The 22nd annual Maine International Film Festival, held in Waterville, Maine July 12-21, will honor director Hilary Brougher with a screening of her new film, “South Mountain,” followed by a Mid-Life Achievement Award ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 14 at the Waterville Opera House. A special after party for the filmmaker and MIFF guests will be held at OPA Waterville on Main Street in downtown Waterville.

Hilary Brougher is an American director and screenwriter, and chair of the Film Department at Columbia University. Winner of numerous awards including Best Director for Stephanie Daley at the 2006 Jackson Hole and Milan International Film Festivals, Brougher’s South Mountain was recently nominated for the SXSW Grand Jury Award for Narrative Feature. During the 2019 Maine International Film Festival, three of Brougher’s films will be screened. In addition to “South Mountain,” the Festival will showcase “Stephanie Daley” (2006) and “The Sticky Fingers of Time” (1997).

“South Mountain” is a meditation on a particular sort of love that grows in the wreckage of broken things. Lila (Talia Balsam) is an artist and teacher who has built a modest rural paradise in New York's Catskill Mountains with her writer/husband, Edgar (Scott Cohen). The two have been married for two decades. But then Scott unexpectedly announces the birth of a child with another woman, and Lila tests her bonds to family and friends, beginning a friendship with a younger man. All is changing, or so it seems. Set in the lush span of a single summer, the film is a portrait of a woman at a moment of loss and reconfiguration. Something new is being birthed—perhaps.

Founded in 1998, The Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) is a project of the Maine Film Center. Venues are the legendary Railroad Square Cinema and historic Waterville Opera House.

Each year MIFF showcases 100 premier releases of American independent and international cinema, classic revivals, inspiring performances, exhibitions, and community workshops in Waterville, Maine. Over the course of 10 exciting days, our audiences have the unique opportunity to connect with directors, producers, writers, actors, and musicians who travel to Waterville from across the globe. For a full list of the 2019 MIFF films, visit https://miff2019.eventive.org/schedule.