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BY GEORGE MYERS JR.
Staff Writer 07/06/2008

WATERVILLE -- The popcorn is ordered. The hotel beds are turned. "Indie'' enthusiasts are primed for their feast.

About 4,000 film aficionados are headed here this week and next for the 11th annual Maine International Film Festival. Actor John Turturro, of "The Big Lebowski" (1998) and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000), will be handed the fest's Mid-Life Achievement Award on July 17 at the Waterville Opera House.

But the cinema events stretch far beyond that.

The Maine Film Center, which presents the festival each year, will show 100 movies across four screens at the Opera House and Railroad Square Cinema from Friday to July 20. Related events will be held at the Colby College Museum of Art, the Alfond Youth Center and Unity College, in Unity.

Area taverns and coffee shops likely will host spill-over chatter.

Unity College teacher and moviegoer Pat Clark says the festival presents an excellent opportunity to see "foreign films, shorts, directors, actors and cinematographers from all over the world. It's an opportunity in rural Maine that you don't expect to have."

Film Center Director Shannon Haines said this year's festival will bring in "well over 50" filmmakers, actors and their subjects.

"We estimate that 3,500 to 4,000 people attend" each year, she said.

The Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce receives inquiries about festival-area dining and lodging opportunities from across the state, said Kimberly N. Lindlof, the group's chief executive officer.

More than a fourth of the event's patrons come from Waterville and its surrounding area, Haines said, but many others come from across the region and New England. Some plan their trips to their Maine camps to coincide with festival dates, she said.

"I'm totally excited about it," said Waterville attorney Joan Phillips-Sandy.

She has experienced the festival from both sides of the projectors -- as festival director, for its first five years, and since then as a fan.

"The films are wonderful," she said. "Getting to see them, the people who make the films and their interaction with the audience is great."

The Film Center hasn't been able to track how Waterville benefits financially by the festival, but Haines and Lindlof believe the impact on the city is significant.

Over the nine-day stretch, many of the filmgoers sleep at area hotels, eat at local restaurants and taverns and sample the sites and sounds of area galleries, trails and services.

At Waterville's Pleasant Street Inn, "We are booked solid," said Manager Paul Barnes, attributing it to the festival.

At the Holiday Inn, on Main Street, Assistant Manager Darlene Ratte last week reported having more than a dozen festival-related reservations, "but it's early yet. People always wait to the last minute."

She said festival patrons are "fun and here to have a good time, and that makes a good time for us."

Waterville's cache for supporting independent films has "monumental potential for Maine, not only economic but also pride of place," said Donna McNeil, director of the state Arts Commission.

"It is my hope," she said, "that in the next legislative session we will be successful in passing an incentive program that would make Maine competitive in attracting this high-revenue, 'green' industry."

McNeil, a member of the state's film commission, spoke also as an eventgoer: "I have attended the film festival every year and never been disappointed at the quality or quantity of offerings, often finding events over capacity."

Turturro is the event's top honoree, following the likes of But Cort, Ed Harris, Sissy Spacek, Peter Fonda and Jonathan Demme, from prior years. Turturro's films include "Miller's Crossing" (1990) and "Barton Fink" (1991).

For program details, go online to www.miff.org. For ticket prices and purchases, and other information, call 861-8138.

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