WELCOME AND THANK YOU for joining us on the second occasion of a community-wide screening of new works from the Torchlight media studio. This is earmarked as a "works-in-progress" show, but it's a mix of completed works, yet-finished projects, and experiments within multimedia.
In June 2024, the inaugural cohort of Torchlight Creatives—a
mix of students from Belfast Area High School (BAHS) and Belfast Community Outreach Program in Education (BCOPE)—hosted a show at the Colonial Theatre of audio/visual work made between January and May. Now, several of those same students continued working with Torchlight through summer (more internship than 'curriculum'), and now into the new academic school year, after school on Tuesday afternoons in the Youth Multimedia Mentorship. All of this work is made possible through the Extended Learning Opportunity program.
This fall Torchlight partnered with the freshly-minted Dory Learning Center to host an audio/podcast class, which quickly expanded into a podcast and filmmaking class that meets weekly on Monday afternoons. Bridget Matros brought her Waterfall Arts Bridge program to the studio to discuss their video ideas and used some of our production gear just last week.
I'm excited to screen more films than those from our youth in the community; this program is also an attempt to demonstrate the ways Torchlight does and can exist in the community writ large. I was hired to produce film works for area businesses and nonprofits, bringing some of the youth into these production gigs to transmute mentorship into real world work; Eli and Michele are developing and in-production on a documentary about eels; and thus Torchlight is a creative agency and production company for hire, hoping to employ students when they're ready in the future.
Or take Lola May-Williamson: she walked into Torchlight one afternoon, following a stint at Maine Media Workshops, and wanted to volunteer, and has already helped out and will show a documentary she's made recently; Torchlight can have mentors not only come to sessions and present about their work and careers, but also actively spend time training students as a hands-on volunteer. Matthew Porter rented our primary film/video camera to produce a film about a local lobsterman, demonstrating that Torchlight has professional photo, film, and audio equipment to rent for all multimedia makers, community members, and (aspiring) storytellers.
We have dreams of trying to reach more of our neighbors through across Waldo County and the Midcoast; there are youth coming into the studio now to learn—on their own volition—video editing, and there are adults with film and video and podcast projects who want some place and collaborators to help bring those ideas to life. Enjoy the films tonight, and be sure to come by our studio across the street to feel the creativity in Belfast's community media studio.
- CHRIS BATTAGLIA Torchlight Founder
INFORMATION
December 2024 Winter Film Showcase
Colonial Theatre
163 High Street, Belfast, ME 04915
5:30PM
6:00PM
6:30PM
7:30PM
About
Red Carpet
Doors Open to the Public Film Program Panel + Q&A Discussion with Maine Arts Commission
Event Admission
Free, Donations encouraged Open to the general public
Pizza and Seltzers
Are on the house, provided by Torchlight, food courtesy Alexia's, and blame Eli if you don't like the seltzer flavors!
Torchlight is a community-based multimedia arts and production studio in Belfast, Maine.
Mission
Torchlight provides access to production tools and skills, builds long-term sustainability for local public media outlets, creates education and mentorship opportunities, and improves community connection through storytelling and events.
Vision
Torchlight seeks to use media arts as a tool for empowering local voices through storytelling (cultural preservation, oral histories, and countering narratives typically applied to rural or lower income populations), economic resilience (youth workforce development, higher wage job creation in rural areas, training organizations to help tell their stories), and social advocacy (foster civic engagement, encouraging youth to participate in social change efforts within our communities).
Torchlight 158 High Street Belfast, Maine 04915 207-505-0604
torchlightmaine.com
torchlightmaine@gmail.com #TorchlightME
WHO WE ARE
Torchlight is still developing, growing—and for this reason, Chris is the only "staff" member of what is a sole proprietor structured
Media Studio
CHRIS BATTAGLIA
MICHELE CHRISTLE
ELI KAO
Board of Advisors
SOLOMON HEIFETS
LORRAINE JOHNSON
BENJAMIN KEY
SKYELAR MACLEOD
ELENI MURPHY
CAROL TATE
DAVID WESSELS
BAHS + BCOPE Creatives
STELLA HOLBROOK
MARLEY KORMANN
BRANDAN FLOOD
EMMA WITHAM
TRINITY LYONS
ARIEL NEAL
URSULA HOLBROOK
Dory Learning Center
MAVIS HUMMER
JUDE WILLIAMSON-GORDON
OLIVER JURCHEK
ELI NESTOR
FILM PROGRAM
GO Logic
2024 | 6min
This is the story of the Belfast-based design/build company scaling up to meet the growing demand for more housing, more efficiently, more affordably.
