DIXFIELD – Actors from across Maine recently journeyed to the Countryfolk Music Theatre in East Dixfield to audition for roles in the Countryfolk Film/Pignose Productions feature-length film “Barefoot Country Girl.”

The independent film by filmmaker Larry E. Bisbee tells the story of a young girl growing up in the foothills of western Maine in the shadow of the Longfellow Mountains and the Appalachian Trail. She prospects for gold on the Swift River near Coos Canyon in Byron. But her dream is to be a country singer like her grandmother was in the 1940s through the 1970s.

The contemporary film reflects on the life of a backwoods family and the community that surrounds the Maine “way of life” and its love of music and family. A total of 26 Maine musicians have donated original music for the score of the film.

“Now that auditions have been completed, final casting will take place around the first of July and filming will begin later that month,” Bisbee said. “I was amazed and pleased by the turnout at the auditions,” he went on to say, “and I am now sure we will have a quality film by the time we are finished shooting on location at the end of the summer.”

The all-volunteer film project, when completed, will raise funding for Countryfolk Youth Music Scholarships and will be entered in independent film festivals across the country. Bisbee said they plan to hold a world premier screening, Hollywood style, in Maine if it can be arranged at a local movie theater.