It’s been just about a year since the cameras stopped rolling on the French film project, “Return to Cabot Cove,” starring local residents as characters based on those from the “Murder She Wrote” TV series here in the States.

You’ll recall Boothbay Harbor was selected for the shoot because director-writer Christophe Herreros thought the town closely resembled Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove. Filming took place between Sept. 26 and 30.

Christophe and his production crew returned to Paris in early October 2016 after filming at Ocean Point, the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor, the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, The Blue Heron Inn, the Boothay Common and a private boathouse on the harbor.

I caught up with Christophe and his partner, project assistant and interpreter Charlotte DuFranc, in Paris via What’s App, July 19 to see how the project was progressing.

The local troupe of actors – Alison Butterworth (as Jessica Fletcher), Bob Jacobson and shih tzu See-See Jacobson, Katie Scattergood, Grant Giles, Diane Randlett, Police Chief Bob Hasch, Police Officer Larry Brown, David Butterworth, Chris Gleason, Joanna Breen, Laura and Phil Chapman, Heather Casey, Anna Christina Rogers, Sallee Glaesner, Kayce McDaniel, Deborah Anne Cotter, Sierra McDougall, Tali Gosselin, Howard Wright and students in Mary Miller’s drama group at Boothbay Region High School – should be happy to know Christophe began editing the project in February.

Christophe has edited the scenes in the gazebo on the Common and at the library – two down, four to go. Once this has been completed, he will work with a professional film editor and professional sound people. Charlotte added that there is still a lot of work to be done with sound, sound design and sound editing.

There are two challenging aspects in creating the finished product: Connecting the scenes and making a decision about the presentation of “Return to Cabot Cove.”

When they arrived last year, Christophe planned to present the short film as an installation with each scene projected onto its own large screen. All six scenes would be shown simultaneously in art spaces. The challenge for Christophe is to get the rhythm of the looping (playing continuously) right and find a way to connect the scenes.

“To link the scenes, Christophe is planning to add more images based on his memories of what he experienced in Cabot Cove … eh, in Boothbay!” said Charlotte laughing. “He did not get enough of them when we were there. So the (additional) images, probably in 3-D, will be of the sea ... a sailboat entering the harbor ... the village and shoreline.”

Each scene has its own set of hidden clues about a murder. As viewers walk around the exhibition space, they interpret those clues – but not necessarily the same clues (intriguing, no?) – and make up their own story.

“Not everyone has the same reading; it all depends on when they enter the exhibition space as the film scenes are looping,” explained Charlotte. “The idea is that everyone can create their own fiction film based on their experience.”

What’s really complicating matters is deciding if he wants to stick with the original presentation idea or put all the scenes together and make “Return to Cabot Cove” into one video.

“I am very happy with what we shot in Boothbay,” Christophe said. “I show(ed) the gazebo scene to friends and to art critics. They said the product was great and they want to see more!”

The filmmaker also has a novel in the works about “Return to Cabot Cove,” that he began before he and the film crew arrived last September. A thriller, the characters are equivalent to those in “Murder She Wrote,” and, since completing the filming here, there are references to the Boothbay region and people he met here.

“When we came back (to Paris), Christophe added more details about the landscape and the people into his novel mixing Cabot Cove and Boothbay … just like I was doing. Sometimes the line between fiction and reality is blurred. In Boothbay he cast people, and who they were (their identities), and fictionalized them, in layers. For us, everyone has something fictional about them; the line between fiction and reality is very thin.”

In addition to the novel and editing “Return to Cabot Cove,” Christophe has been working on other film projects … and preparing for parenthood. Yes, the couple are expecting their first child in late October.

Charlotte said the “Cabot Cove” project will probably take another year to complete, and they still plan to show the finished project in Boothbay – hopefully at the Opera House – but whether it will be presented as an installation or one short film, only time will tell.