Camden film festival does it right

BOB KEYES September 27, 2009

Benjamin Fowlie grew up in Camden. As do many other young Mainers, he made a beelineout of the state as soon as he was able.

He went to college in Boston to study photography and film and weighed his options after graduation. His film buddies all went west to Los Angeles. Fowlie went north.

He came back to Maine – back to his hometown, in fact – to make his stand. This week, the 28-year-old hosts the fifth annual Camden International Film Festival, which he founded.

It's starting to become a significant festival that focuses on independent documentary films.

Fowlie expects to sell up to 5,000 tickets, and will show almost 50 films in theaters in Camden, Rockland and Rockport. Among them will be three world premieres, two U.S. premieres and 10 regional premieres.

His goal is to make the midcoast, and Maine as a whole, a destination for the documentary film genre.

"There are so many festivals out there," he said. "Every town has realized that a film festival is a great way to bring people in from all over. It helps the economy, because people like to go out and eat and drink. They fill the restaurants and the hotels. It's a great model, and relatively easy to do."

But to be successful, a film festival requires a specialty. Fowlie decided to focus on the documentary genre, because he sensed opportunity.

"When I started this festival, I looked at what was out there, and I didn't see many festivals looking at documentaries," he said. "People like coming here – they like coming to Camden and they like coming to Maine, especially in the fall. Why not try to make Maine the epicenter of documentary film?

"We are trying to do it right and become a leading name, right up there with all the other major festivals. But you have to do something different."

The documentary genre may hold the key.

Maine has a rich history of visual storytelling. Maine Media Workshops in Rockport has trained photographers and filmmakers for many years. In Portland, the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies enjoys its status as a premiere training ground for nonfiction storytellers of all media.

"Maine is a great place to focus on your craft," Fowlie said. "To really understand what you as an artist can do, you need to come to a quiet place and have the opportunity to take an introspective look. Maine provides that."

The state is home to many talented documentary filmmakers, including Richard Kane, who will screen his movie about the Natural Resources Council of Maine, "Protecting the Nature of Maine," on Saturday as part of the festival. The movie premiered earlier this month in Portland.

Perhaps the most significant Maine-focused film on the docket is "The Fish Belong to the People" by Will Hyler, who grew up on the midcoast. His film follows a group of Port Clyde fishermen as they work to save their livelihood and battle federal regulations, the market and even themselves. The movie will have its world premiere at the festival on Saturday.

Some of the genre's leading filmmakers will come to Camden, including Peter Davis, an Academy Award-winning director of the 1974 Vietnam War documentary "Hearts and Minds." He will introduce the film "Convention" by director A.J. Schnack on opening night, and moderate a festival-opening Q&A session.

"Convention" will get its New England premiere in Camden. It tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. Schnack will attend.

Director John Pierre Duret will be on hand to talk about his film "Because We Were Born," about two French teenage boys who hang out at a service station in Brazil watching trucks and travelers and dreaming about the great big world.

Ian Cheney, who wrote the movie "King Corn" about America's most subsidized crop, will participate in various festival workshops.

a forum called "Points North" from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday at Maine Media Workshops in Rockport.

Industry leaders will participate in the forum, which is designed to benefit filmmakers but is open to the public. The forum will explore funding trends, self-distribution and other topics. Confirmed participants include Patricia Finneran, a consultant for the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and former director of the Silverdocs Film Festival; Greg Rhem, who manages documentaries for HBO; and Jayln Henton, who develops programs for PBS.

In its relatively short existence, the Camden festival has proven itself worthy with a small budget of about $85,000. It has premiered several important movies, brought in influential filmmakers and entertained thousands of people.

Last year, it offered the first public screening of the final cut of the documentary "The Way We Get By," about troop-greeters at Bangor International Airport. Since then, the film has been widely shown and is considered a candidate for an Oscar nomination, Fowlie said.

He's proud of how far he and his festival have come.

"I think it honestly comes down to opportunity," he said. "The access we are providing, not only the filmmaking community but the general audience, is pretty special. We give people the opportunity to connect with the leading voices of the documentary world today.

"I spend a lot of my time going to other festivals around the country, and sometimes they are missing that kind of connection, that kind of spark that makes the whole experience memorable or unforgettable.

"We have that. We have this gorgeous location, and we have kept programs at the size and scope to allow for intimate interaction with the audience."

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it