Students film professional documentaries in UMaine Machias course 

At the University of Maine at Machias, students in Alan Kryszak’s film class are not just learning how to operate cameras or edit scenes. They’re tackling nearly every aspect of production for documentaries that reach national audiences and tell stories about real people.

Each semester, roughly 10 students form a crew that helps Kryszak with his professional filmmaking. They rotate between directing, running sound, editing and filming on location shoots. The goal, Kryszak said, is to give students both technical expertise and confidence to work collaboratively in a professional setting.

“My film students don’t make practice videos. They’re real, and the students’ work is what makes them happen,” said Kryszak, a film and media lecturer at UMaine Machias. “From the beginning, they’re a working film crew.”

The documentaries Kryszak’s students have worked on have garnered thousands of online views, been aired by more than a dozen PBS stations nationwide and been featured in the Toronto Short Film Festival. They cover a wide variety of topics, including food insecurity, secrets and rural life. 

“Instead of speaking through my own work, I help people tell stories that have never been heard before. That’s the same experience I want my students to have,” Kryszak said. 

Students receive official production credits and leave the program with professional portfolios that can lead to careers in journalism, media and digital production. Some of Kryszak’s former students now work in video production and editing roles around Maine and beyond. Others continue pursuing independent creative projects using the techniques they learned in his classes.

UMaine Machias student Dana Gonzales recorded b-roll and edited Kryszak’s latest documentary, “Serf’s Up,” which will air in 2026. She said she did not expect a film course to be as interactive or supportive as Kryszak’s class.  

“He made us feel like part of a team,” she said, “not just students doing what the instructor said.” 

A working mother, Gonzales added that she appreciated how Kryszak made space for students balancing other responsibilities.

“He understood that life happens,” Gonzales said. “If I couldn’t be on campus, Zoom was always available. He made sure we could participate no matter what.”

Kryszak said his class is designed to accommodate beginners while still challenging advanced students. Everyone works on the same project together, learning as a team rather than in isolation. He likens his approach to ensemble-based learning, where each person contributes to a shared goal.

“No one’s left alone to figure it out,” he said. “It’s completely for beginners if it needs to be, but everyone learns together.”

‘Serf’s Up’

“Serf’s Up” will premiere Feb. 22 at the Collins Center for the Arts and March 8 at the UMaine Machias Performing Arts Center. Kryszak said the idea for “Serf’s Up” began as a wordplay on “surf’s up” but developed into an examination of modern “serfdom.” He wanted to highlight the growing challenges people face in an economy where wages, housing and opportunity often fail to keep up with cost of living.

“Every generation struggles,” he said. “But this one’s different. The systems people are born into now make it harder to climb out. I wanted students to see that and to help tell that story themselves.”

For Gonzales, the project inspired her to think about how documentaries can shine a light on issues that often go unnoticed.

“Not a lot of people talk about this stuff,” she said. “It made me want to be more involved, knowing that someone would see it and start paying attention.”

Although the semester officially ends in December, Kryszak invites students to continue working on editing and post-production well into the new year. Some return on weekends to polish the film or prepare for public screenings.

“The open invite is always there,” he said. “Come in on Saturday to Torrey Hall and we’ll edit together.”

For Kryszak, that commitment reflects what makes the creative arts program at UMaine Machias distinct. The university emphasizes experiential learning, and the Down East Documentary course embodies that philosophy by combining technical training, community engagement and storytelling.

“These films don’t just teach students how to make movies,” he said. “They teach them how to listen, how to collaborate and how to use their skills to make a difference.”

Story written by news intern Corey Nicholas

Contact: Marcus Wolf; marcus.wolf@maine.edu