A forty-six year tradition is hard to break, harder still when age — not will — stands at the crossroads of cherished continuity and certain change.

Independent filmmakers Tom and Jim Isler have documented this reality in Once More to the Cabin, a twenty-eight minute video short featuring their grandmother and her final visit to a summer cabin in Boothbay Harbor, the place where her marital and parenting experiences formed the larger portrait of her life and where she chooses to make a final goodbye.

The film weaves memories of the chance meeting of Barbara and Robert and how a one day-trip to Monhegan sealed their future as husband and wife with Barbara's thoughts on ageing. From proposal to the birth of children to the joys of grandchildren, the sea-view cabin becomes the lead, silent character in decades of memories formed on the coast of Maine.
Preparing to say goodbye to a life well lived, one more trip to the cabin is inevitable. The Islers use this backdrop to portray how, over time, sense of place becomes sense of self.

Once More to the Cabin debuts at the Maine International Film Festival in July.