Director's Statement

Having spent the long winter of 2011 in a cabin on an island in Maine, I know firsthand how physically challenging northern winters can be—pipes freeze, cordwood needs to be endlessly chopped, and heavy snowfall can leave country roads impassable for weeks.  But it is the toll that the short days and seclusion have on the mind that pose the biggest challenge: frigid conditions force residents to spend most of their time indoors, and with nothing to do and not much of anywhere to go, the isolation can weigh heavily on the mind.  This is not a place for the delicate or weak-willed, which also just happens to make it the ideal place to drop Mainland’s protagonist, Chris.

Not only is Chris woefully unprepared to handle the physical hardships of a Maine winter, he is also ill-equipped to cope with the mental challenges that accompany extreme isolation.  It is important to me that my main character be challenged, and as the story unfolds we will indeed see Chris forced into a situation in which he sees no escape, and where the obstacles appear insurmountable.

I see Mainland’s setting itself as a kind of character.  It bares its teeth and menaces Chris at every turn, a constant reminder of how big and scary the world can be.  It is under these extreme circumstances that Chris’ true character will be revealed.

- Ian Bibby