A new documentary highlighting the homeless crisis in Bangor will premier at a film festival in Portland on Friday.
“InhuMAINE,” created by Rogan O’Donnell, was filmed almost entirely in Bangor and attempts to capture why the region has struggled with growing homelessness in the wake of the pandemic. The documentary also dives into other dangers and challenges people who are homeless — and the people trying to help — face.
The 78-minute documentary will be one of five films shown during the New England REEL Recovery Film Festival, which raises money for the Maine Association of Recovery Residences. The two-day festival will take place in Portland at Hannaford Hall on the University of Southern Maine’s campus.
The film, O’Donnell’s first, shows the unfiltered reality of those who are homeless. The documentary also chronicles recent developments and challenges for Bangor’s most vulnerable residents, including an HIV outbreak and the closure of the city’s largest encampment.
O’Donnell and his co-director, Ryan Kapp, began filming the documentary in 2023 and finished earlier this year.
The film creators spoke with numerous people who are homeless in Bangor about how they got there and the barriers they face to getting help. Some are newly homeless after escaping an abusive relationship, others have been homeless for years because they can’t afford an apartment on their fixed income.
The documentary also features interviews with nearly a dozen local service providers, politicians and public safety officials who have spent years working to assist those who are homeless and often dealing with other physical, mental and behavioral health issues.
O’Donnell was born and raised in Bangor, but moved away when he was 12. While he visited Bangor frequently, he moved back four years ago to earn his graduate degree in clinical mental health counseling from Husson University.
O’Donnell said he was driven to create the film when he noticed how homeless had ballooned in Bangor since his childhood. His hope for the film is that it sparks conversation among viewers and leads to potential solutions to a systemic problem.
“We’re trying to create a conversation so we can talk about what’s going on, because it’s not just a Bangor crisis,” O’Donnell said.
Throughout the filming process, O’Donnell said he came to see Bangor as a microcosm for what’s happening throughout the country. This is because the lack of housing and mental health treatment coupled with rampant drug use can be found in many cities, he said.
“If it can happen in the Queen City of Bangor, it can happen anywhere,” O’Donnell said. “If we can’t control it here, how can we control it anywhere?”
The documentary also depicts how dangerous living outside in Maine can be, especially during the winter.
The filmmakers show the beginning of the ongoing outbreak of HIV in Penobscot County, which has reached 24 cases as of May 29. All the new diagnoses are among people who reported injecting drugs in the last year and 22 of the 24 newly diagnosed people were homeless in the last year.
The film also chronicles the February closure of Bangor’s largest homeless encampment, where nearly 100 people once lived in the wooded area behind the Hope House emergency shelter.
The city managed to find permanent housing or temporary shelter for some people who lived in tents or vehicles there before the site closed, but more than one-third scattered to unknown locations.
The new documentary comes a year after another film that documents homelessness in Maine, “Building Hope,” was released. However, “InhuMAINE” focuses specifically on Bangor.
“InhuMAINE” will also be shown at the 28th annual Maine International Film Festival in Waterville, which will run from July 11 to 20, O’Donnell said.
