CAMDEN — The Camden International Film Festival will tackle the themes of life, death, and transformation in its opening and closing films on Thursday, Sept. 29 and Oct. 2. With locations ranging from the war in Afghanistan and a small town in North Carolina, to an artist family’s unusual home in Portugal, the films “Hell and Back Again” and “Convento” will push attendees to consider exactly what life is and how easily it can be transformed.

The festival will open with the New England premiere of “Hell and Back Again,” directed by Danfung Dennis. Winner of the Grand Jury Award and Cinematography Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, this film contrasts the intensity of the frontline with the unsettling normalcy of home.

Embedded with U.S. Marines Echo Company in Afghanistan, photojournalist and filmmaker Dennis introduces 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris and follows his life during the war and throughout his recovery after being hit by a Taliban machine-gun bullet.

The film transitions from stunning war reportage to an intimate, visceral portrait of one man’s personal struggle at home in North Carolina, where Harris confronts the physical and emotional difficulties of readjusting to civilian life. Director Danfung Dennis will be in attendance.

The festival will close with a free community screening of “Convento,” put on by and presented at the Cellardoor Winery and Vineyard in Lincolnville. Directed by Jarred Alterman, “Convento” tells the story of the Zwanikken family living in Sao Francisco, a 400-year-old monastery that sits at the convergence of the rivers Oeiras and Guadiana in Portugal, an area that some believe possesses mystical energies.

This family of artists embraces and enhances the surrealist storybook landscape where they live. Notably, Dutch kinetic artist Christiaan Zwanikken creates new life in this unusual space, transforming a combination of animal skulls, bones and robotics into new creatures that can walk, talk and fly. Director Jarred Alterman will be in attendance.

“We are more than thrilled to be book-ending the 2011 festival with such powerful films,” said festival founder and director Benjamin Fowlie. “Both of these films are excellent examples of the new and unique ways documentary filmmakers are telling stories.”

“We’ve always been committed to highlighting new voices in nonfiction storytelling and both Danfung and Jarred have reset the bar for what we typically consider a documentary. I don’t think you could find two more different films, but both are similar in their poetic camera work and their ability to completely immerse audiences in the stories that they are sharing,” Fowlie said.

The Camden International Film Festival will showcase nearly 60 documentary features and shorts over the course of four days. Carrying on the tradition of discussion, nearly every film will be accompanied by a post-screening Q&A with directors or producers. The festival will also expand its Points North forum, which gives the New England filmmaking community an opportunity to connect with industry leaders from HBO, A&E Indie Films, ITVS, PBS, the Tribeca Institute and a number of other funders, broadcasters and independent executive producers. All told, more than 60 industry representatives and filmmakers will be in attendance over the course of the four-day festival.

For a list and description of films, venues throughout Camden and Rockland where films will be screened or to buy passes, visit www.camdenfilmfest.org.

The Camden International Film Festival will open on Thursday, Sept. 29, with “Hell and Back Again,” directed by Danfung Dennis. The film, which contrasts the intensity of the frontline with the unsettling normalcy of home, won the Grand Jury Award and Cinematography Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.