Featuring:
Executive Producer: Production Company:
Director, Cinematographer, Editor: Production Consultant, 2nd Camera
Alan Gibson, Alex Giblin, Chelsey Effinger, Jamie Snook, John
Lewandowski, Joe Pearl, GO Logic team
Amelia Tracy
Torchlight Media
Chris Battaglia
Eli Kao
Charles van Kirk
Filipp Kotsishevskiy
Alex Giblin
Marley Kormann
Midcoast Villager [ad]
2024 | 1 min
The Midcoast Villager hired Chris to produce, coordinate, shoot, and edit this piece for their newspaper, with the goal of engaging the Midcoast communities about whom the paper covers between their pages.
Featuring: Executive Producer: Production Company: Director, Cinematographer, Editor:
the elversphere [sample]
2024 | 8 min
Explore the mysterious world of the glass eel trade that spans the globe, science, and fishing industry.
Director: Writer: Producer:
Eli Kao
Michele Christle
Eli Kao, Michele Christle
Proecting the Pond
2024 | 7 min
In 2023, a nickel mining company began exploring the possibility of mining in Union and Warren, Maine. Residents band together to protect their pond.
Director: Crew:
Special thanks:
Lola May-Williamson
Jon Clay
Ben Butera
Jacek Kudas
Will Castellucci
Twiggens
2024 | 13 min
Twiggens is the name of a lobster boat owned by long time fisherman Wayne Canning, of Swanville, Maine. Filmed within the span of three hours, we are invited to spend a day on the water with Wayne and Paul Salo—his sternman—as they haul traps on a late summer day in Penobscot Bay. Esther Martin also stars as a helping hand.
Director, Cinematographer, Editor:
Matthew Porter
Water Safety : The Danger in Your Pipes
2024 | 5 min
Belfast Area High School chemistry class is participating in water quality testing with Dartmouth Labs, exploring what it means for the community, what it means for the students, and to further awareness/access to water safety.
Director, Editor: Cinematography: Sound:
Trinity Lyons Marley Kormann Brandan Flood
Juderman Into the Videoverse [trailer]
2024 | 3 min
Follow Jude as he explores the Videoverse in this knockoff film where the video game characters come to life.
Directed: Produced, Costumes:
Jude Williamson-Gordon Oliver Jurchek
Oliver Jurchek, Luca Jurchek, Jude Williamson-Gordon, Mose Williamson-Gordon, Eli
Concept [trailer]
2024 | 1 min
Teen tries to find creativity within a struggling household. Creativity is not in one thing alone.
Brandan Flood Director, Writer, Cinematographer:
212 Days [traier]
2024 | 3 min
A 17-year-old girl deals with getting unstuck from her past; coming out of grief but not moving on from a person. 212 days is 7 months, the length of ti me she’s getting unstuck.
Director, Writer: Featuring: Cinematography: Location Managers: Original Music:
Ariel Neal
Nina Price, Jayden Langlois
Trinity Lyons, Stella Holbrook, Ariel Neal
Stella Holbrook, Ursula Holbrook
Carolina Chauffe, as performed by hemlock
The Ordeal of the Two-Headed Wanderer [trailer]
2024 | 1 min
Following a young girl through her mental health journey as she treks around her small town to find herself again.
COMMUNITY SUPPORTED STORYTELLING
Torchlight is launching a new program in 2025 and its name harkens the very thing we do at our core: Community Supported Storytelling.
We realize as media makers—deploying professional photo, video, and audio productions into the world—that we live in a unique community that can't always spring for a professional video for their business or charitable work, or have a chance to share their story. Since we operate from the assumption that everyone has a story to tell, our instinct is to give voice to those who don't typically find themselves in an interview or behind a microphone. But there hasn't been a great way (yet) to serve the community in this vision without sacrificing the very work that pays our bills.
