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On the surface, it’s a simple story, really: Surfer boy meets girl, rival surfer challenges boy and tries to steal girl, boy must fight to win girl, a surfing competition and to save the beach from environmental ruin.
But throw in a soundtrack of offbeat beach music and a handful of quirky characters and “Boogie Board Beach” stands out as the only surfing musical comedy in recent memory. Made by Maine-based Titans of Film, the independent film already premiered to sold-out audiences earlier this summer in southern Maine. This weekend, the indie film rides into Bangor, where it will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Bangor Opera House.
“The movie has kind of taken off, just since the premiere,” Quinn Collins of Falmouth, director and leading actor in “Boogie Board Beach,” said. “It kind of caught us off guard. We have had to gear up for a busier schedule than expected.”
The Titans of Film, made up of Collins and his wife, Melanie Collins, and Deborah Blease of Orono, has been making films since the members were all students at the University of Maine in Orono. Blease and Collins also are sisters.
“We call it family-oriented insanity,” Blease quipped. “It’s definitely an independent film, but usually people who make indie films don’t make family-oriented films.”
“Boogie Board Beach” is the fifth production from the Titans, but it’s the company’s first feature-length movie. Its producers were surprised at how far they could stretch their shoestring budget of $40,000. Blease says they practice “guerrilla-style” filmmaking, where everyone wears several different hats.
Many of the surfing scenes were shot at public beaches in southern Maine, and a majority of the inside shots were done at an abandoned warehouse on Ayers Island in Orono. The filmmakers even filmed a scene at Bangor-Brewer Bowling Lanes.
“Before we started doing this, we were actually talking about moving to California … I mean, that’s where movies are made,” Blease said. “But we got talking about it and said, ‘We can make our own films here for a lot less money.'”
Besides, “Maine is a great place to make films,” Quinn Collins said. “It’s a novelty here; everyone wants to help.”
Plus, by staying in Maine, the producers got to enlist the help of a few friends. The cast features local talent including comedians George Hamm and Steve Caouette. The film was shot over 13 days last year and most of the actors worked for nothing.
“It’s just very fun, very silly. There are a lot of jokes,” Quinn Collins said. “There are layers of humor, but it’s not an over-the-top spoof … there is a plot.”
“I don’t think you have to be from Maine to get [the jokes], but it helps,” he said.
“Boogie Board Beach” is a comedy, but the music might be what sets it apart from other independent films. It’s been dubbed “Grease on the Beach” and “Beach Blanket Bingo meets Grease.” All the songs are original and were composed by Collins.
“I’ve been writing songs since junior high,” he said, reminiscing about his first foray into music. “I horrified my parents with a punk rock band in the late ’70s. … That’s the music I was into then.”
The comedian and part-time lawyer says his musical tastes have changed since then but not his love of music.
“I don’t perform well, but I love songwriting,” he said.
“Boogie Board Beach,” will also be screened at 10:45 p.m. Aug. 12-14 at Reel Pizza, Bar Harbor; 10:45 p.m. Aug. 12-14 at Camden Opera House; 7 p.m. Aug. 17 at Marsh River Theater; 7 p.m. Aug. 19 Brooks; 7:30 p.m. Aug. 25 at Waterville Opera House; and Aug 20-24, Colonial Theatre, Belfast, times to be announced. A full list of screenings is available online at www.titansofilm.com.
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