Were there any screenings of the film in Farmington? What were they like?
We didn’t hold any screenings in Farmington, but we did screen at both the Maine and Camden film festivals. It was gratifying at those screenings to hear from the overwhelming majority of people who knew both the participants and the town that they felt we had presented the events as fairly and objectively as we could. Perhaps the most valuable screenings, though, came when we had reached close to a final cut. Sheila, as producer, strongly felt that we needed audience feedback before we locked picture, and, as all directors do, I resisted. Our good friends (and my Deering High classmates) Doug and Gail Thompson from Portland helped set up a marathon of screenings at the Frontier Cinema Cafe/Gallery in Brunswick, which is a fantastic location, five screenings in two days, with questionnaires and oral q&a’s afterwards, and it was the best thing we could have done. It helped us identify areas of confusion, story lapses, and character issues. Based on people’s written and oral feedback, we altered the final film in key areas, and it’s much better for it.
Christopher Gray can be reached at cgray@phx.com.
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