Neptune” caused a splash with viewers and critics at the prestigious Slamdance Film Festival.

This is how a Maine-made film becomes a hit: Its actors strong-arm people into buying tickets.

Bill McDonough, who plays the lobster boat captain Herb in the movie “Neptune,” was roaming the grounds of the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, last week. As he came upon people waiting in line to buy tickets to another movie, he handed them a postcard promoting “Neptune.”

“I explain it’s an all-Maine crew with an all-Maine cast,” he said. “Everything Maine.”

Those personal tactics seemed to work. “Neptune” generated buzz and glowing reviews at Slamdance. It was among the most talked-about movies at the festival, which began in 1995 as an alternative to the higher-profile Sundance festival. The two festivals occur at the same time in the same city. Slamdance targets emerging filmmakers and low-budget films.

“Neptune” is both. It is director Derek Kimball’s first full-length feature, and his budget was about $37,000.

It tells the story of young Hannah Newcombe, who lives in an island community and is being raised by the local priest. The movie turns on the death of Hannah’s classmate, who disappears into the ocean. The movie is a meditation on grief and the coming of age.

Critics praised the performance of 17-year-old Jane Ackermann, who plays Hannah. They also loved Kimball’s film-making skills, his cinematic eye and the soft rhythm of the film.

As McDonough told anyone within earshot, it’s an all-Maine film, with actors who routinely perform on Portland stages: Tony Reilly, Christine Louise Marshall, Dylan Chestnutt, Maureen Butler and McDonough, who grew up in Kennebunk and began shaping his acting skills as a member of the Originals theater company, which performs at the Saco River Theater in Buxton.

It was filmed in Harpswell, South Cushing and Cape Elizabeth, and shows Maine as a beautiful and often haunting landscape, populated by complicated, quiet people. It debuted in Portland in spring 2015 and has been making the festival rounds. The Slamdance exposure is its biggest splash.

The movie didn’t win the big awards at Slamdance, but already the film has exceeded McDonough’s expectations. In his dreams, he hoped for a platform like Slamdance, but he never expected it.

“I knew it was a beautiful film, based on the way we filmed it and the clips that Derek would send me. I was hoping it would go places, because a film like this should be seen. But maybe I am jaded in my old age,” said McDonough, 45. “But out of the blue, I got a call – ‘We’re going to Slamdance. Want to go?’ ”

MAINE POSES CHALLENGES

The success of “Neptune” underscores the challenges of making movies in Maine. Kimball shot the movie over three years, chipping away as he and producer Allen Baldwin raised money to keep it alive. That meant actors would shoot for a few days at a time, then get called back months later when more money was available.

That’s especially challenging when working with someone as young as Ackermann, who started the project when she was 14 and finished when she was 17. Kimball had to account for Ackermann’s physical developments. Marshall, who plays Herb’s wife and the mother of the boy who dies at sea, complained about not fitting into her costume, one year to the next. “I gained weight. Trying to put that costume on, that was a lot of fun,” she said, laughing.

Months – sometimes a year – between shooting is the compromise of working in Maine, Kimball said. It’s about piecing things together, working around schedules and making do. “People who make films in Maine grow up with that struggle. It becomes part of your skill set.”

The question is, what’s next? Baldwin said the Slamdance experience offers great hope but no guarantee. The best outcome would be landing a distribution deal, so the movie can be seen widely.

“Slamdance IS a big deal, as far as festivals go. But it’s not a golden ticket,” Baldwin said via email from Utah. “There will always be a responsibility for us to forward our own agenda, especially in Maine. Our film community has known for years that we have all the talent and skills to produce great work right in our home state, and that hasn’t changed. We still all know that. Ideally, ‘Neptune’ will just draw a few more eyes to that work. Because Maine still has movies to make.”

SUSTAINING THE MOMENTUM

His goal is sustaining the buzz of Slamdance. That means securing distribution to ensure the film continues to get screenings. The internet buzz that elevated “Neptune” last week was real but also calculated. Baldwin and his team hired a film festival publicity company, Big Time PR in Los Angeles, for their Park City adventure. They did a great job getting Kimball and Ackermann in front of cameras and in the news.

“But next week, we’re back on our own,” Baldwin said. “If we do get some kind of distribution deal, much of the promotion will be handled by the distribution company. But these days, it’s definitely expected that the filmmakers continue to advocate for the film beyond the sale. And since almost any distribution deal we could possibly land would include a percentage of the profits, it’s in our best interest to do so.”

Baldwin said “Neptune” has been accepted into several other festivals, which will be announced soon. It will live on, distribution deal or not.

Plus, he said, they have another film in the making. “We don’t want this brief moment in the spotlight, however small it is, to go to waste,” he said. “So we are trying to use it to build a base of connections and resources that will make sure the next film does even better.”

Timothy Rhys, editor in chief of MovieMaker magazine, said it’s hard to predict what will happen to “Neptune.” Critical reception and commercial response have little to do with each other. That said, “Neptune” is off to what Rhys called the “best possible head start a film could have.”

“Slamdance is extremely well respected,” Rhys said. “It’s a coveted festival to be accepted into, and then to get the bounce that ‘Neptune’ is getting, that’s what you hope for.”

It could also launch a larger career for Kimball, a Maine native who taught in New York and returned to Maine to make movies. As writer-director, he has shot several short films and won many awards. He is founder of Last House Productions, which made “Neptune.”

Back home in Maine, the “Neptune” cheerleading section is growing loud.

Marshall wants people to see the movie because she loves the way Maine is portrayed. Kimball made his movie with a stillness and “loving gaze” that makes Maine so visually arresting.

“We live in a beautiful place, and that really comes through in this movie,” she said. “We filmed one scene in a field in Cape Elizabeth looking over Higgins Beach and the cove. It was so beautiful I could have stayed there forever.”

” ‘NEPTUNE’ WILL HELP ALL OF US”

Daniel Noel, another Portland actor, did not appear in “Neptune” but has followed its Slamdance exploits, posting reviews on Facebook. He appears in another coming-of-age ocean movie, based and filmed in Maine, “Anatomy of the Tide.” Also a full-length feature, “Anatomy” has screened in Maine and at festivals in the United States and abroad. He’s waiting for news about a distribution deal that will allow the movie to be seen widely.

“‘Neptune’ will help all of us,” Noel said. “The reception of ‘Neptune’ is going to make people look at films coming out of Maine differently.”

Tony Reilly, who plays the priest in “Neptune,” said he hadn’t thought about “Neptune” lately because it was filmed so long ago. Much has happened in Reilly’s life since the filming. In December 2014, he was involved in a car-truck accident on the Massachusetts Turnpike that killed his wife, Susan, and resulted in the loss of one of his legs. He spent months in rehabilitation out of state.

His first public appearance when he came back to Maine was the premiere of “Neptune” at the Nickelodeon in Portland. Both he and the film were warmly received, and Reilly has said that evening was among the most emotional of his life.

He’s glad the film is getting attention outside Maine.

“As an actor, you just sort of put it aside and don’t think twice about it after you’re done filming,” he said. “You don’t lay in bed and dream about it being a success.”

Now that it’s happening, Reilly is enjoying the moment – and hoping it lasts.

“I’ll send you a postcard from Hollywood,” he said.

 

 

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