BELGRADE, Maine — A dirt road driveway in Belgrade, marked by a post that reads "Lord Lane", has been in Debra Lord Cooke's family for generations. For that reason, it has always held significance in Cooke's personal life, but now, it's connected to her professional life, too.
This is where the independent film "In the Moon's Shadow" (a project Cooke, originally a pre-med major, acted in and produced) begins. The story follows the reunion of two estranged sisters who decide to take on a road-trip from Maine to Nebraska to see the 2017 solar eclipse. It's a message about the importance of staying connected, one that perhaps hits closer to home after a year of isolation brought on by a global pandemic.
"I believe that this film will make people think and maybe make some changes and connect with some of their loved ones," Cooke expressed to NEWS CENTER Maine.
On September 7, "In the Moon's Shadow" will be released to some streaming services. It was picked up by Green Apple Distributors after placing as a "Best Feature Film" finalist at La Femme International Film Festival last summer.
This project has been in the works for years. Cooke says she and director Alvin Case came up with the idea in 2016. Case's brother (a nuclear physicist by day) wrote a screenplay, and the team decided to center it around the highly-anticipated solar eclipse of 2017. They did some research and determined the best viewing spot would be in Scottsbluff, Nebraska -- but the story would start in the Pine Tree State.
"There's no place like Maine," Cooke explained, smiling. "There's no place like Belgrade."
There was another reason for that decision, too. The original funding for the film fell through -- so the team put together a nonprofit to raise some money. The final budget for the film was around $70,000 -- about half of what they had originally anticipated -- which meant the size of the crew was pretty small. The limitations actually worked out in some ways, though.
"We believe in regionalism," Case said about the importance of embracing different places. "We believe that every region in every part of the world has a story to tell that is unique to that region."
That commitment to staying authentic and local was a pleasant surprise to one business -- Castle Island Camps in Belgrade. The owner, John Rice, says Cooke called, saying she needed a lunch location that looked a bit "older". Rice says he and his team were thrilled to help out -- and eventually ended up throwing a cast party.
"I think everyone felt like it was really cool to be a part of something," John explained.
His 18-year-old daughter, Paige Rice, even got to say a few lines when the actress assigned to play a waitress couldn't make it. She says she had done some theater in high school, but working with a director and camera was a new experience.
"I never thought I would get to the level of me going to see the premiere of the movie that I was in a small scene," Paige smiled.
Everything other than the eclipse scenes was shot in Maine. Case and Cooke say that working around a phenomenon like that -- about four minutes and 38 seconds long -- was a unique and challenging experience. Cooke and her fellow actress were watching the eclipse happen in real-time, and Case had to make sure the camera was focused when the sun was directly behind the moon, so as to avoid blowing out the lens.
"An artist's task is to envision what wasn't visual before -- what wasn't heard before," Case explained about the "one-take" opportunity.
"There's nothing like actually being there and experiencing that," Cooke expressed.
Cooke says there will be more information available about where "In the Moon's Shadow" will be streaming soon. She also had a role in the film "The Girl Who Got Away", which is coming out in theaters and streaming starting on August 20.