UMaine Camden International Film Festival Class Begins Sept. 13
Contact: Marlene Charron, 581-4095; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — This year’s University of Maine class designed around and based on the annual Camden International Film Festival begins Saturday, Sept. 13 on campus, and will explore critical assessment of documentary films, including films being shown at the Sept. 25-28 film festival in Camden.
Offered through Continuing & Distance Learning in the Division of Lifelong Learning, the class, “Documentary Film: Sustainability, Fantasy, Art,” is open to UMaine students and the public. Faculty members co-teaching the class, which runs two Saturdays prior to the film festival and a Saturday after the festival, are Michael Grillo, associate professor of the history of art, Mike Scott, lecturer in new media, and Tony Brinkley, professor of English. All three are authorities on filmmaking, photography or new media and film production.
A requirement and critical component of the class is attendance at the international film festival, which will offer screening and analysis of more than 25 outstanding national and international documentary films, including the poignant “The Way We Get By,” a full-length film about three aging troop-greeters at Bangor International Airport.
Benjamin Fowlie, founder and director of the Camden International Film Festival, notes that the film, scheduled for distribution in January, was shot by two photographers with connections to UMaine. Dan Ferrigan, co-director of photography, graduated from UMaine in 1998 with a degree in archaeology and Aron Gaudet, co-director of photography and director of the film, attended UMaine for two years.
“In all my years of doing CIFF, I have never been so moved by one singular film,” he says, “and on top of that, its connections to the state are endless and will shed great light on Maine citizens when it begins its long journey of screenings starting next January.”
The film is described as “a raw and intimate look into the lives of three senior citizens in Maine, who have greeted American troops at the Bangor International Airport, round the clock, 24 hours a day, for the past five years.”
Local residents Bill Knight, Joan Gaudet and Jerry Mundy face issues common to the nation’s growing population of elders, and they find the strength to overcome their own personal battles and transform their lives, according to a review. The story of three troop greeters “will shatter the stereotypes of senior citizens today. Growing old will never be the same,” according to the festival website (www.camdenfilmfest.org), which lists all of the films, schedules and the Camden-Rockland area venues.
The UMaine class will engage students in the critical language, history and potential of documentary filmmaking, says Grillo. The festival “is about Maine and its relation to the wider world,” he adds.
“I think it’s an excellent opportunity for students. It engages student in the industry of filmmakers and documentarians in a public forum,” Grillo says. “Students will meet filmmakers who are at different stages of their careers and get a good idea of what possibilities exist as they are beginning to emerge.”
Additional information is available on the Continuing & Distance Learning website.