NASA Astronaut Sally Ride poses with her space helmet during her time in training as a mission specialist for NASA’s STS-7 spaceflight. NASA

This winter has been rough.

Sure, the arctic cold seems to have abated a bit, but a Maine winter can really put even the heartiest of us into “huddle up and hunker down” mode. And that’s when cabin fever sets in.

Enter the Cabin Fever Film Festival.

A yearly gift from our friends at Points North Institute (who also present the outstanding Camden International Film Festival every September), this year’s Cabin Fever Festival is, according to Points North co-founder and artistic director Sean Flynn, just the pick-me-up movie fans need at this time of year.

“Maine winters are really stretching out and that’s maybe messing with us a little,” says Flynn of this year’s three-day, seven-film nonfiction mini-festival from Friday through Sunday at the Camden Opera House. “Films can really lift our spirits,” he said. “But sometimes we need a reason to come together as a community in the depths of winter.”

And we could definitely use it. Apart from the uncalled-for iciness of this winter season, Flynn says the current political climate has many people also seeking comfort and inspiration. “These films are relevant to the cultural and political times we’re living in,” said Flynn. “We look for films to help us make sense of the moment we’re in.”

Looking over this year’s roster of films might not immediately suggest that. “Sally” is a NatGeo-produced film about pioneering astronaut Sally Ride. “Deaf President Now!” chronicles the quest of students at Gallaudet University to hire the school’s first Deaf president. “One to One: John & Yoko” examines the iconic couple’s time in Greenwich Village. The Oscar-nominated “Sugarcane” is about abuse at a Canadian school for Indian children. “Speak” follows a handful of high schoolers competing in a public speaking competition. “Balomania” documents the dangerous adventures of balloon builders in Brazil. “Every Little Thing” is about a retired teacher who saves wounded hummingbirds.

“These films are inspiring, galvanizing, enlightening,” says Flynn, noting that these seven offerings either just didn’t fit last year’s CIFF or premiered after September, some coming to Cabin Fever straight from this month’s Sundance Film Festival. As Flynn runs down some of the highlights of a stacked and fascinating selection of films, that description begins to take on a more and more topical — and immediate — shape.

Take opening night film “Deaf President Now!,” which Flynn calls “a galvanizing activist film” about landmark protests in 1988 led by Deaf students at Gallaudet University to force the school to appoint its first deaf president, Dr. I. King Jordan. “It’s a heart-pounding, inspirational film,” says Flynn, “a true story of people confronting structural barriers and discrimination, even in an institution seemingly set up to support them.”

Flynn notes that Cabin Fever is hosting a Zoom Q&A with directing team Nyle DiMarco, who’s deaf, and Davis Guggenheim, with an interpreter assisting the discussion. “We’re working with the Maine Deaf Film Festival and Disability Rights Maine to get the word out about this powerful story about disability justice,” says Flynn.

There have been multiple Beatles documentaries in the last few years, but “One to One: John & Yoko” depicts the couple’s early 1970s New York sojourn as much more than music (even though there’s great rare concert footage). “It was a time of Vietnam and Watergate, of societal malaise,” Flynn says. “It explores in a unique way the role of the artist in times of crisis and turbulence.”

“Sally” is not only a coming home for Points North favorite director Cristina Costantini (“Mucho Mucho Amor”), but depicts how the barrier-breaking female astronaut’s life and career was even more impressive — and heartbreaking — than we knew. “Sally Ride was gay her whole life but only came out in her (2012) obituary,” says Flynn. “She was confronting the sexism of her time while also holding back a huge part of herself. Cristina’s really coming into her power with this film, which weaves a much more three-dimensional portrait of this iconic woman while examining what she had to do to hide part of herself, and why.”

Retired writer and teacher Terry Masear takes in and rehabilitates injured hummingbirds in “Every Little Thing.” Wildbear Entertainment

Even the unassuming-looking festival closer “Every Little Thing” fairly brims with unexpected resonance. “There’s this woman in the richest part of Los Angeles who has taken in injured hummingbirds from all over, for decades,” said Flynn. “It’s an appreciation of this amazing interspecies relationship as well as a study of the life that led her to this, and carries such great beauty and sense of wonder about caring and respect for life. It’s a good note to end on.”

As with the best documentaries (of which Points North is a prestigious champion and curator), themes emerge gradually. In a country led by opponents of inclusion, diversity and respect for the natural world, these films spark recognition. In a society where courage and the willingness to stand up to injustice, institutional bigotry and cruelty are needed, the films inspire. The seven films in this year’s Cabin Fever aren’t political, they’re human. That, in today’s climate, is revolutionary.

Plus, as Flynn notes, Cabin Fever is all about the communal experience. Breaking out of a protective shell and sharing a thrilling movie with a crowd is transformational — and healing. “These films are particularly impressive, visually, sonically, and in uniqueness of expression,” Flynn said. “There is no replacement for the cinematic experience.”

The fifth annual Cabin Fever Film Festival will be at the Camden Opera House from March Friday through Sunday. For descriptions, directions, and tickets (the festival pass is always the smart play), head to their website.