Old Town teen’s film to air on public TV

OLD TOWN – Maine Public Broadcasting will show a film by Matthew Tyler on “Maine Independents” at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, on public television stations Channel 12 locally, or Channel 13 on Adelphia Cable.

The filmmaker, a senior at Old Town High School, did the photography and editing, and also incorporated music into the 40-minute fictional drama “The Sebastian Conspiracy.”

The subject of the film is a political scandal involving an oil company allowed to drill in a forest.

Co-stars of the film are Kyle Noonan of Old Town, now a freshman at the University of Connecticut, and Laura Amar-Dolan, a senior at Old Town High.

Other cast members, all from Old Town High, are: Mitchell Wark, Jason Tilletsen, Jessica Paul, Banton Foster, Gus Voyer, Travis Bulay, Ryan Libby, Anna Tyler, Camden Gould, Greg Greenman and Ben Zmistowski.

Saturday’s program will include interviews with Tyler, Noonan and Amar-Dolan.

The film premiered last summer at Old Town Public Library.

Tyler earned second place in the 24th Maine Student Film & Video Festival for his 16-minute film about the Cuban missile crisis, “The Brink of War.” Last August the Old Town City Council honored him for that award.

Future programs on “Maine Independents” are:

. Jan. 19, a documentary about Eastport, produced by “Accompany.”

. Jan. 26, “The Bowdoin Expedition,” produced by Brenda Jepson, about a group of students from the Maine School of Science and Mathematics.

. Feb. 2, the Maine Film Office, which works to bring feature film productions to Maine.

For information on “Maine Independents,” call 783-9101.