A scene from “Heritable,” Eli Kao’s satirical film about what makes a real Mainer. Photo courtesy of “Heritable”

Are you a Mainer?

It’s a simple question. And it’s not.

I’m a Mainer, by most definitions. I’ve lived here for 37 years, own a home, shovel my own driveway. I have an appropriately grizzled white beard. But since I spent my first 18 years living “away,” I still sense some shade when the subject comes up from “real Mainers.”

“Heritable,” the new short semi-documentary from Belfast-born filmmaker Eli Kao, takes a humorous and satirical look at what that “native Mainer” pride includes – and excludes. Showing as part of this month’s Camden International Film Festival (Sept. 19-29), “Heritable” offers up three whimsical, sometimes musical, interconnected takes on the experience of Mainers who are often excluded from the “real Mainer” narrative.

The filmmaker’s synopsis describes “Heritable” as an exercise designed to “undermine the reproduction of nativist/eugenicist rhetoric in Maine, to unsettle perceptions of ‘Americana’ signifiers, and to suggest an alternate space that can reckon with and transcend historical harm.” And honestly, “Undermine, Unsettle, and Suggest” might be the most intriguing mission statement a documentary can have.

“Heritable” uses humor to deliver a potent message.

“The film came out of thinking about issues involving who gets to feel at home in Maine and who gets to define those things,” said Kao. “It’s about how we talk about those things and how they’re represented but intentionally through, say, tourist marketing, and how that intersects with the history of eugenics and how it’s been used to justify various racist actions in Maine.”

That’s heavy subject matter for a film which, at one point, sees a blissful couple feeding each other Fluffernutter sandwiches on a Portland Head Light picnic while they (and a chorus of background dancers) croon through a musical number based on “cheesy karaoke videos.” But that’s all part of Kao’s plan.

Satire and documentary aren’t incompatible, even when dealing with some dark truths.

“You’re trying to reach people and communicate,” said Kao, “but everyone has limits to how much they can take in and process, especially on heavy topics.” For Kao, the racism underlying Mainers’ native pride is the heavy topic. For those not up on truly terrible concepts, “eugenics” is the idea that there is a racial ideal that can – and should – be manipulated, mainly through selectively breeding out “undesirable” societal traits. (You can see where that one’s going.)

Kao points to such down-home Maine atrocities as the deliberate sequestration – and subsequent destruction – of non-white communities like Malaga Island and Peterborough. He also notes the uncomfortable reality that “Maine” is actually, as Kao’s biography terms it, “unceded Wabanaki territory” to show that often unacknowledged ideas about race and “who belongs” are a big part of what makes Maine Maine. Humor at its best strips away accepted narratives to play around with the raw truth underneath. Or, said Kao, “Humor is a way to unsettle, to get people to engage in a new way. It will shake some people out, but others will let down their guard and be open to new ideas.”

Eli Kao’s take on otherness in Maine is hard-won.

“I’m a multi-racial person who grew up in Maine,” said the Belfast-born and -raised filmmaker, “I’m both Chinese and white European by ancestry.” And while Kao is adamant in stressing that others have had a tougher time in Maine than he, the filmmaker also can’t help but speculate on how his Waldo County childhood helped inform his views on what being a Mainer really means.

“Kids made fun of me, sure,” said Kao. “Sometimes there were jokes about my looking Asian, being perceived as Asian. By the math, I’m half-white, but the whole thing is that people are perceived as what the non-white thing is. It’s that nefarious ‘one drop of blood’ thinking.”

A 1950s-era soda counter provides the setting for cheekily taking on what it means to be a real Mainer in “Heritable.” Photo courtesy of “Heritable”

For Kao, “Heritable” delves into the loaded concept of Maine identity with a deceptively light touch. (An idealized 1950s-era soda counter provides the setting for one cheekily provocative sequence.) “Whenever someone seems particularly proud of being ‘a Mainer,’ I have a hard time empathizing,” admitted Kao. “A ‘Mainer’ needs to be framed in the context of the Indigenous people who are very much still present, for one thing. But for me, the question is, to what degree my sense of self, particularly my Chinese background, is strengthened by the fact that I was perceived as Asian instead of white. To some degree, your identity is formed in conversation with how it’s reflected back to you.”

Camden International Film Festival is the perfect place for “Heritable’s” thematic and stylistic approach to race in Maine.

“Shout out to (programming director) Sean Flynn and the whole CIFF team,” enthused Kao, who pared down his initial “Heritable” plan from a three-screen gallery installation to a more festival-friendly, single-screen, 19-minute experience. “I had no idea if this film would fit into the (non-fiction film festival’s) parameters, but CIFF is so adventurous in its programming while also supporting more traditional, crowd-pleasing documentaries – and Maine-made films. (“Heritable” was shot in Portland, Union, Freeport and Kao’s native Belfast.) “They’re so adventurous in having cutting-edge discussions around what documentary is – it’s so great to see this diversity of filmmaking happening right here in Maine.”

“Heritable” will screen at this year’s 20th annual Camden International Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 15, at 4 p.m. at the Camden Opera House. The filmmaker will be in attendance for a Q&A alongside associate producer/art director Morgan Cafferata. Head to pointsnorthinstitute.org/ciff for tickets.

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