else,” Marsh said. “But this was a fantastic opportunity. I have done a lot of other things, but to come back and do shorts where I started, I thought, ‘That sounds like a lot of fun.’ “
It certainly has been – both for Marsh and for the Strand Theatre in Rockland, which screens the films in “Between the Tides” at 5:30 p.m. every Sunday through August. Admission is free.
Theater director Donna Daly said attendance has been strong. Last Sunday, 117 people attended – a very solid number for five films running three to eight minutes each.
The films are also available on DVD, “and we’re selling tons of those, too,” Daly said.
Strand owner Matthew Simmons commissioned Marsh for the project.
Simmons wanted a series of films that captured the essence of midcoast Maine.
He wasn’t looking for promotional movies that extolled the virtues of the midcoast, but serious documentary-style films about life on the coast.
Simmons and Marsh worked together a few years back on a documentary about British explorer George Weymouth.
Marsh has completed five shorts, and is working on another seven. The five total about 40 minutes.
One is “Brown’s Boatyard,” a fifth-generation boat-building outfit on North Haven, whose roots go back to 1888.
“Inferno” captures painter Jamie Wyeth at work in his studio.
“The Ospreys of Rockport Harbor” shows the drama of two adult osprey raising their young.
“Joey” is a brief biography of the great violinist Joseph “Joey” Silverstein, whose presence at Bay Chamber Concerts has endured for many years.
For “Waves,” Marsh filmed, in slow motion, surf crashing on the rocks of Pemaquid Point and Tenants Harbor.
Marsh is shooting everything in high-definition, which means the films are sharp as a tack on the Strand’s big screen.
Collectively, the films offer people who love Maine, and the midcoast in particular, the chance to view their world from a different perspective.
“This has been a lot of fun,” Marsh said. “I have a lot of hopes for these shorts. Obviously, we’re showing them in Rockland now, but I think it would be great to show them in other places. I hope we can take them on the road.”
Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at:
bkeyes@pressherald.com
[Sidebar]
SHOW TIMES
“BETWEEN THE TIDES” airs at 5:30 p.m. every Sunday through Aug. 31 at the Strand Theatre, 345 Main St., Rockland. Admission is free.
ALSO AT THE STRAND
ON AUG. 16, Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney will talk about his work and introduce his latest film, “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.”
GIBNEY won an Oscar this year for his 2007 documentary “Taxi to the Dark Side,” which explores U.S. torture practices by telling the story of a taxi driver in Afghanistan killed in 2002. He also served as executive producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary “No End in Sight” and directed the Oscar-nominated “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.”
THE STRAND will show “Taxi to the Dark Side” at 5:30 p.m. and “Gonzo” at 8 p.m. on Aug. 16. Gibney will introduce each film, and answer questions from the audience.
TO LEARN more about Strand programming, go online to www.rockland strand.com.
Originally published by by Bob Keyes staff writer.
(c) 2008 Portland Press Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.