The drama thriller movie The Ghost Trap, which is based on the lobstering novel of the same name by Maine author and screenwriter, K. Stephens, makes its Maine premiere as the Centerpiece Film for the 2024 Maine International Film Festival (MIFF), set to take place July 12-21, 2024.
The short documentary film Junior directed by A.J. Wilhelm will play at the 2021 Maine International Film Festival. Featuring Jérôme “Junior” Simeon along with Ajayi Jackson, the film follows the acclaimed Haitian musician as he struggles to keep the beat of his passion alive.
Actress Lauren Hutton will receive the Maine International Film Festival‘s 2017 Mid-Life Achievement Award at a special ceremony held at the Waterville Opera House on the evening of July 20.
“Lauren’s immediacy and talent was always evident on the screen, as it is now, a presence and intelligence and pride that is unique and distinct, and that was made for lights and drama and comedy,” said MIFF Programming Director Ken Eisen. “It’s a pleasure to welcome her and her fine films to MIFF this year, and to honor her film career with our annual Midlife Achievement Award.”
The award presentation will be held after a screening of American Gigolo, a romantic crime film directed and written by Paul Schrader, on Thursday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Waterville Opera House. The film centers on a male escort (played by Richard Gere) who is framed for a murder he did not commit. Hutton will be in Waterville for several days of the festival with screenings of The Gambler, A Wedding, and Welcome to L.A. Last year, actor Gabriel Byrne was presented with the Mid-Life Achievement Award. Previous winners include Glenn Close, Jonathan Demme, Peter Fonda, Ed Harris, Sissy Spacek, and John Turturro, among others.
“As we celebrate an incredible MIFF milestone this year – our 20th anniversary – we could not have asked for a more interesting special guest than Lauren, whose groundbreaking career has crossed genres as well as decades,” said Festival Director Shannon Haines.
The 18th Maine International Film Festival closed on Sunday and unveiled the winner of its audience favorite award, with Astraea and Come To My Voice tied as the MIFF audience’s favorite.
“We’re thrilled that MIFF audiences once again were adventurous and enthusiastic about exploring and discussing films from around the world,” said Festival Director Shannon Haines. “We had a fabulous slate of guests and an incredible array of films for MIFF audiences to enjoy. We look forward to seeing you all next year”
In the film Astraea, directed by Kristjan Thor, – when an epidemic nearly wipes out the human race, a telepathic teenage girl named Astraea has visions of survivors living in New Brunswick. She leads her doubting brother on a 5000-mile journey through a silent and abandoned America into the snowbound wilderness, hoping to rebuild life as she knew it. As they head north, her clairvoyance intensifies and they encounter a wary young couple, homesteading on a remote lake in Western Maine. The grief and complexity—as well as the excitement and comfort—of encountering other normal humans pits itself against Astraea’s desire to keep moving and find her family. This post-apocalyptic film, spectacularly shot in wintry Maine landscapes, uses sensitivity and intellect rather than special effects to show not what humanity is running from, but what we’re running towards.
https://vimeo.com/118208194
In Come To My Voice, directed by Hüseyin Karabey, which takes place in a snowy Kurdish mountain village, in the east of Turkey, an old woman Berfé and her granddaughter Jiyan are distressed. The only man in the household, Temo, the son of one and the father of the other, was arrested by the Turkish military. The commanding officer has been told that the villagers are hiding weapons, so he arrested all the men and announced that they will be kept in prison until their families hand over the weapons. The problem is that there are no weapons in the village. Desperate, Berfé and Jiyan embark on a long journey, in search of a gun which they could exchange for their beloved Temo. Will the old woman and her innocent granddaughter find a way out of the inextricable Kurdish identity conflict?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Xbi0l61k0
Learning To Drive and Samba were tied for second place and Au Bord du Monde came in third place for the audience favorite award. Forty-four of the 47 films eligible for the award received at least one vote.
Acclaimed actor Michael Murphy was presented the Mid-Life Achievement Award in honor of his diverse career that includes a long-time collaboration with director Robert Altman and work with Woody Allen, P.T. Anderson, Elia Kazan and Oliver Stone. MIFF screened the U.S. premiere of Murphy’s new film Fall before the award presentation on July 16.
For the first time, MIFF hosted the World Filmmakers’ Forum through a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Filmmakers from France, Argentina, Turkey and Mexico will show their work and discuss their creative process and the state of international film.
More than 850 people attended the 2015 Maine International Film Festival in Waterville as it kicked off its 18th year with a nearly sold out showing of the Maine premiere of Tumbledown, a feature length film set in western Maine from Portland-based filmmakers Desi Van Til and Sean Mewshaw.
