In Maine, an Island's Starring Role

In "Islander," Thomas Hildreth plays Eben Cole, a Maine lobsterman whose tragic accident forces him to leave his home on the remote island of Vinalhaven. When Cole returns to the island, reentering the tiny community is an uphill battle. Though it's not autobiographical -- "I'd never lobstered in my life," Hildreth says -- the film was a return to the past for the Los Angeles-based writer-producer-actor. After all, "it was inspired by my childhood on Vinalhaven," he says.

The actor grew up in Portland and spent summers on the island. He remembers hearing "some highly vague stories of people who'd been involved in accidents in lobstering," and he also knew "some guys who'd gotten in trouble and tried to come back" to the island. Giving Cole a wife and young daughter and mixing in a fishing-territory dispute, Hildreth's "Islander" is a story of forgiveness, redemption and connection to the earth -- or, in this case, the water. (See review on Page 34.)

Though the story touches on the lore of the fishing-territory battles called the "lobster wars" of the 1950s, waterfront development controversies and dwindling fish supplies, Hildreth says those issues are more plot devices than messages. What inspired him and energized the production, he says, was the location.

"I felt that the locale is dramatic, organic and would lend itself to a drama," he says. After escorting director Ian McCrudden to Vinalhaven, the director agreed they should shoot on location "instead of building sets, dressing things up. We wrote the story around the place," Hildreth says. Cinematographer Dan Coplan used digital cameras "to make it feel as real and close to life as possible." Instead of long, sweeping pans of the Maine coast -- which Hildreth describes as "textured and layered, moody and real and rough-edged" -- the shooting style allowed them to "cut to the chase and get in the boat."

And there are a lot of boat scenes. Cole's accident, which takes place on the water, "could have been shot more literally," Hildreth says. "But fishermen are superstitious, especially about accidents at sea." A local waterman and a consultant on the film, Jerry Doughty, told Hildreth, " 'That scene where the kid goes over -- you can't show that.' "

Hildreth was sensitive to concerns such as those, in part because he and McCrudden relied on the generosity and advice of islanders like Doughty during the 3 1/2 -week shoot on the island. Hildreth's acquaintanceship with the island meant old friends were happy to help, although "I had a lot, personally, at stake to maintain relationships," he says.

When the filmmakers broached the idea of shooting on location, many Vinalhaven residents "weren't sure what to think." But by recruiting local fishermen as consultants, Hildreth says he "got them to feel on board with us." In fact, locals played a number of supporting roles in the film, including the woman who weighs the lobsters on the dock and a lobsterman named Walter Day, "the guy with the Abraham Lincoln beard," Hildreth says, "a very salty-looking guy" who plays -- what else? -- a lobsterman.

"Islander" premiered at the L.A. Film Festival last spring, and the filmmakers screened it for Vinalhaven residents that summer. "We showed it at the school in the auditorium because they don't have a movie theater." Of the roughly 2,000 summer residents (and 1,200 year-round), Hildreth estimates that, well, everyone on the island showed up to see the movie. "We showed it over and over through the night" to a packed house. "People were hanging from the rafters," everyone wanting to see their island through the eyes of someone who loves it the way Hildreth does.

And how did they react?

"They were really excited, really curious, too, but skeptical, and not sure what it was going to be" before they saw it, Hildreth says. Overall, he says, they felt "complimented" seeing their community and their beloved island on screen.

Experimental Films

A four-part German film series at the Goethe-Institut, "Constantly in Motion: Crossover in Experimental Film and Video Art," begins Monday at 6:30 at the German cultural institute in Chinatown. These short films from 1994 to 2004 juxtapose traditional filmmaking techniques with experimental ones. The series runs Monday through April 30. Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for students and seniors. For more information, call 202-289-1200 or visit http://www.goethe.de/washington.