A scene from “I like Movies,” which will close out the festival. Director Chandler Levack will be in attendance.

Attendees of the 26th annual Maine International Film Festival this week will be greeted with some big changes. Not in the films – MIFF, which runs this year from Friday through July 16 – is still the event of the Maine film season. Featuring nearly 100 of the best features and short films from around the world and right here in Maine, the festival has established itself as a major movie destination, bringing acclaimed filmmakers, movies and audiences from every corner of the globe to Waterville.

Instead, the changes this year will be evident as soon as audiences step through the doors of the newly opened Paul J. Schupf Arts Center. The brand-new building is home to not only the headquarters of MIFF organizers Maine Film Center and Waterville Creates, but also the relocated Railroad Square Cinema and the attached Waterville Opera House, both of which are preparing to host this year’s Maine International Film Festival in its new, all-purpose downtown Waterville digs.

“People are really going to be surprised by the scale and beauty of our downtown location,” said MIFF Executive Director Mike Perrault, taking time out of his hectic pre-fest schedule to tout MIFF’s glow-up. “It’s state-of-the-art, with brand new equipment, seats and amenities. We still have the same popcorn, since that’s on record as being the best popcorn in the known universe.” Bold statement on that last one, but Perrault is right in saying that attendees to this year’s MIFF will be treated to a much improved – and centralized – festival experience.

“The Maine Film Center is just feet from the Waterville Opera House,” Perrault said of the festival’s two screening venues, noting that not only are both served by a single box office, but that they’re connected by a newly constructed sky bridge, giving a view of the bustling Waterville downtown. “We’ve got great neighbors, like the new Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art in the same building, all served by the Ed Harris box office. (Yes, that Ed Harris, as the acclaimed actor fell in love with the area while filming 2005’s “Empire Falls” and sponsored the location.)

For Perrault, these impressive new environs are the perfect way to reintroduce film enthusiasts to the inimitable joys of moviegoing after a long, pandemic-tainted time away. “We’re happy to be back to normal,” said Perreault. “There’s no virtual component to the festival this year, everything is in person. The message is that it’s time to come back out to the theater.”

Of course, Maine International is all about the movies (despite all these upgrades and innovations being genuinely exciting for Maine moviegoers). And this year’s MIFF maintains the Maine institution’s reputation for groundbreaking, adventurous and far-reaching cinematic experience. Asking MIFF’s executive director to pick out a few favorites is always a challenge, as Perrault and his team (including MIFF and Railroad Square programming guru Ken Eisen) have been living with and loving these films for months leading up to the festival. But he gave it a shot.

“Hangdog,” filmed in Portland, opens the Maine International Film Festival on Friday. Photos courtesy of Maine International Film Festival

“I’m really excited for people to see ‘Hangdog,’ our opening night film,” Perrault said of the Portland-shot feature from director Matt Cascella, and starring Desmin Borges of TV’s “You’re the Worst” as an anxiety-ridden man desperately looking for his stolen dog. “I just watched a quality test screening with the director (who’ll be in attendance), and it’s hilarious, beautifully shot and a great story. I know audiences are going to love it.”

Bookending this year’s MIFF, Perrault leapt right to the closing night film to extol the unique virtues of also in-attendance director Chandler Levack, the appropriately titled “I Like Movies.” It’s the coming-of-age tale of a socially backward Ontario teen and video store clerk whose film geek obsession manifests in thorny interactions with customers and hard-won wisdom from his no-nonsense manager. (As a former socially maladroit video store clerk, your author is on board.)

Perrault is also thrilled at the unprecedented Maine contingent appearing in this year’s Maine International, with seven Maine-made features and 16 Maine short films all making their debuts. “It’s totally awesome, a bumper crop of really diverse Maine films and stories,” he said of the larger-than-ever number of Maine filmmakers involved. “It’s an honor to be able to exhibit so many different Maine voices in this year’s festival. Maine’s got a very active film industry and we’re happy to be the place where people can step up and use MIFF as a launch pad to tell their story.” As to why MIFF 26 had such a groundswell of Maine content, Perrault explained simply, “We just had really good submissions this year.”

“Heightened” is among the many Maine-made films screening at this year’s Maine International Film Festival.

One of the central features of each Maine International Film Festival is the bestowal of MIFF’s Mid-Life Achievement Award to a worthy cinematic pioneer, with this year’s coveted and personalized moose statuette going to Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi. “She’s undeservedly under-known in America,” Perrault said of the director, the screening of whose Oscar-nominated 2017 film “Of Body and Soul” will be the setting for Enyedi’s award presentation. MIFF will also screen Enyedi’s “My Twentieth Century,” “Simon the Magician” and most recent film “The Story of My Wife.” Said Perrault, “She’s been coming to MIFF for many years, she served as chair of the short-film jury at Cannes this year, and she’s just super-impressive and amazing.”

As ever, there’s far too much movie goodness packed into the Maine International Film Festival to cover in one measly column. I will agree with Perrault that true film history buffs should be tingly with anticipation for MIFF’s three-film celebration of the work of director and artist Bill Morrison. Morrison’s boundary-breaking documentaries “The Great Flood,” “Buried News” and the breathtaking “Dawson City: Frozen in Time” are culled from literally buried cinema history, as a massive cache of discarded silent nitrate film found in the Canadian permafrost are the source for Morrison’s eye-opening work. “Bill will be a special guest,” said Perrault, “in part to recognize his incredible accomplishment and unique approach as an archivist, filmmaker and composer.”

Tickets and festival passes ($125 for 10 admissions/$250 for a full pass, and always the way to go) can be purchased at miff.org, which also has a rundown of all the many cinematic splendors awaiting you at this irreplaceable Maine movie event.

Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and cat.