“The Day Keeper,” screening this week at Massachusetts’ Woods Hole Film Festival on idyllic Cape Cod, is as Woods Hole as a movie can be: It is not only built around a Woods Hole landmark, but comes from two collaborators, Mark Kiefer and Steve Young, who first crossed paths at the Woods Hole Film Festival.
The film, a mockumentary built off an improvisation by Young when he and Kiefer visited Woods Hole’s Nobska Lighthouse, arrives at the festival fresh off a successful screening an Indianapolis’ Indy Shorts Film Festival. It profiles the keeper of a lighthouse — played by Young — who only works the day shift. Why this is odd becomes quickly apparent.
Kiefer, an award-winning Boston-based writer and filmmaker, debuted his feature film Pacific Coast at the 2023 Woods Hole Film Festival, and has previously shown his short films at the Nantucket Film Festival, Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival and Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, among other festivals. He is now developing a period feature drama called The Approaching Storm, a true story about a pacifist Quaker living in Nazi Germany.
“The Day Keeper” reflects his love of Massachusetts history: He has long been involved in historic preservation efforts and serves as chairman of the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission, the official regulatory body of New England’s oldest historic district.
The film, directed by Kiefer and starring Young, plays Tuesday at Woods Hole as part of the festival’s “Spirit of Massachusetts” shorts block. The festival runs through Saturday. We emailed with Kiefer about improvisation, exerting better control over sets with green screen, and the Massachussets film scene.
MovieMaker: Can you talk about how you and Steve Young met?
Mark Kiefer: Steve Young and I met a few years back at the Woods Hole Film Festival when we both had films screening there, and have been friends ever since. We’d been talking for some time about collaborating, and “The Day Keeper” reflects the fruits of that conversation.
MovieMaker: What was the initial spark for this film, and how did it evolve?
‘Day Keeper’ Director Mark Kiefer on a Fateful Woods Hole Day Trip
Mark Kiefer: During the 2023 Woods Hole Film Festival Steve and I visited the lighthouse, ostensibly to take some still photos, but while we were there Steve improvised the character of the lighthouse keeper, and we wound up recording some of it on a phone. Then earlier this past spring Steve was scheduled to be back in Woods Hole for a performance of his live show as part of the festival’s off season program – I planned to come to Woods Hole for that, and suggested we might try to shoot something while we were both there.
Steve agreed, and after some further conversations we decided to turn that initial idea we’d sketched last year into a short film. We then drafted a script and set to work building the visual world (costumes, sets,, locations, etc.) that would eventually become the finished film, shooting it over a weekend in March.
MovieMaker: What importance does Woods Hole have for you?
Mark Kiefer: This will be the fifth film I’ve screened at Woods Hole, and I spent my summers as a child on Cape Cod, so suffice to say it’s a very special place and a very special festival for me. Steve likewise has screened three films at Woods Hole before, and since our film is set in Woods Hole and we met at the Woods Hole festival, it’s quite important to both of us.
MovieMaker: Can you talk a bit about the main lighthouse location and using green screens to supplement your shots there?
Mark Kiefer: The lighthouse featured in the film is the historic Nobska Light in Woods Hole, a favorite local tourist attraction that’s well known to Woods Hole Film Festival filmmakers. It is still a working lighthouse, though it’s now under the care of a great local nonprofit called Friends of Nobska Light which led a large scale restoration effort and now maintains the grounds and buildings.
All of the exteriors and the interiors in the “lantern” (the top of the lighthouse) were done practically, as was the basement sequence, but all of the other interiors were done as virtual sets using green screen composites. This allowed us to create highly detailed bespoke sets like the keeper’s office and the Coast Guard office in Washington, D.C. very economically, and have much more control over lighting conditions.
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MovieMaker: How do you feel about Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse?
Mark Kiefer: I think it’s a very unusual film but I love its visual aesthetic, and it makes great use of setting as character. Though a very different genre and shot in a very different style, that film was very much an inspiration in certain respects. The lighthouse keeper’s uniform in our film, a replica of those worn by U.S. Lighthouse Service keepers in the early 20th century, was taken directly by that film, as was the font used in our titles.
MovieMaker: How do you find the Massachusetts film scene? What are the advantages and disadvantages for indie filmmakers?
The stable of both actors and crew here in Massachusetts are very passionate and very dedicated, and I find the can-do spirit that comes from learning how to work with limited resources very refreshing. Of course we don’t have access to the sheer number of professionals in New York or Los Angeles, or the related funding sources, but at the same time the more limited set of opportunities makes the culture more collaborative than competitive — people really do want to help each other — and the smaller community makes it easier to find talent and build connections.
MovieMaker: What’s next?
Mark Kiefer: We’ll be screening at the Mystic Film Festival next month, then in Tucson in October, and we’re still waiting to hear from a number of other festivals. And hopefully this will be the start of many successful collaborations!
You can learn more about the Woods Hole Film Festival, including screening details, here.
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