Compass Light Productions
Camden, Maine
David Conover
Executive Producer/Director
David Conover was born and raised in a New England family with strong ties to the sea and a tradition of active storytelling. Both grandfathers were amateur filmmakers in the 1920's and 30's. Upon graduating with a degree in comparative religious studies from Bowdoin College in Maine, David worked as a professional seaman—he has extensive experience in the Atlantic and Pacific, which includes two transatlantic crossings in small boats. He spent five years designing and teaching sea courses for kids age 14-18 at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine and in Florida. This was followed by a Master's Degree in Education at Harvard, where David studied moral development and then a second year as a Kennedy School teaching fellow in leadership studies. In 1987, he directed and produced his first documentary, OUTWARD BOUND, which aired on National Geographic Explorer.
David's subsequent early film experiences took him to a river in Kamchatka on a project for Channel 4/PBS, and he also worked on a film about measuring Mt. Everest for PBS NOVA. An additional early project for PBS NOVA introduced him to the changing commercial fisheries, an interest he maintains to this day. His relationship with PBS programming continued with a six-show stint as a producer on the outdoor how-to series TRAILSIDE.
COMPASS LIGHT grew out of David's early work mentioned above, and the studios were moved to the seaport of Camden, Maine in 1994 in order to be closer to the ocean and the stories being produced. The company has now produced over 80 films for broadcast and educational clients. Awards include the National Outdoor Production Award, a Blue Ribbon by the National Educational Media Competition, and a nomination for a National Emmy as Outstanding Director. For several years David also taught documentary film courses at the International Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine.
In 2007, David co-founded BlueMarvel in Rockland, Maine, an aggregator and distributor of the EXPERIENTIAL TV format.
Darryl Czuchra
Producer / Audio
Darryl joined Compass Light in Nov of 2003. His past specialization has been outdoor adventure programming. A native of Connecticut, and a performing musician during his formative years, he eventually turned his creative energies towards visual storytelling. After two seasons of organizing and leading wilderness filming expeditions for the PBS outdoor how-to series TRAILSIDE, he moved to the coast of Maine to help develop another PBS award-winning series, ANYPLACE WILD. As Senior Producer for the 50 episode series, he took the production team into the world’s wildest locations, surviving killer bee attacks in the jungles of Belize, piloting outrigger canoes in the ocean swells off Hawaii, and scaling the lofty peaks of New Zealand’s Southern Alps with Peter Hillary, among other highlights.
In the past few years, he has also produced stories on the world record long distance paragliding flight (TNN & 2003 Banff Mountain Film Festival finalist), and a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC caving expedition into CO2 filled virgin cave passages in Thailand. He spent October 2003 with the US Coast Guard on the Bering Sea, producing 3 hours for Original Production’s highly acclaimed DISCOVERY CHANNEL series on Alaska’s wild and wooly crab fishing fleet.
darrylczuchra@compasslight.com
Josh Povec
Editor / Associate Producer
Josh is responsible for editing and organization of field production. Previously a producer and editor with Chedd-Angier Production Company in Boston, Josh has worked on hundreds of educational media projects around the country. His past work includes interactive museum exhibits and the PBS series SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS.
His passion for story telling, travel and the outdoors has sent him all over the world. Josh has lived in Colorado, Alaska, Utah, Nepal, Japan and most recently New Zealand. His Documentary Arts degree from Colorado College brought him to Nepal where he learned to speak the language and filmed in remote Himalayan villages seven days walk from the nearest road. A Maine native, Josh enjoys daily hikes overlooking Penobscot Bay.
Mish Morgenstern
Production Office Manager
Before joining Compass Light, Mish managed and marketed small businesses in outdoor travel and education in the US and Australia. Her previous lives include photographer, teacher, guide, location manager, deckhand, bungee jump-master and cook. Through her photographs and her work at Compass Light, Mish hopes to bring images of the beauty of the world's water to people of all walks of life and to inspire us all to take care of the waters that sustain our lives, our communities and our planet. She can usually be found with her son and husband - hiking in the hills of the midcoast, skiing, renovating her old house and - whenever possible - traveling on water.
mishmorgenstern@compasslight.com
Sian Evans
Writer / Consulting Producer
Sian has been making documentaries and media projects for twenty-five years. As a producer she has sent crews around the world for 35mm film commercial spots, corporate clients, 50 hours of outdoor science/history shows for PBS, etc. She has produced multimedia campaigns spinning off from a central documentary – coffeetable books, websites, DVDs and traveling exhibitions: “Legacy of Heroes” (personal stories of World War II veterans) and “The Straight Story” (the history of the accomplishments of orthopaedics). She has written and directed an Emmy Award-winning experimental documentary on what makes a sense of home; a 17 min. summary statement on the state of the environment of the world for the United Nations Development Programme and many other films.
In 2003 through 2005, she acted as supervising producer for Barbara Kopple/Cabin Creek Films on “Bearing Witness”, a feature-length documentary on women war journalists in Iraq and on “Mrs. Saddam Hussein”, a development project for A&E in Jordan and the U.K. Working most recently with Compass Light Productions, in December 2006 she finished “Secrets of the Sun”, a one-hour documentary on ancient land-based solar observatories and satellite-based observations of the sun.
Jason Mann
Editor
Jason Mann is a filmmaker and photographer from Rockland, Maine. He graduated from Tufts University in 2002 with a degree in English. His work as a cinematographer has taken him to Mexico, Uganda and Clarksdale, Mississippi.
In 2005, he produced, directed and shot a short documentary, Knockdown, on the life and times of former Squirrel Nut Zippers frontman Jimbo Mathis.
Other credits include work as a cinematographer and editor for filmmaker Monika Navarro on her feature documentary Animas Perdidas (Lost Souls).