RANGELEY – Labor Day festivities will begin with the fourth annual Maine Outdoor Film Festival on Friday, August 31, at 7 p.m. in Rangeley at the Lakeside Theatre, 2493 Main Street. This year’s films go from Alaska, through several western states, and then to New York’s Hudson River. Admission is $6 for adults, and $3 for Appalachian Trail hikers and children under 12. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
“Wild Ice” (3 min.) gets the evening off to a heart-stopping start with the tale of Alaska’s daring backcountry skaters who search out ice on rivers, lakes, glacial lagoons, and inside ice caves.
Then, in “A Jump Across the Atlantic” (6 min.), follow the de Koning family who immigrate from Holland to farm mussels in Maine with the same techniques they’ve been using for seven generations. Director David Jackel hopes to show how aquaculture can be done sustainability and with great care for the pristine beauty of nature.
Travel to Utah with film director Hank Leukart and Jake, his best friend since high school, as they go on a hiking and packrafting trip to explore the newly-minted Bears Ears National Monument, created by President Barack Obama. In “Bears Ears” (29 min.), the pair tell of the political battle they discover that epitomizes the culture war sweeping the nation.
In “Brothers” (6 min.), filmmakers Randy Kerr and Tim Burke tell of the three Burke brothers who find refuge and redemption from their troubled childhood home through their love of fly fishing for steelhead in the Pacific Northwest. In one winter day on the river, the brothers, adults now, persevere through harsh circumstances, never losing hope—for either fish or the enduring relationships they’ve forged on the river. Then, in “Horns Out” (12 min.), director Andy Sarjahani (12 min.) takes us climbing with the aging, 77-year-old Maurice Horn as he grapples with sense of place and identity through the earlier loss of his childhood ranch and, now, the imminent loss of what has kept him going since then: climbing.
Katie Brigham’s “Information Station” (9 min.) explores the cozy culture and spontaneous community of the remote Carson Pass Information Station during one unusually snowy season. Located in California’s Sierra Nevada along the famous 2,650 mile-long Pacific Crest Trail, the Station is owned and operated by a team of close-knit volunteers who dole out granola, water, and conversation to weary hikers.
The Film Festival closes with “One Week at a Time” (11 min.) that takes us along with four good friends as they circumnavigate New England via sea kayak. We follow them on the last leg of their voyage down the Hudson to the foot of the Statue of Liberty.
On the next day, Saturday, September 1, join with other outdoor enthusiasts at the Rangeley Trail Town Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Pond Street. Celebrate Maine with games and activities for all, including Gifford’s Ice Cream Eating Contest at 3 p.m., a marshmallow roast, arts and crafts, exhibits, a raffle, and more. Music will be provided by the award-winning Don and Cindy Roy, with Jay Young starting at 12:30 p.m.. For more information, see http://rangeleytrailtown.com and http://maineoutdoorfilmfestival.com/2018-rangeley
