Maine filmmakers to premiere new documentary film ‘A Phantom Song’ at The Maine International Film Festival

ROCKLAND — Filmmakers and theater producers Michael Gorman and Donna Daly of Rockland-based The Forty Hour Club, will premiere their new film “A Phantom Song”  at The Maine International Film Festival in Waterville July 20-21.

Filmed last summer in Augusta during a theatrical production that the couple staged in a crumbling theater on the Kennebec river, “A Phantom Song” follows a theatrical journey intertwining Fedallah and the Phantoms (Captain Ahab’s mysterious stowaway crew), a  blues opera, and the Maine opiate crisis — symbolizing a quest for recovery and inclusion in  Maine’s Capital City.

Through a cast drawn from the recovery, reentry, and unhoused community, the film confronts stigma and biases, echoing the haunting atmosphere of Moby Dick and the spirit of The Blues to illuminate the intersection of past traumas and future hopes in the soul of a  long-abandoned theater and its community.

The film will play as part of MIFF’s short film program “Maine Music Shorts”. Screenings will  take place on Saturday, July 20 at 1 p.m. at The Waterville Opera House, and on Sunday, July  21 at Maine Film Center 1. Tickets and information at www.miff.org.

Founded in 1998, the Maine International Film Festival is a project of the  Maine Film Center. The 10 days of the festival showcase nearly 100 films, representing the  best of American independent and international cinema, and spotlight some of Maine and  New England’s most exciting and innovative filmmakers.