Brings Films, Filmmakers and Film Lovers to Waterville
The 17th Annual Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) will be held July 11-20 at the historic Waterville Opera House and the iconic art house theater, Railroad Square Cinema. The ten-day cinematic celebration offers around one hundred films that represent the very best of new American independent, international, and locally made movies as well as new restorations of past cinema masterpieces.
BOYHOOD: by Richard Linklater
The festival will open on July 11 with Richard Linklater’s much-anticipated BOYHOOD, which will be opening in New York that same evening. Filmed over twelve years with the same cast, BOYHOOD is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason’s parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, BOYHOOD charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before.
Ernest Thompson, screenwriter of “On Golden Pond”
More than just movies, MIFF also offers visitors a chance to interact with directors, actors, producers, musicians, and other special guests through intimate Q&As, panel discussions and parties. Each year, MIFF brings around fifty filmmakers from around the world to the festival, and this year is no exception. Special guests will include Brazilian filmmaker Claudio Marques, returning guest Oscar winner Ernest Thompson, indie filmmaker Sara Driver, and the 2014 Mid-Life Achievement Award honoree Glenn Close.
Glenn Close, this year’s Mid-Life Achievement honoree
A six-time Academy Award nominee, Close will receive the festival’s highest honor on Sunday, July 13 after a special screening of ALBERT NOBBS, a film that she co-wrote, co-produced, starred in, and composed the lyrics for the Golden Globe and World Soundtrack nominated song, “Lay Your Head Down.” Additional films to be shown as part of the festival’s tribute to Close include COOKIE’S FORTUNE, DANGEROUS LIAISONS, and LOW DOWN, which debuted at Sundance earlier this year.
This year’s festival will also include a special section of sixteen films from the Martin Scorsese presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema collection and will once again feature a selection of “Re-discovery” films, classic films that have been newly restored, including THE CONFORMIST, A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, GUN CRAZY, and TOO MUCH JOHNSON, Orson Welles’ first film. MIFF 2014 will also feature a special section entitled Leonard Mann and Eurocrime: Found in Translation with American actor Leonard Mann, who at the age of twenty in the late 60s and early 70s, became a star of “Spaghetti westerns” and Italian “Eurocrime” thrillers in Italy.
In addition to featuring films from around the world, MIFF also showcases some of the best films made within the state of Maine. Each year, one day of the festival is named as Making It In Maine Day, where audience members have the opportunity to see a Maine-made film in any time slot during the festival. New this year, MIFF will be co-hosting with MPBN, the Maine Film Office, and the Maine Arts Commission a brunch for Maine filmmakers to provide opportunities for them to network with the presenting agencies as well as each other. Making It In Maine Day 2014 will be held on July 12th and the brunch is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. at the Hathaway Creative Center.
MIFF 2014 will also include Volume 2 of MIFFONEDGE, a new initiative of the festival that was introduced last year. Featuring exciting and innovative work spanning decades of moving image history, MIFFONEDGE explores the intersection of film and art and pushes the boundaries of commonly accepted notions of cinema. This year’s program features a drop-in exhibition, a cameraless film workshop, and a special Found Films event, all hosted at Common Street Arts, as well as a live performance by the Psychedelic Cinema Orchestra at the Waterville Opera House on Saturday, July 19.
The full MIFF schedule will be available on the festival’s website in mid to late June. Passes are now available for purchase through the website. The Maine International Film Festival is a project of the Maine Film Center, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to enrich, educate and entertain the community through film and art.
For more information visit www.miff.org.
