Starting with the opening night feature film, "Get Low," at the Waterville Opera House, continuing with the Centerpiece Gala film "Howl" at Railroad Square Cinema, and ending with "Voices Unbound," a documentary version of the true story told in Hollywood’s "Freedom Writers," MIFF is jam-packed with every imaginable type of film which would likely please the most critical film buff; though the "100 Films, 50 Filmmakers, 10 Days," tag-line isn’t 100% quite accurate. "We don’t try to get exactly 100 movies and 50 filmmakers (every year)," admits Shannon Haines, festival director. Instead, it is "about" 100 movies and 50 filmmakers, though this year Haines believes it was "actually more than 50 guests."
Movies for the festival are either sought out by MIFF’s programmers and director or submitted by filmmakers. Haines was particularly enthused with two submitted works that made it into the festival, "earthwork" and "Wheedle’s Groove." The first film is a fictional work about the real-life crop artist Stan Herd who brings gardens to the inner city, while the second film is a documentary about the forgotten soul and funk scene of Seattle, before the grunge movement. The festival director was also enthusiastic about "Utopia," a multimedia presentation about what utopia would look like in today’s world. While the film rolled on-screen, a live band accompanied the scenes and the film’s director spoke over the film. Haines hopes more experimental/multimedia works will make it to the festival in future years.
MIFF’s experimental spirit does not always work out as expected. Last year’s attempt to branch out to a satellite location in Portsmouth did not justify a second go around this year. "Attendance was not what we hoped for down there," explains Haines. "It felt like we were spreading ourselves a little thin." The Fireflies children’s programming, a festival mainstay, was also dropped from MIFF’s scheduling this year. "We had a few volunteers who were leading the program that stepped away from the festival (this year)," Haines says. However, MIFF was accepted into the American Film Institute 20/20 program last year and had its first selection of films from the project at this year’s festival. This "allows us to add films and bring filmmakers at no additional expense to the festival."
The films shown at the film festival are selected by a group of programmers that work for or volunteer their time for the betterment of MIFF. The festival is thanks to a "dedicated group of people who sacrifice their own lives, in the summer, in Maine (every year)," Haines says. There was one person that was especially missed this year at the festival and for whom the 13th year of MIFF was dedicated. Before the showing of "Get Low," Haines announced that programmer and MIFF co-founder Beth Eisen had passed away a little over a month before this year’s festival opening. Her husband, Ken, attended the festival this year in his capacity as a MIFF programmer and owner of Shadow Films, which distributes some of the films chosen for the festival. There were many people who attended the festival that knew Ken Eisen personally and expressed their own grief at Beth’s passing.
While the festival lost a key figure this year, it proceeded along without any noticeable problems. It is a testament to how well-managed MIFF is at its core and how passionate volunteers and venue personnel can make the most of a difficult situation. As with every year, the festival participants who’ve seen at least three films can vote on the Audience Favorite Award winner, the only prize MIFF presents. This year’s winner is the feature film, "Mao’s Last Dancer," made by director Bruce Beresford who is popularly known for his work on "Driving Miss Daisy." The film chronicles the true life story of a ballet dancer from communist China who after performing in the United States in a 1980 exchange, refuses to return to his homeland.