A young couple is asleep in their Portland apartment when a naked older man (who looks sort of like the evil BOB from “Twin Peaks”) crawls in through their window.
Hearing a noise, the young man grabs his gun and confronts the intruder, only to have the tables turned on him.
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Now armed, the intruder tells the young man, “Just sit down, calm down, because I really am you from the future …“
And then things get weird.
That’s the opening to Portland filmmaker George Dalphin’s 33-minute time-travel comedy “Doubting Thomas,” which will have its world premiere at 7 tonight at the Nickelodeon Cinema on Temple Street in Portland.
Dalphin, who writes and directs (as well as co-stars as the titular, understandably-doubting Thomas), is active in several (well, most) aspects of the Portland arts scene.
His artwork, music and writing, as well as a trailer and 7-minute clip from “Doubting Thomas” can be seen at www.man-likemachines.com.
But it’s filmmaking that’s occupying Dalphin these days. In addition to the premiere of “Doubting Thomas,” he recently took part in this year’s 48 Hour Film Festival; his entry “Payment” screened at Cinemagic in Westbrook last week.
Working alongside Portland film mainstays Krystal Kenville and Leo Lunser in “Doubting Thomas” (both of whom starred in “Adelle,” another recent Maine film that had its premiere at the Nick), Dalphin applauds the active, collaborative nature of the Portland film scene.
He has nothing but praise for the willingness of the Nickelodeon to open a screen for local films, and has this to say about being a Portland-based moviemaker:
“Portland has an incredible independent art scene, including filmmaking, and I definitely hope that in the process of pursuing a paying career as a filmmaker I don’t have to leave this city.
“The raw creative drive that this city is overflowing with makes it a really rich environment to work within, and there are tons of people with really great, unique perspectives.”
As someone who’s gotten to know the Portland film community better through this column, I could not agree more.
Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.
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