International Women’s Day Celebration & Ocean Dip in March, organized by Two Maine Mermaids, a group that is putting on a mini festival of films about women and water. Photo by Alyssa Soucy

In “Vacationland,” his 2017 book about his family’s move to Maine, actor, podcaster and writer John Hodgman had this to say about Maine’s beaches:

“Because the waters of Maine are made of hate and want to kill you. The ocean in Maine is traumatically cold. If you make the mistake of going into it, every cell in your body will begin shouting the first half of the word ‘hypothermia’ into your brain; the second half will simply be frozen tears.”

I’m with Hodgman. Especially now as another Maine winter creeps upon us, the thought of dipping even a toe into the nearest body of water fills me with dread, fear and a serious desire to watch old movies under several blankets.

Caitlin Hopkins has a different take.

“Sometimes you have to surrender to the cold,” says the intrepid co-founder (alongside Kelsy Hartley) of Two Maine Mermaids, an organization dedicated to celebrating the bracing pleasures of off-season Maine ocean-dipping. The duo, alongside Maine Outdoor Film Festival director of programming Julia Dunlavey, are presenting the first ever Water Women Mini Film Fest on Sunday at Portland’s Space.

The festival’s eight short films from Maine and around the world all share a theme of female empowerment in various aquatic environments – and Hopkins’ belief that immersing yourself in unthinkably cold waters makes for surprisingly powerful communities.

Two Maine Mermaids isn’t just a clever name.

Hopkins (aka Flow) and Hartley (aka Ebb) met during the pandemic when a mutual friend noticed that both women relished the solitary, sometimes painful pleasures of long swims in the Maine ocean. A 2021 Valentine’s Day dip in homemade mermaid costumes spread their message, and they soon attracted a growing community of like-minded swimmers, dippers and assorted female friends who view a collective bonding trip to some of Maine’s chilliest beaches an essential part of life.

“It’s a beautiful community,” said Hopkins. “We’re all about relationships formed through a hard, uncomfortable thing and it’s very special and beautiful.”

The Water Women Mini Film Fest takes the mermaids’ message global.

“I’d been dreaming about a water-oriented film festival for years,” said Hopkins, who credits film fest professional Dunlavey with bringing the practical knowhow to this first-ever festival. “Julia curated all these films for us,” said Hopkins. “She did such a great job featuring Maine women and women from around the world.”

“All the films feature powerful women interacting with the ocean in different ways. Swimming, dipping, paddling, surfing, sailing – as soon as I saw them, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s it! That’s how I feel.’ So many people resonate with these films like that. They’re seeking this feeling.” For highlights, Hopkins points to shorts like “Daughter of the Sea” about South Korean female freedivers, and the Maine-made “The Diver” from Maine College of Art & Design student Mailee Osten-Tan, about a woman finding healing in the frigid Maine waters.

OK, but what exactly is the draw of something so outwardly uncomfortable?

“In our day to day lives, we don’t do much to get out of our comfort zones,” said Hopkins, “and when we do, we tend to do it in sort of a spastic, chaotic way. So the idea of a slow, steady walk into the ocean does give the body a chance to feel the excitement in your nervous system.”

“You feel the pinpoint-y pain, and it gives you a chance to counteract that with a slow, steady breath. A reminder to your body that you’re keeping it safe even though you’re doing this extreme thing. It’s like a conversation with your nervous system.”

Two Maine Mermaids sees their outings as a powerful bonding experience for people who identify as women (and, as their website promises, “anyone who is comfortable centering the experiences of women”) in a world where female empowerment is more necessary than ever.

Caitlin V Hopkins

The group’s next big event is its International Women’s Day Dip, which takes place at South Portland’s Willard Beach on March 8. For some, the thought of a group preaching empowerment through icy ocean adventures might sound New Age-y and ineffectual. To them, I direct attention to the striking poster for the Space film festival event, which shows a bikini-clad woman triumphantly emerging from what sure looks like the coldest water you can imagine, her raised hands clad in bright orange mittens.

This experience isn’t for the faint of heart, is what I’m saying, although Hopkins says that their inclusive community of fierce female dippers is all about lending courage to even the most timid among us. “The film festival is about laying the foundation for the International Women’s Day Dip,” said Hopkins. “Our goal is to fill an entire Maine beach with people who walk hand in hand into the water. It’s about making a bold statement celebrating the strength and power of women.”

The Water Women Mini Film Fest will take place at Space on Sunday at 3 and 7 p.m. Wrap up warm.

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