Film Screening: In the Blood

On January 29, Portland Ovations hosts "TIMBER!" a live-music-and-acrobatics performance by Cirque Alfonse, based in Quebec. The troupe's daring physical feats and Quebecois music are based on traditional Quebec folklore and culture, including the history of logging and lumberjacks. As a lead-up to the performance, Maine Historical Society presents a day of dual documentary film screenings on Maine's lumber industry heritage. Both screenings are free.

The noontime screening is Woodsmen and River Drivers: Another Day, Another Era (1989), a 30-minute film produced by Maine Folklife Center and Northeast Historic Film about lumber camps and woodsmen in the Machias River Valley in the early 20th century. The program is made possible by the generosity of Northeast Historic Film.

The evening screening is In the Blood (2011), a 73-minute film by musician Sumner McKane on the turn-of-the-century Maine lumber camp and the men who lived and worked in them. The film features original compositions by McKane and sheds new light on the character, history, and importance of lumbermen. The program is made possible by the generosity of Sumner McKane.