BBWC Presents 'the elversphere'

Tiny, slimy, vulnerable, and valuable to Maine: the elversphere showcases the American Eel
 
A slippery enigma that lives here in Maine takes center stage in the elversphere, a film and discussion, on October 16 at the Belfast Free Library, 106 High St, in Belfast. The free screening starts at 6:30. It’s co-sponsored by Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition and Shannaghe.
 
Simming across history, oceans, and cultures, the American eel fuels a $20 billion industry here in Maine and faces some challenges, including dams. Eels are so valuable that more than 4,500 people entered 2024 state lottery for a chance to win one of 16 available licenses. 
 
From harvesters in Maine to Asian aquaculturists, and from Japanese unagi experts to scientists on both sides of the Pacific, the elversphere surfaces a web of relations, and offers unexpected perspectives on ecological and societal crises.
 
Presented by filmmakers Michele Christie and Eli Kao, the elversphere is sponsored by Shannaghe, Belfast’s residency for writers, artists, and environmentalists.
Michele Christle is a writer whose work focuses on culture, ecology, and place, and a resident at Shannaghe. After serving in the Peace Corps in Cameroon, Michele earned an MFA in Creative Writing from UMass Amherst. Her writing has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Eater, Insider, Down East, and Cultural Survival Quarterly. Michele has 20 years’ experience working in communications, oral history, teaching, and journalism. In recent years, she’s produced stories for Maine Sea Grant and Maine Audubon, helped facilitate an audio retreat for Out in the Open, and worked as a producer/facilitator for StoryCorps’ One Small Step program through WERU Community Radio. Currently, Michele works with community media center Torchlight Media and as communication coordinator for Atlantic Black Box’s Walk for Historical and Ecological Recovery (WHERE). She serves on the Frankfort Dam Committee and the Maine Community Foundation’s Waldo County Committee. The recipient of a Bodwell Fellowship and residencies at Hewnoaks and Shannaghe, Michele is working on a book and documentary (with filmmaker Eli Kao) about eels.
Eli Kao is a filmmaker and media educator based in Wabanakik, midcoast Maine, where he grew up. Eli has worked mentoring citizen media-makers in the Boston area, and produced TV shows for viewers across the Asia-Pacific region. While living in Taiwan, he worked for one of Asia’s largest factual TV production companies, where he directed award-winning programs for Discovery Networks and the National Geographic Channel. More recently, he worked as a producer for Camden-based Compass Light Productions. He currently works as documentation coordinator for Atlantic Black Box’s Walk for Historical and Ecological Recovery, and with community media center Torchlight Media. Eli attended UnionDocs' 2024 Summer Documentary Lab, and has received grants including a 2023 National Endowment for the Arts grant through SPACE Gallery and a 2022 LEF Foundation Moving Image Fund early development grant for an ongoing project related to eugenics, nostalgia, and archives. Eli is developing a documentary on the multiplicity of relations surrounding the freshwater eel, along with writer Michele Christle. He serves on the board of Waterfall Arts and is a member of the Stories for Change working group of the Nature Based Education Consortium.
For more information about the elversphere: elversphere at proton.me. For more information about Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition, visit www.belfastbaywatershed.org. For the residency: Shannaghe: www.shannaghe.org.