In Tumbledown, a young widow (Rebecca Hall), falls for a brash New York writer (Jason Sudeikis) who barrels into her rural Maine town investigating the death of her husband, folk-music hero Hunter Miles (voiced by Damien Jurado). Hannah is scraping her life back together in a cabin at the foot of Tumbledown mountain, attempting to seal every shred of her husband’s life into a biography. When Andrew, an academic who has a different take on Hunter’s life and death, shows up looking for the truth of this mysterious musician, the pair clash. But gradually they find themselves collaborating to craft Hunter’s story, and beginning to write the next chapter of their lives together. The film also stars Blythe Danner, Griffin Dunne, Joe Manganiello, and Diana Agron.
“The great turnout for opening night shows that audiences are excited for MIFF’s return,” said Festival Director Shannon Haines. “We are incredibly proud of this year’s program, which is a truly diverse mixture of the best of American independent and international films as well as rare and restored prints of cinema classics, and we’re eager for audiences to experience it.”
Acclaimed actor Michael Murphy will be presented the Mid-Life Achievement Award in honor of his diverse career that includes a long-time collaboration with director Robert Altman and work with Woody Allen, P.T. Anderson, Elia Kazan and Oliver Stone. MIFF will present the U.S. premiere of Murphy’s new film Fall before the award presentation on July 16.
For the first time, MIFF will host the World Filmmakers’ Forum through a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Filmmakers from France, Argentina, Turkey and Mexico will show their work and discuss their creative process and the state of international film.
On July 18, MIFF will offer Maine filmmakers a chance to showcase their work and network with each other during Making It In Maine Day. The day-long event will include a networking brunch and panel discussion at the Colby College Museum of Art.
The Congressman starring Treat Williams (Hair, Prince of the City) as Maine Congressman Charlie Winship, who’s having a bad day, will screen as a work in progress in the “centerpiece” slot of the 2015 Maine International Film Festival.
After being caught on video failing to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance, Maine Congressman Charlie Winship knocks out another House member, confronts his angry ex-wife, and faces denunciation by the media for attacking one of the most cherished patriotic symbols in America. As his life spirals out of control, Charlie embarks on a journey to the remote Maine island whose eccentric inhabitants are in the middle of a shooting war in defense of their fishing grounds.
The film was written and co-directed by Robert Mrazek, a five term New York congressman who now lives at least half the year on Monhegan himself. “Monhegan was a transformational experience both for me and my family. We usually went up there to stay in December and January when Congress was not in session. Our children went to the island school,” says Mrazek.
The screenplay of The Congressman was partly inspired by Mrazek’s admiration for the people of Monhegan and their fight to save their way of life by going to the state capitol and lobbying successfully to have their common law fishing grounds certified as their own after experiencing a “lobster war” that led to the sinking of boats and the cutting of trap lines. “I was profoundly affected by the fundamental difference between the cultures of Washington and this remote island, where people pulled together regardless of personal differences, and where self-reliance was the watchword of everyday living. It changed my children for the better. It changed me too,” says Mrazek.
Award-winning actor, songwriter, and producer Keith Carradine was honored at this year’s Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) with the 2013 Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) Mid-Life Achievement Award. Carradine was presented with his award at the Monday, July 15 screening of Nashville. Carradine’s song for the film, “I’m Easy,” garnered both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Carradine can currently be seen, starring in AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, which received the award for best cinematography at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and is featured at MIFF this year. “AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS” will be released on August 16, 2013.
Each year MIFF honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the art of cinema. Past winners include: Thelma Schoonmaker (Raging Bull, The Departed), Lili Taylor (I Shot Andy Warhol, Mystic Pizza), Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde), Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, Badlands), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), John Turturro (Miller’s Crossing, The Big Lebowski) , Ed Harris (Empire Falls, Pollack), Peter Fonda (Easy Rider), Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom), Jos Stelling (Duska), Walter Hill (The Warriors), and Bud Cort (Harold and Maude).
ENZO AVITABILE MUSIC LIFE directed by Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence Of The Lambs, Philadelphia, Stop Making Sense) will kick off the Opening Night of the 16th Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) on Friday, July 12 at the Waterville Opera House. Jonathan Demme, the MIFF 2002 Midlife Achievement Honoree, will introduce his new film, which centers on Enzo Avitabile, the Neapolitan musician who’s blazing a world music trail in his collaborations with other musicians from around the Mediterranean and around the world, including Buena Vista Social Club’s Eliades Ochoa.
ENZO AVITABILE MUSIC LIFE is the first in a special section of MIFF 2013 called “Demme Does Music,” designed to highlight what the festival describes as Demme’s fantastic feel for and ability to convey the excitement of music. Although his feature films, including classics like Silence of the Lambs, for which he won the Best Director Oscar in 1992, Philadelphia, Melvin and Howard and Something Wild, invariably have a strong musical element, according to Festival Programmer Ken Eisen, it is Demme’s “beautiful portfolio of films directly centering on music and musicians that really shine with the excitement, power and thrill of Jonathan’s wonderful ability to wed film with music.”
ENZO AVITABILE MUSIC LIFE will open theatrically at Lincoln Plaza and a downtown theater in New York on October 18, and at the Royal and other Los Angeles area Laemmle theaters on October 25. A national release will follow.
http://youtu.be/bMY73xNXDJk