Sat 9:10 PM Varsity 4 Sun 09:40 AM Varsity 4 Mon 3:10 PM Varsity 4
Synopsis
Set in the late 1980s on an island off the coast of Maine, Neptune stars Jane Ackermann in a remarkable performance as Hannah, an orphan raised by the island’s insular priest. She plans to attend a prestigious boarding school on the mainland until the sudden disappearance of a classmate into the sea. Hannah’s quiet obsession with the missing boy leads to haunting dreams and visions she tries to subdue by taking his place on his father’s lobster boat. Torn between her commitments to the man who raised her and the man — and boy — she wishes she could save, Hannah struggles with loss, redemption, and the end of childhood.
Director’s Statement: Derek Kimball
In an effort to sever ties to a tired cinematic language I seek instead to facilitate an appreciation of a sensory experience we might all find familiar, yet perhaps have forgotten. By attempting to push the concept of first person narrative into something less literal, I hope to create work that transcends the pitfalls of American visual storytelling and gets us back to what cinema is; an art form. Neptune was my first feature attempt at this, and I felt strongly that work should be done in my home state of Maine, where we regard the natural splendor of our home with quiet awe, humbled by the sense that we border some great unknown. The vast expanse of pine and sea, to us, is where the mystery of life dwells.
