LEWISTON – Hundreds of people gathered to “meet” Marsden Hartley on Wednesday night at the world premiere of “Cleophas and His Own,” a feature-length film about the legendary Lewiston artist.
An overflow crowd at the Flagship Cinema necessitated a second showing.
“Brilliant,” “outstanding” and “remarkable” were some of the audience reactions at the end of the two-hour film.
For two women who serve as docents at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, the film was “unbelievable” and “fabulous.”
“It was so moving,” said Sandy Nault of Lincolnville.
“It puts a whole new light on those paintings,” said Shirley Stenberg of Cushing, who noted that the museum in Rockland displays one of the paintings Hartley did after the 1936 tragedy portrayed in the film.
“I will never look at that painting again in the same way,” Stenberg said.
Another premiere attendee was Joy Piscopo of Falmouth. She said her son wrote the storyboard for the film, “so I’m very excited to see it. It’s the first time I have seen his work.”
For many of the premiere attendees, it was a first introduction to the Lewiston native who gained fame as an artist late in his life. Born in Lewiston in 1877, he died in 1943.
Prior to the screening, Rick Speer, director of the Lewiston Public Library, said, “Marsden Hartley is better known in Paris, France, than in Lewiston.” He’s hoping that will change with the opening in a few weeks of the library’s Marsden Hartley Cultural Center.
In his introductory remarks, director Michael Maglaras said he felt strongly that a Lewiston audience should get the first look at the film. It will go into independent distribution in coming weeks.
Maglaras also hosted a reception Wednesday night at the Hilton Garden Inn. He invited everyone at the theater to join him at the reception, as about 100 people did after the first show.
“Cleophas and His Own” blends Hartley’s lyrical words with some exceptional film images from producer Geoffrey Leighton of Durham.
The film came about through the Maglaras’ determination. He brings the painter’s life to the screen through narration of Hartley’s powerful 1941 epic poem about a North Atlantic tragedy.
Written in the final years of Hartley’s life, “Cleophas and His Own” tells of a small fishing family and its grief when two brothers drown in a storm. Flashbacks and colorful images of Hartley’s paintings illustrate the narration, intercut with austere black-and-white film. Maglaras provides the voice-over narration, reading the complete text of Hartley’s poem.
The project was a labor of love over the past two years for Maglaras and his wife, Terri Templeton, who served as executive producer. Maglaras portrays Hartley as an older man in the flashback scenes on the Nova Scotia coast. He also is seen narrating the Hartley poem in a setting resembling Hartley’s studio. Templeton also appears in the film.
Maglaras hosted Wednesday’s premiere at the Flagship Cinema in Lewiston’s Promenade Mall. He threw the doors open free to the public. All 239 seats were taken for the 5:30 p.m. screening and a long line formed as people signed up for stand-by tickets.
Just before screen time, Maglaras came to the head of the line and told them a second free showing had been arranged for 8:30 p.m. That screening accommodated more than 50 additional viewers.
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