The Maine International Film Festival is the annual destination for Maine movie fans. A 10-day exhibition of the best films the world can muster, MIFF is a lovingly curated gift for film fanatics and casual moviegoers alike, its 29th season (taking place July 10-19) offering up another dizzying array of cinematic treasures from around the globe and right here in Maine. 

A great film festival like MIFF can seem daunting at first glance — there’s simply too much to take in all at once. Well, that’s why I’m here. Naturally, you’ll forge your own trail through this year’s Maine International Film Festival, but here are the films and events that leapt out at me from the festival’s eclectic roster.

‘Choose Me’ (July 14)

MIFF’s cheekily named Midlife Achievement Award is given each year to a movie legend of a certain age. This year’s recipient is Alan Rudolph, and nothing could have made me even more excited to attend. The 82-year-old Rudolph might not be a household name, but the former Robert Altman protégé has walked the sort of idiosyncratic path through the Hollywood fringes that engenders irrational affection and admiration. Of the five outstanding Rudolph films selected to screen at this year’s MIFF, I’ll be first in line to see 1984’s “Choose Me.”

A woozy, entrancing tale of love and lust amidst five denizens of Los Angeles’ neon-soaked night, “Choose Me” follows Lesley Ann Warren’s Eve (bar owner and former prostitute with bad taste in men and sad chaos in her eyes), Keith Carradine’s mysterious drifter Mickey (all rawboned charm, tall tales and hints of madness), Geneviéve Bujold’s radio sex advice host Nancy (whose elfin confidence masks a hesitancy waiting to explode), Rae Dawn Chong’s Pearl (young, frisky wife of a much older gambler), and Patrick Bachau (said gangster, all Euro-menace masked in oily charm). There are trysts, near-misses, misunderstandings, and slyly revealed secrets, all woven by writer-director Rudolph into a seductive web of wounded but not dead romanticism. Profiled in critic Danny Peary’s “Cult Movies” books (where I fell under its spell), “Choose Me” truly embodies the ideal of the little, half-forgotten movie that gets its hooks into you. 

‘Black Zombie’ (July 10)

For lovers of horror movies, the movies, and movies about movies (check, check and check), Maya Annik Bedward’s documentary provides a new take on the most ubiquitous of horror movie tropes — the zombie flick. Tracing the origins of the shambling, undead menace back to colonial Haiti, the director provides a necessary and fascinating decontextualization of the zombie archetype as its potent anti-colonial themes gave way to big screen bloodbaths from the “28 Days Later” series to “Dawn of the Dead” and beyond.

‘Their Town’ (July 10)

Alongside husband Mark Duplass, Maine native Katie Aselton (“Black Rock,” “The Freebie”) has formed a fruitful partnership in indie film, essentially co-creating the so-called “mumblecore” movement. In their latest film (Mark writes, Katie directs), it’s truly a family affair, as real-life daughter Ora stars as a high school actress forced to spend a long, revealing night getting to know the shy new kid (Chosen Jacobs) cast as her romantic lead in a production of “Our Town.” Typical of a Duplass/Aselton collab, the film is loose, charming and deeply human, with the two teens forming a unique bond in one eventful night of free-flowing conversation. 

‘The Dads’ (July 12 and 15)

This heartfelt and deeply necessary documentary proposes a theme seemingly controversial in GOP-led 2026 America — parents should love and support their trans kids. A group of fathers from different walks of life are all united in their love of their transgender children, taking a series of retreats in Maine and Minnesota to share their concerns and their heartbreak as Republicans demonize trans people, the courts erode civil rights and healthcare for trans youth, and unbreakable familial bonds run up against rising bigotry and hate.

‘The Bulldogs’ (July 14 and 15)

With the recent Supreme Court ruling shielding chemical giant Monsanto from taking responsibility for poisoning untold Americans, now’s the time to watch this searing documentary from directors Noah Dixon and Ori Segev about one small town’s fight against corporate polluters. After a 2023 train derailment sent millions of gallons of known carcinogens sluicing into the watershed of Palestine, Ohio, residents emerged from the state of emergency to a new reality where ever-present health risks couple with wealthy corporations’ bulletproof immunity to imperil everyone. Part portrait of small town resilience, part polemic against the way rich despoilers of our land and water are protected over the people they poison, this is the sort of MIFF rallying cry to get you riled up.

‘Yalla Parkour’ (July 16 and 17)

Sometimes the way in to an unthinkable tragedy is to focus on one small, unlikely aspect of it. The ongoing genocide in Gaza saw Palestinian documentarian Areeb Zuaiter finding inexplicable videos online — a young man and his friends pulling death-defying stunts in the still-smoking ruins of Gaza. Corresponding with the boy named Ahmed led to the filmmaker exploring the unimaginable through the improbable, with the young daredevils asking what use is fear when death rains all around.

‘Mallory’s Ghost’ (July 17 and 18)

Filmed all around Portland, writer-director Arabella Oz’s dark romance takes full advantage of some evocative Maine locations to explore how the past can seriously mess with your present, if you let it. When a young couple moves into a mansion on the coast, their bliss is shattered by the unexpected appearance of the boyfriend’s late ex, causing them to confront the literal and figurative ghosts that threaten their current happiness. A thoughtful and, yes, haunting Maine-made treasure. 

‘In Transit’ (July 16 and 18)

Another shot-in-Maine gem, this drama from director Jaclyn Bethany stars the always-magnetic Jennifer Ehle (“Zero Dark Thirty”) as a frustrated painter who forms an unlikely personal and artistic bond with the aimless bartender (screenwriter Alex Sarrigeorgiou) who comes to pose for her. With Waldoboro and Damariscotta providing suitably lovely background, the artist and her muse bring out more in each other than either imagined, the two women’s story entwined as much in paint as in the flesh.

‘F***toys’ (July 17 and 18)

I always have to toss in one MIFF offering whose title we can’t print in a family newspaper, and writer-director-star Annapurna Sriram’s director debut is this year’s joyously disreputable pick. After finding out she’s been cursed, sex worker AP (Sriram) sets out on a grimy, sexy, gender-fluid picaresque journey through the most outrageous fringes of a down-and-dirty American landscape. Evoking the trash classics of John Waters, this is a raunchy but unexpectedly heartfelt deep dive right into the heart of happy depravity. 

Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and his cat.

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IF YOU GO

The 29th annual Maine International Film Festival, July 10-19, Paul J. Schupf Art Center, 93 Main St., and Waterville Opera House, 1 Common St., Waterville. 10-film pass is $125, full festival pass $250. For the full roster of films, events, speakers and award winners, go to miff.org.