A scene from the Maine-set and -shot doomsday film “Those Who Wait.” Photo courtesy of Chani Bockwinkel and Ty Burdenski What would you do if you knew the world was ending? Like, if you just knew it. It’s not just idle speculation for Mainers, since one of the most popular doomsday cults in history happened here, with its strongest outposts located right in Portland.
Sure, we’re talking about the 1840s, but “Those Who Wait,” a bold and fascinating new film from co-directors Chani Bockwinkel and Ty Burdenski, isn’t shy about drawing parallels to today. Screening Saturday at Portland’s Space, the film suggests that modern America has more in common with the film’s real-life Millerite doomsday community than we’d like to admit. Just who were the Millerites? William Miller was a Massachusetts-born preacher whose experience with an artillery shell in the War of 1812 convinced him to take a closer look at God.
Biblical calculations led Miller to conclude that the second coming of Christ – with all the fire and extinction-level chaos Evangelicals insist that entails – would occur on Aug. 22, 1844. (The failure of the world to end in cleansing flame was termed “The Great Disappointment.
”) Imagining a Maine doomsday The genesis of “Those Who Wait” kindled in the Maine art communities of Portland and Denmark. “We both had residencies at the Denmark Arts Center,” said Chani Bockwinkel, explaining that the seeds of “Those Who Wait” made the journey.