One of Harbor Theater’s dedicated Community Partners is the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club. The Rotary Foundation has donated $2,500 to provide at least 15 screenings of several films for approximately 425 young people at the theater in 2025. Rotary will sponsor films that are related to school curricula, local authors, filmmakers, history and events.

It is difficult to predict what films will be released in the coming year, but with a current trend to adapt books to screen, it is likely that in 2025, we will see a continuation of the types of films our local school and community youth groups have found of interest this past year.

In 2024, Harbor Theater hosted over 15 individual school classes and local youth groups for films that related to what they were reading, studying, and/or related to local people or history. For example, students from Boothbay Region Elementary, middle, and high schools; and language arts classes, Edgecomb Eddy 4th to 6th graders, and groups such as our community’s Special Olympians attended screenings that included “The Boys In the Boat” (book/film, local youth/rowing), “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” (book/film, Maine history), “Wild Robot” (film/book by Maine author), “One Life” and “White Bird” (WWII holocaust history).

The region’s school principals try to budget for theater field trips, but they are limited in the amount of money available for such activities. When Harbor Theater screens first-run films like the ones mentioned above, movie distributors require that the theater charge at least the lowest published ticket price ($6) per person who attends any show. By the time that ticket price is split between the theater and the movie studios, it may pay for the film’s rental but does not cover the theater’s overhead. The Rotary Foundation’s $2,500 grant helps both the schools and the theater to pay for screenings for students and youth groups.

Many teachers will tell you that the educational value of experiencing a story about people like themselves on a big screen is a prime way to engage and teach children. Additionally, screening films for young people helps Harbor Theater accomplish its goal to inspire, enrich, educate, and entertain our community. Thank you Boothbay Harbor Rotary Foundation!