at our EXPERTISE... RETINAL AND VITREOUS DISEASES CATARACT AND ANTERIOR SEGMENT OCULOPLASTIC SURGERY CORNEAL AND EXTERNAL DISEASES PEDIATRIC OPHTHALMOLOGY GLAUCOMA MANAGEMENT ADULT STRABISMUS iLASIK AND PRK SURGERY CONTACT LENSES & OPTICAL SHOP ROUTINE EYE CARE Northern New England’s Most Comprehensive Eye Specialty Practice Richard Bazarian Jeffrey R. Samuel Jennifer Natan Curtis Brooke Jeffrey MD, FACS Berman, MD Cady, MD Garvey, MD Kahn, MD Libby, MD Miller, MD Moore, MD Noelle Charles Nirupama Jill Holly Matthew John Richard Pruzan, MD Zacks, MD Aggarwal, OD Amundson, OD McCarthy, OD Thees, OD Walters, OD McArdle, CEO Portland Campus Stroudwater Campus 15 Lowell Street 1685 Congress Street, 3rd Floor Portland, ME 04102 Portland, ME 04102 207-774-8277 • www.MaineEyeCenter.com CINEMA Maine On Screen Two directors of new Maine films dare to take us below our lovely state’s lovely surface. BY COLIN W. SARGENT hat is it about our state that both grounds and floats a film? Mysteries like this keep direc- Wtors Maris Curran (Five Nights in Maine, Film Rise, 2016) and Jared Martin (The Congressman, Shadow Distribution, 2016) awake at night. Both moviemakers have va- cationed here, grown up here, sensed some- thing extraordinary here, and marveled at Maine’s dreamy surety all their lives. Suc- cessfully addressed, our state is a back door to the world’s unconscious. In their two striking films this year, each of these direc- tors dares to step through. INTERVIEW WITH Maris Curran Director of 5 NIGHTS IN MAINE Watching Five Nights in Maine, I was stunned by the levels of estrangement the story explores. It starts with the unreality of Sherwin’s losing his wife to a car acci- dent, which puts him into an emotional freefall. Maris Curran: I think when anybody is taken that quickly and unexpectedly, there’s often a sense ofis this real? Is she re- ally gone? It seems an even more savage disconnect for him be- cause he wasn’t there to witness it. The fact that he is not present for that and FILMINDEPENDENT.ORG not part of the accident causes the floor to O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6 6 5 CINEMA go out from underneath him. He is sus- I was looking for somebody who could con- like that yourself. pended and falling at the same time. It’s al- vey great depth, interiority, and quiet power The film is not autobiographical, but as a so isolating. Grief can be so isolating. The in the same moment. And at the same time writer-director I was going through a di- way we often deal with it in the U.S. is an be a movie star. Not many actors put both vorce. I knew from my own life what hap- individualized experience, behind a closed of those together. It was clear very quickly pens when things fall apart in an instant. door, one person. I wanted two people to to me that David would play Sherwin. These aren’t parallel stories–their truth open that door to look at each other. doesn’t need to be my truth–but there was I’d ask you how you could make the silence so loud, a common emotional language. It’s easy to see why David Oyelowo is in such demand. and solicitous questions from friends and family He was fantastic. Not every actor has his interiority. It (oh, how are you doing?) so devastating, but you’ve Sherwin’s sister (played by Teyonah Parris) says, was so moving to see the world through his eyes. already revealed you were going through something ‘You don’t have to accept your mother-in-law (Lucinda’s) invitation and visit her in Maine.’ Then the film cuts to Sherwin driving there. Can you tell us Starring: Synopsis: about that transition? David Oyelowo, Dianne Wiest, Rosie Perez After his wife’s tragic death, His wife had just come back from visiting a man goes to rural Maine Maine locations: Phippsburg, her mother (played by Diane Wiest), who Brunswick, Cape Elizabeth to visit his mother-in-law. was ill. He gets a call from her inviting him High School, and South Portland. to Maine, which was unexpected. It’s against his better judgment that he decides to do it. 2015 Toronto International Film Festival – World Premiere, Therei s a curiosity there. 