I’m thankful for these Maine-made movies and the places that play them

These days it feels like there’s not a lot to be thankful for.

But there is.

I’ve been writing this column, with its mandate to find a Maine movie story each week, since 2010. And while I’ve got plenty of individual, 2024-vintage thanks to go around, the deadline-watching writer in me is indeed thankful that the job has only gotten easier.

That’s thanks to the dedication, creativity and sheer bloody-minded stubbornness that has marked the Maine film industry over the past 14 years. There are more films, more filmmakers, more festivals, more scrappy, independent-minded venues.

Maine isn’t Hollywood, or New York, or even a state with an economic philosophy to encourage film and TV production. (Look below for a big thank-you to those working to fix that.) If you’re making movies in Maine, it’s because you want to, or have to. Thankfully (there’s that word again), experience has taught me that Maine filmmakers – and filmgoers – don’t have to do it alone.

I’m thankful to Maine moviemakers making their voices heard.

This year, I spoke with USM graduate Mariah Larocque, who turned her all-too-real life story of sexual abuse into the bracing short, “Good Morning Sunshine.” The now award-winning film is gutsy and inspiring, particularly in a 2024 America where women are too often disbelieved while their abusers rise in power and prestige.

Same goes for Belfast native Eli Kao, whose cheeky but insightful short “Heritable” asked the deceptively complex question, “Are you a Mainer?” Examining the way that race and perceived “otherness” act to exclude some Mainers from the state’s official narrative, Kao’s film satirizes old ideas about nativism, all while embracing the absurdity.

Meanwhile, fellow Belfast native Jim Merkel’s “Saving Walden’s World” offers up a practical and timely depiction of societies combatting that looming climate crisis the incoming administration keeps telling you is no big deal. It is.

I’m thankful for Mainers keeping the past alive.

There are the dedicated preservationists at Portland’s Kinonik, who lovingly collect, restore and exhibit films on film, the way they were meant to be seen.

There are Maine’s independent arthouse cinemas like Belfast’s Colonial Theatre, Brunswick’s Eveningstar Cinema, Boothbay Harbor’s Harbor Theater, The Strand in Rockland, and The Lincoln in Damariscotta. Like Kinonik, these temples to the movies are run (and attended) by people who care about moviegoing as an experience.

Portland doesn’t have its own arthouse theater any more. (Movies on Exchange St., how we miss you), but here’s to mixed-use venues like Space, The Apohadion Theater and PMA Films for seeking out and bringing the best and the weirdest to us weekly.

And this lifelong video store clerk and aficionado can only give it up to Belfast’s Opera House Video, still keeping the video store dream alive in a streaming wasteland. I salute you.

I’m thankful that Maine-made movies are making waves outside the state.

Maine filmmakers work their industrious, adaptable, ingenious butts off, so I get a jolt of energy whenever I see a Maine-made movie hitting the big time. This year saw successful national releases of “The Ghost Trap” (whose Maine cred stems from its locations and Mainer K Stephens’ source novel), Waldo County indie maverick Matt Enos’ martial arts comedy “Battle Legends: The Legend of the Battle Master” and Billy Hanson’s icy Maine monster-military thriller “Bone Cold,” among others.

Sure, we champion all things Maine around here, but it’s about time the rest of the world starts to recognize as well.

I’m thankful for Maine film festivals who bring the movie world to us.

Speaking of easy, there’s nothing more of a no-brainer than strapping in to write about one of the growing number of excellent Maine film festivals we’re blessed with during the year. I mean, except that these bulk movie experiences routinely feature more great movies – from Maine and around the world – than I can possible squeeze into a single article.

OK, so it’s not easy. But it is a treat to speak to the hard working film fanatics who lovingly curate and run the Maine International Film Festival, the Camden International Film Festival, the Maine Jewish Film Festival, the Maine Outdoor Film Festival, Damnationland, the French language Champlain Film Festival, the Maine Deaf Film Festival, Biddeford’s brand-new Vacationland Film Festival and more. (Pro tip: Always buy the festival pass and then go nuts.)

I’m thankful for Maine lawmakers trying to ensure Maine-set movies are filmed here too.

I wrote in the last legislative session about L.D. 1075, a bill to encourage film and TV production in Maine through tax incentives and other financial benefits. These are the perks that see even good Maine-set movies (like this year’s “Lost on a Mountain in Maine”) mock up more film-friendly states to look like Maine. Meanwhile, Maine gets zero free publicity, no lucrative jobs for Maine professionals, and we have to hear from-away actors sound like they’re from Mars rather than Machias.

So thank you to Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Mattie Daughtry, Rep. Traci Gere, Sen. Henry Ingwerson, Rep. Amy Roeder – keep fighting the good fight.

And finally, I’m thankful for all you readers out there.

Movies have always made me feel like I’m part of a bigger, more interesting world. Writing about movies and coming into contact with people who make, enjoy and read about movies is almost as good. Now get out of the house, support a local Maine theater, filmmaker or venue, and have some fun, you kooks. Happy Thanksgiving.

Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and cat.

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