Filmmaker James Harmon, the force behind Sanford’s International Film Festival, will bring tales of his work and the festival to Alfred Shaker Museum 1:30 p.m. Sunday in a talk sponsored by the friends of the museum and the Sanford-Springvale Historical Society.

Harmon’s talk launches the groups’ four-event speakers series, which has been named the Sid Emery Memorial Forum for a local centenarian who belonged to both organizations and who died last spring. Admission to the event is free but seating may be limited.

Harmon is a film teacher at Sanford High School. He launched the film festival in 2014 cooperation from city officials, local businesses, and neighborhood groups. The festival grew to five days this year and has drawn many submissions from international film

makers.

On Aug. 23, historian and botanist Anita Sanchez of upstate New York will discuss how the Shakers won an exemption from military service in the Civil War from President Abraham Lincoln, an account drawn from her book, “Mr. Lincoln’s Chair.” This year is the 150th anniversary of the end of that war.

Two more speakers will give talks in Alfred in October. They are Richard Judd, environmental historian at the University of Maine and co-author of the  “Historical Atlas of Maine,” on Oct. 4 and George Neptune, Native American craftsman who works at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor and historian, on Oct. 25.

The series is offered with support from the Maine Humanities Council, Kennebunk Savings Bank, the Alfred Historical Society and individual donors.