Maine Coast Life's Guide to Local Films At the Maine International Film Festival
Photo Courtesy of Maine International Film Festival
When seeing the name "Maine International Film Festival" for the first time, you may be drawn directly to the word "international." But to Mike Perreault, all words in the name of the Waterville-based event carry equal weight.
"The words 'Maine' and 'International' together showcase a rich cultural exchange, where local filmmakers can share the screen with international talent," said Perreault, Executive Director of the Maine Film Center, which puts on the festival each year.
MIFF is kicking off its 29th season on Friday, July 10, with its biggest line-up of screenings to date. To show love to the locals whose artistic medium is the silver screen, we've put together a roundup of films being screened at MIFF that were directed, written, or produced by Maine-based filmmakers. Each entry falls under one of three festival categories: "Maine Documentary Shorts," "Maine Features," and "Maine Narrative Shorts."
Unless stated otherwise, synopses and still-shots for each film have been provided courtesy of MIFF
Abandoned Buildings
"Four estranged friends explore abandoned buildings in hopes of reconnecting and finding their way through alienation and loss."
Director: Benji Otte
Runtime: 25 Minutes
Category: Maine Narrative Shorts
Beachside Motel
"An anxious photographer develops an artistic relationship with a pickpocket while on a lonely trip down the coast of Maine in the middle of winter."
Director: Robert Cafarelli
Runtime: 20 Minutes
Category: Maine Narrative Shorts
Cloudbound Eagle
"When four childhood friends return to their old boys' camp in Maine to memorialize a lost companion, a hike to spread his ashes doesn't go as planned."
Director: Hal Nathan
Runtime: 12 Minutes
Category: Maine Narrative Shorts
Print courtesy of Leighton Films
Downeast Hardcore: Stories from The Kave
"In a quiet coastal Maine town, Kathy Findlay transformed an old barn into The Kave, an unlikely hub for the region’s hardcore music scene from 2001 to 2016. What began as a small, fiercely independent venue quickly became something more: a refuge for teenagers who feel isolated, overlooked, or out of place."
Director: Ricky Leighton
Runtime: 69 Minutes
Category: Maine Features
A Game of Chance
"A young mouse, lonely and inventive, plays a board game with the wind."
Director: Gordon LePage
Runtime: 4 Minutes
Category: Maine Narrative Shorts
Home For Now
"A man finds himself building a home on the frozen surface of Flagstaff Lake in this meditation on home, land, and reciprocity."
Director: Jules Bradley
Runtime: 15 Minutes
Category: Maine Documentary Shorts
Print courtesy of Alex Sarrigeorgiou
In Transit
"When a complacent young bartender living in small-town Maine agrees to model for an existentially floundering painter on an artist's retreat, both women must confront their preconceptions of what makes a good life."
Director: Jaclyn Bethany
Runtime: 82 Minutes
Category: Maine Features
Print courtesy of Smudge Productions, LLC
Mallory's Ghost
"A young couple, Mallory and Sam, take a writers' retreat to a majestic estate on the coast of Maine. When Sam's past—in the form of his beautiful ex-girlfriend, Louise—comes back to haunt them, Mallory grows increasingly jealous and obsessive. As mystical forces in the house begin to intervene, Mallory is forced to confront the truth of Sam and Louise’s bond, her own insecurities, and, ultimately, her sense of self."
Director: Arabella Oz
Runtime: 87 Minutes
Category: Maine Features
May The Water Not Freeze
"A farming cooperative in western Maine prepares for their first winter while stewarding community with other Black farmers and cultivating Muslim foodways."
Director: Zahira Hafeeza Chaudhry
Runtime: 16 Minutes
Category: Maine Documentary Shorts
On The Sea
"Amid the shifting tides of Maine’s working waterfront, this poetic mixed-media documentary follows Emma Fernald, a seventh-generation lobsterman turned scallop farmer, as she carves out a future in the emerging blue economy. The film explores her deep connection to the ocean and the intergenerational knowledge that has shaped her identity."
Director: Carla Troconis
Runtime: 6 Minutes
Category: Maine Documentary Shorts
Samland
"An artist presents the magical property he has been building and designing on Little Cranberry Island for the past 30 years. Sam conjures a blend of Willy Wonka and Mr. Rogers as he invites the audience along to experience the complicated process of channeling grief into creation"
Director: Grace B. Poppe
Runtime: 20 Minutes
Category: Maine Documentary Shorts
Second Responders
"Teachers in Lewiston return to school six days after a mass shooting in 2023, working to rebuild a sense of safety and community in their classrooms while navigating their own trauma."
Director: Jon Cavallero
Runtime: 18 Minutes
Category: Maine Documentary Shorts
She Had Some Work Done
"How to conform to the norms of beauty."
Director: Nancy E. Andrews
Runtime: 3 Minutes
Category: Maine Narrative Shorts
Swine
"After escaping tragedy, a young woman embarks on a northbound pilgrimage where she must confront her own trauma and a strange Circean magic she struggles to control."
Director: Claire Delany
Runtime: 24 Minutes
Category: Maine Narrative Shorts
They Called Me a Rabble-Rouser
"A Queer elder in rural Maine reflects on her journey from cities of millions to a village of one thousand."
Director: Chloe Niesz Kutsch
Runtime: 10 Minutes
Category: Maine Documentary Shorts
Tides
"Set on a remote Maine island where time is measured by tides, this luminous 16mm meditation follows lobstermen and kelp harvesters through wordless, weather-worn routines, revealing the quiet inheritances and elemental rhythms that bind a place to its people. "
Director: Adam Sekuler
Runtime: 22 Minutes
Category: Maine Documentary Shorts
All films listed above will be screened between Thursday, July 16th and Sunday, July 19th, with the majority of the screenings taking place at the Waterville Opera House on Saturday and Sunday. Check out MIFF's schedule for tickets and more details.