Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Indie Film: Feel the love

Valentine's Day film fest celebrates its 'joys and jabs.'

By DENNIS PERKINS

For local filmmakers looking to have their movies shown around the state, there are a growing number of film competitions and festivals from which to choose.

click image to enlarge

Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store

COMING TO LOCAL SCREENS

STATE THEATRE

(statetheatreportland.com)

Monday: BANFF Mountain Film Festival. Skiers! Snowboarders! Saucer-sled enthusiasts! The State brings you this prestigious traveling festival of films from all over the world featuring people strapping themselves to the slipperiest things they can find and trusting that everything will come out OK.

SPACE GALLERY

(space538.org)

Tuesday: "Fake It So Real." Who's up for some 'rasslin? Well, the subjects of this documentary about a ragtag group of aspiring professional wrestlers are, for the most part. Watch this gaggle of wannabe Mick Foleys as they endure pain, debilitating injury, sparse crowds and long odds, all to follow their dream of pro wrestling superstardom.

You've got the 48 Hour Film Festival, the Maine college film festival Film Chowdah, the Portland Maine Film Festival, the Camden International Film Festival, the Maine Jewish Film Festival, the Maine International Film Festival, the Maine African Film Festival and the KahBang Film Festival, just to name a few of the venues where Maine films can strut their stuff.

What more could an aspiring local director want?

Well, how about some cold, hard cash?

On Valentine's Day Tuesday, Geno's Rock Club (625 Congress St., Portland) is hosting the Valentine's Day Film Festival, an appropriately love-centric collection of local short films brought together by the Local Muscle Moving Company (localmusclemovers.com).

Wait, a moving company?

"We knew some people who were underemployed," explains Local Muscle's owner, Jake Holz. "We were musicians, hashers, athletes, artists, all looking for something to grab onto.

"So we thought, if we banded together and took bits and pieces of responsibility, we could form a moving company. It's hard work, but we've continued to grow it with other things we were interested in."

To that end, Local Muscle has done some street theater guerilla marketing around Portland (localmusclemovers.com/extras), sponsors a mobile art gallery on First Friday Art Walk, and now hosts its own film festival.

"We've tried different marketing venues, but didn't feel like we were really connecting with clients that way," said Holz. "I mean, word of mouth is the best advertising, and at the same time, we're trying to support local arts. So rather than spending money on a print ad, we decided to spend our marketing budget on prize money."

The eight to 10 (the lineup's still being set) films entered in the Local Muscle Film Festival will compete for three cash prizes ($300, $200, and $100), with the winners being decided by audience vote.

At press time, local directors David Meiklejohn, Corey Norman, Lesley Macvane, David Wallace, Michael Reardon, Jake Ochsenhirt and David Camlin have contributed relationship-themed films to the Valentine's Day festival.

For local filmmakers (always in need of funds), Holz sees this as a real draw, and a way to support the Maine film community.

"Most people have to spend money to put their movies into a festival," said Holz. "We worked with Geno's, the admission's free, and we figured out a way to make this work for everybody."

The Local Muscle Film Festival is a perfect date night for Portland couples to see some great Maine-made films, have a few drinks -- and maybe send a few much-needed bucks home with their favorite filmmakers.

Dennis Perkins is a Portland-based freelance writer.