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival – Official Selection To what extent is Maine’s remoteness and alien geogra- 2016 Cleveland International Film Festival – Official Selection phy a character in this film? 2016 Sarasota Film Festival – Official Selection Maine is unbelievably beautiful, rugged 2016 Vail Film Festival – Official Selection in its beauty, a place where you can sense 2016 Nashville Film Festival – Official Selection the character finding some kind of power 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival – Official Selection because of that beauty but also a place he can feel really alienated. It’s not inviting to 2016 Montclair Film Festival – Official Selection The Rising Star of David Oyelowo The British Nigerian actor is fast becoming hot Hollywood property, thanks to several star turns in the spotlight, including his moving portrayal as Martin Luther King Jr. in Ava DuVernay’s 2014 biopic Selma. In a re- cent interview with Variety magazine, Oyelowo comments on his recent work with female directors (in addition to Curran and DuVernay, he has also worked with Amma Asante on A United Kingdom, Mira Nair’s upcoming Disney film theQueen of Katwe (pictured), and in Nina by Cynthia Mort). “The kinds of stories I want to be a part of telling are about delving into what it is to be a human being,”says Oyelowo. “This is a generalization, but often, male directors are more interested in action-oriented films or franchise movies.” The actor is currently filming for a screen adaptation ofAmericanah , the much loved 2013 novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, alongside Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o. Watch this space. 6 6 P O RTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE Academy Award nominee Rosie Perez plays Ann, Lucinda’s in-home care nurse. Below: David Oyelowo, Maris Curran, and Dianne Wiest on-set. Grief can be so isolating…I wanted two people to open that door Maris Curran, Director I’d spend two weeks of the year in Pema- “Five Nights in Maine is Curran’s first fea- quid during the summers. Even as a five- to look at each other.” ture film. Previously, she exhibited her short year-old, I was struck by the environment. films at film festivals and galleries across the Sherwin as an African American until he I loved climbing on the rocks with the surf world. Curran’s recent short, MARGARITA, discovers parts of it himself. by the lighthouse. Going out as far as you premiered internationally at the Huesca In- can walk. ternational Film Festival in Spain, in the US at Jogging seems boring until you watch Five Nights the HBO NY Latino Film Festival, and in San in Maine. Something about the danger drew you close? Francisco at Cinema by the Bay. Maris uses The scene in the woods. It was important As a city kid coming to rural Maine, the film to delve into the drama of the everyday and to tell stories that take on challenging is- to me that the film not only be set in Maine freedom to be on your own was what sues such as race, disability, illness and sexu- but [capture its strangeness]. In the scene was exciting. ality. She received a BA from Smith College NEY S in the woods you get to see what it’s like for and an MFA from the School of the Art Insti- someone unfamiliar with the area. Sher- There were moments when I loved the ‘otherness’ in tute of Chicago, where she received a Prin- man experiences it based on his life. That this film the way I loved the children traveling on the cess Grace Award for her thesis film. Maris scene would be very different if I were in river in Night of the Hunter. also participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program ET LEFT PAGE: DI the woods. Yes. I love that film. S and was a Fulbright Fellow. She is currently E; IN developing her second feature, SELENE.” S If Pemaquid is part of your psychic geography, what did Which makes me ask, to what extent is this a continen- –FilmRise Productions FILMRI you do out there growing up? tal film shot in Maine? O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6 6 7 COMPLIMENTS OF JENN-AIR BRAND I think it definitely has a European sensibil- ity. What does that mean? The pacing is dif- ferent. Because Europe has funds for films that seem not to be as commercially viable as something you’d associate with Holly- wood, there’s a wider breath of emotional themes you can work with. VIA REBATE BY MAIL* How do you direct Diane Wiest? She’s a most convinc- $ U P T O 2 0 0 0 ing Mainer. VIA REBATE BY MAIL* It was an incredible joy. She’s one of the best JULYU 22–SEPTEMBER P T O $2 0 0 0 26, 2016 actors working. You get to know her and spend as much time with her as you can PURCHASEJULY 22–SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 to understand her process. You ask your- A QUALIFYING KITCHENAID® COMMERCIAL-STYLE RANGE AND self, What does she need from me to access PURCHASE2 ADDITIONAL QUALIFYING KITCHENAID® PRODUCTS this character? You’re doing really vulner- A QUALIFYING KITCHENAID® COMMERCIAL-STYLE RANGE ANDUP TO able work, and that’s a strength with her.