Start your Labor Day weekend with the Maine Outdoor Film Festival on Friday, September 2nd, at 7:00 p.m. in Rangeley’s Lakeside Theatre, 2493 Main Street. This year’s films take us from the woods and farms of Maine, across the country to San Francisco and the mountain West, and on to Sri Lanka. Admission is $7 for adults, and $4 for Appalachian Trail hikers and children under 12. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

The film festival opens with “The Story of a Trout” (12 min. by Gareth Leah) that celebrates the life of Alaska fishing legend Curt Trout and how one person’s passion can have a profound effect on a community, a sport, and a river.

“The Last Last Hike” (19.9 min. by Céline François) tells the story of 83-year-old Nimblewill Nomad, caretaker at Flagg Mountain, Alabama, who is about to become the oldest person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. With more than two decades and 50,000 miles of hiking experience behind him, will this really be his last last hike?

“We Are Like Waves” (12 min. by Jordyn Romero) is an intimate look into how surfing changes Sanu’s life, documenting the struggles and breakthroughs of becoming one of the first female Sri Lankan surfers.

“In Pursuit of Soul” (34.5 min. by Jeremy Grant) explores the culture of independent resort towns across the country, while meeting the people that call those mountains home. The film features 12 independent resorts from East Coast classics to hidden gems in the Mountain West.

In “Keystone: Voices for the Little Fish” (11.2 min. by Jerry Monkman), residents of Gardiner, Maine, work to provide fish passage around three historic dams on Cobbossee Stream for the first time in 270 years. Their goal: to restore an ecosystem that can support millions of river herring and other wildlife.

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“Sap Time” (4.2 min. by Roger Scott McCord of Maine) highlights two brothers who own a Maine dairy farm and make maple syrup to help make ends meet.

“Yo Gleans” (10.5 min. by Blake Horn of Maine) follows a day in the life of Yosarian Bisbee, aka “Yo,” as he gathers “junk” from the local dump and unwanted food from the grocery store—all in an effort to minimize waste.

“Don’t Feed the Coyotes” (33.4 min. by Nick Stone Schearer) observes several years in the intertwined lives of San Francisco’s urban coyotes, especially a three-year-old coyote, fondly-named Scout, and her territorial challenger, the scientifically-dubbed 15F. Chronicling their lives through the two starkly different researchers observing them, the film investigates the human world, the natural world, and the lines we’ve drawn between the two.

On the day after the Maine Outdoor Film Festival—Saturday, September 3rd, join other outdoor enthusiasts at the Rangeley Trail Town Festival from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, on Pond Street. Celebrate Maine with storytelling, games, exhibits, a raffle, and activities for all, including Gifford’s Ice Cream Eating Contest at 3:00. Music by Denny Breau starts at 12:30 pm. For more information, see http://rangeleytrailtown.com and https://maineoutdoorfilmfestival.com/2022-rangeley

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