WATERVILLE -- This weekend and next, Railroad Square Cinema will offer moviegoers a chance to see new independent films and discuss them with the filmmakers afterward.

In the spirit of the Maine International Film Festival, audiences will be able to get a bird's-eye view of the making of the films and be able to ask the filmmakers questions.

"We're thrilled that they're coming -- and amazed," Alan Sanborn, a co-founder of Railroad Square, said Wednesday of the filmmakers.

Cinematographer Alice Brooks will introduce the film "Ten 'Til Noon" at 8:55 p.m. Saturday at the cinema. On Tuesday, the film's director, Scott Storm, will be on hand to introduce the 8:55 p.m. screening and discuss the work afterward.

"Ten 'Til Noon" is an original American thriller about a jet-lagged man who awakens to find two strangers in his bedroom and over the next 10 minutes, experiences the most terrifying and possibly final moments of his life.

Brooks recently moved to Maine from Los Angeles. "Ten 'Til Noon" won a Best Film award last year at the Asheville Film Festival; The Festival Prize at the ReelHeART International Film Festival; and the Jury Award at the San Fernando Valley International Film Festival.

At 7:15 p.m. Sunday, "The Situation" will be shown and internationally-acclaimed film director Philip Haas will introduce the work. It is the first fiction film set in present-day Iraq and features an American reporter hunting down an explosive story against the advice of her boyfriend, who works for the U.S. government.

Shadow Distribution, of Waterville, is distributing the film, which is one of several being shown Sunday as part of an all-day film series entitled "Iraq Film Day." The event is presented by both Films for Social Awareness and Campus Progress of Colby College and Railroad Square.

In addition to "The Situation," the films include "Baghdad ER" to be shown at 11:30 a.m.; "The Ground Truth," 1 p.m.; "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib," 2:45 p.m.; and "The War Tapes," 4:30 p.m. The cost is $5 per film; $12 for all five; $10 for three.

At 12:30 p.m. April 22, the cinema will feature the award-winning documentary "There Ought to be a Law," and the film's producers will discuss the work after the showing.

The film follows Cathy Crowley of Lewiston during the months after her 18-year-old son bought a shotgun at Wal-Mart and killed himself.

Crowley campaigned for a bill two years ago that would require a waiting period before young people can buy guns. The bill failed but has been re-introduced.

Filmmakers Geoffrey Leighton and Anita Clearfield of Durham and Shoshana Hoose of Portland will discuss the film. They received the Maine Film Academy's 2007 Groundbreaking Activist Leadership Award in February, in Waterville.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com