Summertime in the Belgrades
July 15, 2005Vol. 7, No. 7

Summertime in the Belgrades

July 15
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Waterville Sets Stage For 8th MIFF

Ken Eisen

Festival Programmer Ken Eisen

When the lights are lowered and the footage rolls there is excitement in the audience, anticipation, awe. A key is turned, a door opens, a world unwinds, and strangers share the feelings and actions and settings, indeed the entire unraveling, of the ultimate creative presentation — the absorbing visual/audio experience of the movie.

Multiply that experience times sixty films, times twenty sponsors, times eleven receptions, times ten days, times three theaters and there is something going on in Waterville that can be appreciated in the viewing, but also in the educational, economic, organizational and social momentum that for eight years now has successfully engulfed the town, and the state.

The 8th Annual Maine International Film Festival, presented in Waterville July 15 through 24 by the Friends of Art & Film in Central Maine brings films to the area that people would not otherwise see. It is an opportunity to view some of the best of American Independent and International cinema, to discover some of Maine and New England's up and coming filmmakers, to attend the 28th Maine Student Film & Video Festival (Saturday, July 23), but most of all to mingle with and meet not only producers, directors and actors, but also local MIFF organizers and enthusiasts, fellow filmgoers, and even neighbors.

Murderball

Highlights of the 8th Annual MIFF include:

  • MIFF will honor actress Lili Taylor with the Pre-Midlife Achievement Award on Wednesday, July 20 at 7:10 pm at the Waterville Opera House. Taylor's outstanding movie record includes: Household Saints (showing 7/20), Mystic Pizza (7/19), I Shot Andy Warhol (7/19), and Arizona Dream (7/20).
  • The premiere screening (7/16) of Barbara Kopple's Bearing Witness, which examines the personal and professional lives of five female journalists in the line of fire in Iraq and other perilous assignments. Kopple and members of the producing team will attend the premiere.
  • The very timely Opening Night presentation of Murderball, winner of the Documentary Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, about a tough, highly competitive and inspired team of quadriplegic rugby players.
  • The screening of Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action, which profiles former Maine Penobscot Nation Chief Barry Dana.
Seeds

Seeds is a documentary about the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield, Me., where teenagers from opposing ethnic groups are brought together to find common ground.

New for the 8th MIFF are:

  • Online ticketing at www.miff.org
  • A fifth venue theater, the Maine Film Office Theater at The Center on Main Street will be used along with The Waterville Opera House and the three theaters at Railroad Square Cinema.
  • A special focus for the first time ever on family-friendly films and films about children.
  • Almost a dozen receptions; one for every major guest.

The complete listing of festival screenings is available online at www.miff.org. A print edition is available at the Railroad Square Cinema and other area businesses. For more MIFF information contact 861-8138, info@miff.org or www.miff.org.

See related article: "Maine Women: Living on the Land"

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