Start your Labor Day weekend with the Maine Outdoor Film Festival on Friday, September 3, at 7:00 p.m. in Rangeley’s Lakeside Theatre, 2493 Main Street. This year’s films take us from our own Saddleback Mountain to the coastline and north woods of Maine, on to Montreal, and west to Colorado. Admission is $6 for adults, and $3 for Appalachian Trail hikers and children under 12. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

“More Than A Mountain” is one of the seven films to be shown at the 7th annual Maine Outdoor Film Festival in Rangeley’s Lakeside Theater, September 3, 7:00 p.m., part of the two-day Trail Town Festival.

The festival opens with “More Than A Mountain” (37.6-minutes), a film about Saddleback’s comeback journey and the resort’s vision for a vibrant future. Filmmakers Spencer Mendell and Paul Friedman worked at the Mountain from 2009 to 2015, when Saddleback closed. They shot most of the photography and video for the marketing office during those years, so their footage helped them tell this exciting story of Saddleback’s revival.

“You Can’t Get There From Here” (10.5 minutes) documents Chris Bennett and Chris Shane’s 10 day, 700+ mile backpacking trip from York to Lubec in June 2020. They wanted to see as much of the state’s 3,478 miles of coastline as they could. Exploring lighthouses and lobster shacks, beaches and mountains, the two discover that sometimes the best adventures can be found right in your own backyard. By filmmakers Jamie Walter, Taylor Walker, Chris Shane of Maine.

Set in the Gunnison River area of Colorado, “Raised on Rainbows” (8.9 minutes) by filmmaker Matt Coddaire from Massachusetts shows why having children still pursuing a passion for fly fishing can be a challenge. For this Colorado couple though, sharing the sport with their children has brought new depth, patience, and an even stronger desire to preserve the rivers they love for generations to come.

“Jeff Labree: Maine Guide” (5.2 minutes) explores what it means to be a registered guide in the North Maine woods. Jeff works for Libby Camps, which has been run by the Libby family for five generations. To access the camps, you need to travel about 4.5 hours north of Portland and then take another 1.5-hour journey down dirt logging roads. Filmed by Maine’s Lone Spruce Creative.

In “45 Minutes By Plane” (9.83 minutes), filmmaker Guillaume Knobloch from Massachusetts was looking for a way to get from Montreal, Quebec, to Portland to surprise his girlfriend. In desperate need of adventure, and with the aim of helping the environment, he decided to bike home. Little did he know that his idea would turn out to be his greatest adventure yet.

Greg Caruso’s office is an 18 foot canoe on a remote section of Maine’s Kennebec River. In “The Ferryman” (8.4 minutes), filmmaker Carlo Nasise shows Greg’s work as a ferryman for hikers completing the 2,190 mile long Appalachian Trail. An exploration of Greg’s lifelong connection to rivers, this film also documents his occupation—a simple, beautiful, daily passage across the Kennebec.

In “If I Tell Them” (12.43 minutes), a film by Oliver Sutro of Colorado, James Sampsel, a fly-fishing guide and plein air painter comes to terms with his past as well as a bi-polar diagnosis that hangs over his future.

Heather Anderson may be the greatest hiker to ever walk the earth, and yet she has remained a mysterious figure to most. In “The Ghost” (15 minutes), filmmakers Carlo Nasisse and Maria Luisa Santos explore Heather’s personal journey from unknown hiker to the holder of some of the most coveted records in the hiking world.

On the day after the Maine Outdoor Film Festival—Saturday, September 4th, join other outdoor enthusiasts at the Rangeley Trail Town Festival from 10:00am to 4:00pm, on Pond Street. Celebrate Maine with storytelling, games, and activities for all, including Gifford’s Ice Cream Eating Contest at 3:00, a marshmallow roast, arts and crafts, exhibits, a raffle, and more. Rangeley’s own “Unknown Legend”—Joe Montimurro and Nancy Bessey—will play musical favorites from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, starting at 1:00 p.m. For more information, see http://rangeleytrailtown.com and https://maineoutdoorfilmfestival.com/2021-rangeley

For Calendars of Events:

Rangeley. September 3. Seventh annual Maine Outdoor Film Festival, 7:00 p.m. Lakeside Theatre, 2493 Main St. Admission $6; $3 for Appalachian Trail hikers and children under 12. Refreshments for purchase. FMI: 864-2771, https://maineoutdoorfilmfestival.com/2021-rangeley