By Carol Coultas,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Peering across the Androscoggin River toward the Continental Mill, filmmaker Michael Maglaras was seeing more than just a pretty scene on a sunny July afternoon.

From his vantage point on the trestle bridge, the Connecticut writer and director was composing a frame for a documentary on Lewiston artist Marsden Hartley.

“I’m fascinated with him as a painter and a poet,” said Maglaras, who composed the shot with cinematographer Geoffrey Leighton of Durham. “His is a story that hasn’t been told, especially in Maine.”

Maglaras, executive producer Terri Templeton and Leighton had been working all day Friday, shooting the documentary that they hope will bring Hartley to life. The artist was born in Lewiston in 1877, but left at age 14 to receive formal art training in Cleveland. Described as an artistic rebel, he was a central figure in the American Modernism movement, reflecting the havoc of shifting societies in his art. A nomad, Hartley traveled the world, drawing inspiration for his painting, photography and poetry.

Maglaras said Hartley’s work puts him among the three or four most important artists of the first half of the 20th century.

“And he’s a son of Lewiston, so why not?” said Maglaras of his effort.

Maglaras’ 217 Films also produced a 2- hour film on Hartley, “Cleophas and His Own,” that was screened locally in 2005.

But that film was a narrative, based on a fishing family’s loss of their son as written by Hartley before his death in 1943. Maglaras and Templeton decided a classic documentary could reveal the life of the man, and its shorter length would make it more marketable to a wider audience.

“We are looking at markets such as public television,” said Templeton. “It would also be wonderful in educational settings.”

The crew was filming along the river, including a stretch of the lower Androscoggin where Hartley’s ashes were scattered by his niece. They expect to be back to shoot some stills of Hartley’s works, especially at Bates College, which has a collection of his drawings, paintings and personal memorabilia, as well as photos of the artist.

Maglaras said he didn’t expect to make another film about Hartley, but it bothers him that he’s not as well known as he should be.

“I think a lot of people would be interested in him as a writer, a painter, an icon, really,” said Maglaras. “He struggled and he didn’t acquire much fame until after his death.”

“He never had a permanent home after he left Lewiston, you know,” said the director as he hustled to set up the tripod at another spot on the bridge.

Templeton watched him walk off and smiled.

“It really is a labor of love,” she said.

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