Community Supported Storytelling draws from the model of a CSA ('community supported agriculture'), where consumers buy shares of a farm's harvest in advance, providing farmers with upfront capital and consumers with fresh, local produce throughout the growing season. This arrangement fosters a direct relationship between farmers and consumers, promoting sustainable agriculture and community engagement.
Think of all those nonprofits, artists, unsung heroes, and people in our community who don't have marketing budgets to hire a professional outfit to help them tell their story? What if you could help your favorite organization or individual tell their story by buying "shares" to support the creation of one of these videos (that can start at $5,000+ for a 2-3 minute video filmed in a day)? And what if these videos employed and trained local youth, while working with a crew of mentors and working filmmakers?
Well, guess what? Now you can!
Anyone is invited to submit ideas for the 2025 CSS program recipients, and to focus their investment in local nonprofit work by helping amplify their stories with Torchlight. Sponsor the underdogs, the unsung heroes, and let us help tell Belfast's stories together.
What
DONATE
Tax-deductible
Did you know that Torchlight is looking towards becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2025? [We need to fill out and submit the paperwork, if you would like to help us...] In the meantime, Belfast Community Radio, Inc. has generously adopted us under their wing this year, allowing us to make your donations to Torchlight's programming tax-deductible.
Please send checks (made out to Belfast Community Radio) to: 256 High Street, Belfast, ME 04915 ith a memo/note "Torchlight"
BCR's EIN is 36-4861541
Wednesdays 8am-9am
CALLING ALL LOCAL MUSICIANS AND SOUND ARTISTS!
Send your files for airplay on Belfast Community Radio WBFY 100.9 FM-LP! Artists/bands from Midcoast—and beyond—are all welcome!
Have you ever considered producing or reporting for radio, but you don't
Video Still: Todd Buker
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YOUTH MULTIMEDIA MENTORSHIP
Through a partnership with the Belfast Area High School’s (BAHS) and Belfast Center for Outreach Program in Education (BCOPE) Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO) program, Torchlight is hosting and incubating a new youth multimedia mentorship pilot program. Collaboration with area schools to focus on media literacy, creative skill building through storytelling, and workforce development programs are our primary areas of focus.
Through enagement with professionals and volunteer mentors working across media fields, while hosting several high school students throughout the academic year in an after school capacity, Torchlight is striving towards several goals: (1) provide a positive social and productive downtown space for high school age youth in Belfast; (2) respond to the state's call for expanded workfoce development opportunities, creating higher value earning jobs and more of them; (3) fill the void in audio-visual programming at the high school and connecting rural multimedia professionals in the Midcoast; (4) train youth creatives to be contracted workers on film/video/photo jobs when ready; (5) connect area youth with global media discourse and conversations at-large; (6) to empower youth to tell their stories in their voices with tools that will amplify their messages.
MENTORS
Eli Kao
Steven Rea
Bri LeRose
Tiffany Wolff
Murray Carpenter
Tressa
Versteeg
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
In addition to the two weekly during-and-after-school youth programs, Torchlight aims to be an educational resource and site for media and storytelling-related learning experiences—and we relish in the prime, downtown storefront that makes the engagement at street level that much richer.
This year, we piloted this idea by partnering with Maine College of Art and Design's program the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. The program's director, Isaac Kestnbaum, led a weekend Audio Documentary Intensive in July, supported by Eli and Chris, that got participants into new audio editing workflows and out into the field. for place-based storytelling. Along with a collaboration and media sponsorship with WERU Community Radio, these audio pieces have a chance to air on the radio when completed. The weekend culminated in a dinner (prepared by Chris, Eli) that took place in the Belfast City Hall parking lot to get out of the studio, enjoy the warm summer evening air, and ease out of the busy weekend.
Later in summer at the end of August, we teamed up with Waterfall Arts (where Chris used to work, and Michele before him, coincidentally, and Eli is currently a Board member) to lead a full-day Photography workshop as part of the Peggy McKenna exhibit mounted in their gallery. Co-taught with South Thomaston photographer and Penobscot Marine Museum archivist Erin Tokarz, Chris and Erin wove through the exhibition and studios of Chip Barchilon Daley and Annika Earley, then moved downtown to those of Sheep Jones and Kris Engman, to explore portraiture of artists in their studio environments, a lá McKenna and her UNportrait approach.
