By Rob Apse, Video Freelance Creative
My history with lighthouses and why I’m making this film…
My first feature documentary, The Last Lightkeepers, was really eye opening to the universe of lighthouses. I say universe over world, because each individual lighthouse has a rich history – the human element – the rescues, the tragedies, the construction and maintenance of these structures, the history that each light experienced over time, there’s really no shortage of stories. And then you parallel all that rich history of the past with modern preservation efforts from individual owners to non-profit groups and communities, banding together to keep the light shining. It’s something future generations will look back on and be proud of these Last Lightkeepers.
The upcoming film, “Wave-Swept,” will shine a bright light on how climate change is endangering our coastal way of life and threatening the well-being of historic lighthouses.
(Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
I knew I always wanted to make another documentary and I kept coming back to lighthouses – I just wasn’t sure of a story. I needed something with urgency that would draw the eyes of others that weren’t completely fascinated with lighthouses. I grew up spending summers on Malden Island, part of Five Islands off Georgetown, Maine. When the January 2024 storms hit the Maine coast, it wiped out the cookhouse on the island. This was a dining hall that had been built generations ago, for members of the island to break bread – share stories across generations.
Personally, seeing that wiped off the map was disheartening, but it revealed something more concerning, that climate change was real. Later that year, I hopped on a quick call with Ford Reiche – he mentioned how he and Bob Trapani Jr, chartered a helicopter right after the storm to assess the damage.
Lighthouses stand on the front lines of our changing climate and are being threatened like never before.
(Photo by Dominic Trapani)
Here, the idea for the feature film, Wave-Swept was born. A companion film to The Last Lightkeepers, Wave-Swept will chronicle Maine’s preservationists and residents sounding the alarm on climate change, as well as the lighthouses and landmarks on the front lines of rising tides. What’s amazing about this film is that it’s going to have user generated elements – meaning the individuals that were brave enough to experience the storm – and the goal of the film will be to experience those moments from their point of view.
If you’d like to support the film, you can visit Wave-swept.com and donate toward production costs. You can also view the film teaser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkmVfBnSN6A
