The Bowdoin Orient

February 2, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 14

Tug's new film will float your boat

by AARON ROSEN - SENIOR EDITOR

The fact that Tug Buse will be working next year as a deckhand for a tugboat company in Puget Sound immediately marks him in my mind as one of Bowdoin's most intriguing characters. But, as I discovered in my preparation for this article, Bowdoin's preeminent Civil War aficianado is also one of Bowdoin's most artistic individuals. This Friday and Saturday, at 6:00 p.m. in Smith Auditorium in Sills Hall, Tug will present "Fox Movietone News Unreleased Reel #644," his first venture in 16mm film.
Although it runs for only ten minutes, the film is the product of extended amounts of time and money. The process of shooting in 16mm is demanding, although Tug maintains that the clarity and warmth of the final product more than redeems the amount of effort the medium requires. Moreover, the restrictions imposed by film-it had to be less than ten minutes, silent, and black and white due to budgeting concerns-actually generated the idea for "Unreleased Reel."
Those who were on campus last year might recall Tug's feature length video, "Picked Off." In Tug's current project, he returns to the subject of World War II, again setting his piece in northern Europe. "Unreleased Reel" mimics the flickering, silent black and white films of the period, and it is meant to convey the amateur efforts of two downed American soldiers who find a camera and record messages for their loved ones.
Tug filmed the piece on his family's land in Washington state, where he notes that the coniferous forests approximates a Belgian landscape more accurately than the deciduous and coniferous mix of southern Maine. Filming near home also allowed Tug to cast his high school amis, and even his young cousin Kyle. Fans of "Picked Off" might recognize Tom Lapham and Daniel Schwager, who will likely star in Tug's next film, a rafting adventure story Tug will begin work on this summer.
In addition to "Unreleased Reel," fans of Tug's work can also anticipate the spring screening of his documentary on the period of Reconstruction. Undertaken as the chief component of his honors project, this combination of academic and artistic material is typical of Tug's desire to integrate his historical interests with his aspirations to at least a part-time career as an independent filmmaker.
While endeavoring to make a career in film might seem a bleak prospect for some, Tug is both a realist and an optimist. He states earnestly that "making the film is a success" and fully understands that his passion is very unlikely to make him rich, and will more likely prove a monetary liability.
And yet, despite such assurances that he will cope well with the bohemian existence of the independent filmmaker, Tug's prospects look bright. He has already lined up two "gigs," as he calls them, for next summer. He will shoot promotional videos for Roche Harbor Resort on San Juan Island in the Puget Sound and a Russian lumber company currently doing work in Washington state. With this money, added to wages garnered as a tugboat deckhand, Tug should have enough money not only to subsist, but to support the artistic talents he so amply demonstrates in "Unreleased Reel."

Michael Buse (a.k.a. "Tug") comtemplating his latest film. (Sherri Kies/The Bowdoin Orient.)