National PBS-Bound documentary ‘Saving Walden’s World’ comes home to Belfast for special fundraiser screening at the Colonial Theatre

BELFAST — A film made in Maine, about a father raising his son in Maine, is coming home.

“Saving Walden’s World” will screen at the Colonial Theatre, 163 High St., on Tuesday, Sept. 29. The evening features a live musical performance by acclaimed Maine singer-songwriter Louisa Stancioff, whose poetic indie-folk captures the spirit of rural resilience and grounds the film’s global message in the lived reality of local community and place. The event is a special fundraiser benefiting the Mabel Wadsworth Center, organized in partnership with the Colonial Theatre.

The screening follows the film’s official acceptance for national distribution on PBS via NETA, marking a significant milestone for this Belfast-based production.

The film follows Jim Merkel, a former military engineer turned sustainability activist, as he raises his son, Walden, on an off-grid homestead in Maine and travels to Kerala (India), Cuba, and Slovenia to document women-led solutions that have successfully bypassed the growth trap of the West. By prioritizing literacy, healthcare, and reproductive freedom, these societies have built stability and equity without sacrificing quality of life, a counterpoint to the high-consumption model that is pushing the planet toward collapse.

Part of the documentary was produced and filmed in Belfast and across Maine, making this screening a homecoming for the local community. At a May 2024 screening, the venue sold out and turned away close to forty people at the door.

“Belfast is home,” Director Jim Merkel said. “This film is partly a love letter to Maine, to the idea that a life of radical simplicity and genuine sustainability is possible here, not just in Kerala or Slovenia. Bringing it to the Colonial, which has kept independent cinema alive in this town for over a century, feels exactly right.”

“To me, Walden’s World is an exploration of returning to the roots of being human on this planet,” Louisa Stancioff, the evening’s featured performer, said. “I feel like there is nothing more human than playing music. Music has sustained and nourished small communities from its beginnings. I especially love playing shows here in Maine, where these gatherings bring people even closer together. I believe small communities are key to moving forward sustainably in a rapidly changing world.” 

“At the Colonial, we think of the theatre as a community gathering space,” Cam Howard of the Colonial Theatre said. “A film like ‘Saving Walden’s World’, that is both made locally and about the environment, which our community is so invested in, represents the synthesis of our values at the theatre.” 

As a vibrant, century-old independent cinema and arts venue, the Colonial Theatre is dedicated to bringing diverse, high-quality film, performing arts, and community conversations to the heart of downtown Belfast.

This screening will be a fundraiser for the Mabel Wadsworth Center, a Belfast-area organization whose mission aligns with the film’s central themes of women’s health, empowerment, and community resilience. 

“Climate justice is an essential facet of fighting for reproductive justice, a framework that encompasses the full span of reproductive autonomy,” Aspen Ruhlin of Mabel Wadsworth Center said. “Clean air, clean water and livable places are essential for bodily autonomy and for people to parent the children they have in safe and sustainable communities. Just as all oppression is connected, so is all justice.”

This screening is one stop on the North America Screening Tour, part of the 100 Rooms. 1 Story. campaign bringing “Saving Walden’s World” to communities across North America with the goal of hosting 100 screenings over the next 12 months.

A Q&A session with Merkel will follow the screening, offering the audience a direct conversation with the filmmaker about the film’s vision of planetary healing, local sovereignty, and the practical alternatives being built right now by communities around the world.

Event details:

“Saving Walden’s World” has screened at 23 international film festivals and won 14 awards. It has been accepted for national distribution on PBS via NETA.

Following this Belfast homecoming event, two additional benefit screenings for the Mabel Wadsworth Center will take place in November at Black Bear Cinemas in Orono.

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