Lorain's own `Beneath the Light' to debut Sept. 6

LORAIN — Anticipation is building for the supernatural thriller film "Beneath the Light" that is set to premiere Sept. 6 at the Lorain Palace Theater. The movie, directed by Lorain native and veteran filmmaker John Baumgartner, was shot on location in Lorain in the fall of 2023 with a mix of Los Angeles-based and local actors. Its biggest star, arguably, might be the iconic Lorain lighthouse itself. The storyline revolves around Jacob, a young man who returns to town following the death of his mother and takes a temporary job fixing up the lighthouse. Finding himself alone in the building with no means of leaving and the onset of grief, he is haunted by memories of his childhood friend, the daughter of the lighthouse's owner — or perhaps by the girl herself. The film's trailer was released online July 10 and immediately drew an enthusiastic response. It's already racked up more than 51,000 views and more than 630 shares from its Facebook page alone. Without any advertising, the YouTube trailer is also drawing hundreds of views. "Which is pretty great for not telling a single person it's there," Baumgartner said. "It's taking off. People are searching it out." Baumgartner initially wrote the script during COVID, when he relocated back to his childhood home in the Lakeview South neighborhood from Los Angeles to take care of his ailing mother. He'd spent more than two decades writing and directing in California by then. "I was stuck for three months in the house. I thought, 'I should write a movie while I'm doing this, and I wanted it to be here in Lorain, and I thought 'Oh my God, the Lorain Lighthouse. It would be so cool to make a film centered around the lighthouse." The idea started firming up when he approached Ron Mantini, then president of the Lorain Lighthouse board of trustees, to ask if it could be used for shooting. "He right away tells me 'I knew your dad.' I love small towns. That's when I thought this is a real thing, this could happen." Within a year he consulted another local contact with experience in screenwriting, Dr. Cindy Seng of Amherst. Baumgartner initially consulted with Seng, a psychiatrist, on a few plot points involving mental health conditions, and they'd collaborated before on other projects. It ended in a partnership. Baumgartner asked Seng to write a novel from the script, and the two spent months reworking and fine-tuning both the script and the novel at "script camp." Seng, who taught herself screenwriting after realizing that some of her favorite shows could use the insight of a trained psychiatrist's knowledge of behavioral patterns, also took on producing the movie, something she's never done before. "I can't recommend more the luxury of having a complete novel written of your screenplay. She wrote all this backstory and nuance," Baumgartner said. Seng and Baumgartner both laugh at Seng's attitude with each step of the process: "How hard could it be, right?" Seng said. "It was harder than anticipated, I'll say that. But it turned out so well. The cinematography was great, the way John edited the film is just fabulous. He brought me in on pretty much every aspect. In many ways I had no business being involved, and he appreciated my organic eye and genuinely listened to me. He was very gracious about getting input, and I learned so much through the process." The film's three main characters were cast by its LA-based casting director, and a few other roles were handled by a Cleveland casting counterpart. Baumgartner recruited crew both locally and from California, and investors were lined up to finance the project. The 95-minute movie cost less than $1 million dollars. It will debut in October on all streaming platforms, with the intention of attracting an exclusive contract with a service like Netflix. The shoestring budget made ingenuity the mother of invention regarding the movie's set. "You can do things fast, cheap or good, pick two. So we did cheap and good, which would not be quick," Baumgartner said. He rented the upstairs of the now-closed Union Town Provisions restaurant on Broadway for the movie's offices and created the interior of the lighthouse, its living quarters, through movie magic. The creepy 'basement' of the lighthouse was shot in the basement of the Palace. Walls were painted to look decayed, staircases and miniature lighthouses and a fake heron were built, props were scavenged online and through open appeals. Like with investors, Lorain showed up and showed out, he said. "People would message me 'I have old rusty tools, I'll leave them on your porch,'" he said. The movie's website posted ways to support the movie, including sponsoring hotel rooms for cast and crew and an Amazon wish list of needed supplies, in exchange for a posted credit at the end of the movie. "My living room was filled with packages; we got thousands in donations. Ninety percent of the funding came from Lorainites or former Lorainites," he said. "That was one of the most heartening moments of the whole process, to see tangibly how the city and community supported the film, and me. This has been a lifelong dream." When they could only afford to "dirty up" one corner of the lighthouse, they added the rest of the building's 'disrepair' through CGI. The breakwall that reaches from the shore to the lighthouse was digitally altered to make it impassable by foot to reach land; when police boats were needed in the shot, computers added logos on their sides and the color of their search lights were changed. That was Seng's favorite day on set. They were filming at the lighthouse, and planned to return to shoot the finale the next day, when Seng realized the weather wasn't going to cooperate. It already had been held up a month due to weather, and the entire project had been delayed because of the Screen Actors Guild strike. "The finale was highly coordinated. It was a big deal, with drones, police boats and all that. I realized we were going to have to shoot the finale that night. I have to get the drones, boats, personnel, wardrobe changes all together or we might not get another chance. I broke that to John and said, 'Don't argue with me, I'll get it together, but we have to do this now.' And I did it and it was very satisfying." Baumgartner edited the movie in his Lorain home, recording sound effects in his back yard, at the lighthouse, in his basement. A bit of dialogue in the film is lifted from a real-life conversation he had as a youth, when a family friend broke the news to him about the death of his beloved grandmother. It's fitting. At 10 years old, Baumgartner recalls, he was walking home from his grandma's house when he realized his future. "I remember stopping in my tracks and thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm not a magician! I'm a filmmaker.'" Contact Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com. For information, the novel, or an interactive game based on "Beneath the Light," visit beneaththelight.net.