Torchlight is excited to expand our workshop offerings in 2025; to be an educational and community resource for photo, video, audio, and writing as ways to support storytelling and media making in the Midcoast; and to partner with more institutions!
Do you have a class or workshop you'd like to propose, or want us to facilitate? Reach out, we'd love to hear from you.
AUDIO • PHOTO VIDEO • MEDIA
RENT GEAR PROFESSIONAL
STUDIO
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Belfast American Legion
A/V CLUB
A/V Club is a casual, monthly meetup for folks in media related to photo/video/audio/writing.
At A/V Club, folks of all stripes—from early career to veteran and more established —can expect socializing, time to talk about what you're working on and feedback, and probably...some snacks.
Share works-in-progress, have low-stakes / informal industry dialogue, and build the community of people under the A/V umbrella in Midcoast Maine. If you make work in photo/video/film/audio/writing and are:
•
• looking for a crit group
• wanting space to share and discuss relevant topics
• trying to build out your network of regional filmmakers/audio producers/photographers/writers
...then this is an experiment to service your needs!
In short: a community A/V Club (modeled after other nationwide Radio Clubs). Hopefully, we watch/listen/experience work, meet new folks, and connect.
AUDIO/PODCAST PHOTOGRAPHY FILM/VIDEO
WRITING
Let Torchlight conceptualize, write, produce, coordinate, direct, film, edit, score, and deliver creative, thoughtful, documentary-inspired multimedia storytelling for you.
Erin Tokarz
SPONSORS
THANK YOU
There are too many folks who helped Torchlight this year to name, but thank you to Downshift Coffee and Belfast Community Co-Op for fueling Torchlight in the first half of the year with coffee and snacks/foods for events and in-studio. WERU Community Radio for partnership and support throughout the year, as well as the Belfast American Legion Post #43 for collaboration and connecting communities together. We are grateful for The Civic Standard to come all the way down from Hardwick, Vermont to engage in a wonderful and unexpected collaboration. Isaac Kestenbaum for taking a chance on our little studio that could and having a successful weekend workshop in Belfast with Salt.To Carolina Chauffe for the music licensing in '212 Days,' and for hemlock being the first musician to perform live in-studio for an 8AM radio show this summer—and to Jes who made that very connection come to life. For the Maine Arts Commission who brought the New England Foundation for the Arts to our studio this summer, and for the Hawthorne Theatre and Arts Collaborative in partnering to bring a biannual showcase of media works to the big screen this year. Ken Morris and Charlie Crane and Vic Tredwell at WBFY whose support has allowed us to seek grants and financial support and also host events with great audio equipment. Erin Cochran, Tiffany Wolff , and Alex Seitz-Wald for early development help and communications help. Sara Trunzo for your eyes on grants. Thank you to Pia Walker for helping feed our student meetings throughout the year, to Torchlight partners Derek Yorks and Amanda Battaglia for the oft-unsung praise in keeping families afloat (alive) while mounting this behemoth of a project over many nights and weekends.
Thank you to the many donors who have helped Torchlight with necessary audio/visual equipment, as well as studio furniture and supplies to build furniture, donations and more, including but not limited to: Marion Grahek, Murray Carpenter, Johnathan Fulford, Will Field, Easterly Wine, Kris Engman, Scott Sell, Alexis Iammarino, Alida Field, Valerie Tate, Gary Stuckey, Mike Hurley, Tom YaroShuk, Liza Wheeler, Rob Bywater, Holli Cederholm, Village Soup TV, Artisan Builders, Heritage Timber Wrights, Tim Barker, Lauren Murray, Matt Murphy, Solomon Heifets, Dave Fournier, Belfast Community Radio, Inc., WERU Community Radio, Ned Lightner and Belfast Community Television.
Sincere and final thanks to Liz Ellsworth and Jamie Kruse , who gave this Torchlight program a chance to exist by quite literally opening the door to half of their studio so we could inhabit half of their space. Without them, this program might not have ever existed in this way, and for this we are grateful.
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