The third annual festival will run for three days and will include a wide variety of films that showcase Maine filmmakers and other films connected to the state
CONTRIBUTED STORY | City Theater
The third Annual Vacationland Film Festival starts Friday, Aug. 21, at the beautiful and historic City Theater in Biddeford. This year’s program is chock full of award-winning films, almost all from Maine or New England, with most of the films produced in, or connected to Maine.
Question and Answer sessions will follow every program, so you will have a chance to ask the filmmakers about their work.
Here you can find more information about the festival here | 2026 Vacationland Film Festival.
Highlights from this year’s festival
Friday, August 21
4 p.m., Through the Ages | A series of period films that examines recurring themes throughout history – conflict, war, belonging, longing – struggles against foes, handcuffs, the multiverse, reality and horrors of war, and immigration algorithms.
6 p.m. Opening Night | Welcome to Vacationland features two very Maine films – one, an observational comedy from a tourist perspective created by a family who visits Maine each year – and the other a story about a young Maine filmmaker who can’t wait to leave the state, despite being surrounded by abundant beauty, and parents who want him to stay and start college locally.
7:30 p.m., Friday Fright Night | A series of short horror films. If you like the horror genre, here’s a chance to see some seriously scary films in a 130-year-old haunted opera house theater. (Content warning: blood and violence.)
Saturday, August 22
1p.m., Will’s Prize is a Youth (18 and under) Filmmaking Award in memory of the late Willem Holden Watkinson of Kennebunk, who was an enthusiastic filmmaker. This is the first year of a program we hope to build and grow in the future. We want to encourage filmmakers of all ages, and help support our growing Maine film industry. See films made by some of Maine’s younger filmmakers.
2 p.m., The Internal Landscape | This series examines the various challenges that people face, often on their own: Reckoning around addiction, the loneliness of dating, anxiety and public perception, haunting nightmares, the sadness and loss of infertility, and working through grief.
4 p.m., Maine Art & Artists | This series of short films take a look at artistic expression from a few different angles: Visual storytelling and placemaking, using film as a medium; a dance film that explores the human hunger for meaningful connection in a technological, isolating world; a story about artist finding his own style and meaning within a family tradition; a documentary about Maine artists sharing a creative life together; and an animated film about a cast of characters inhabiting an abandoned Maine mill.
5:30 p.m., Short Stories | This series includes three strong Maine-based stories. The first, SWINE, features a young woman running from a harrowing experience, landing in Maine, but ultimately not being able to out-run her trauma. The second film, Mine., references the gem mining days of Maine in the 1970s when everyone was just about to strike it rich. The third film, Abandoned Buildings, deals with growing up, growing apart, and growing back together.
7:30 p.m., Family Friendly French Feature | Coco Farm is a French-Canadian film with English subtitles. Paired with the cartoon film The Adventures of Baxter & Clyde, this delightful program is suitable for all ages.
Sunday, August 23
11:30 a.m. Documentaries | This series of documentaries looks at several current realities: Second Responders, about the 2023 Lewiston mass shooting, features the educators of the community and the impacts they observed; May the Water Not Freeze features La Finca, a BIPOC farming cooperative in western Maine that’s changing the way we think about land, food and relationships; and My Climate Future in which climate change is documented by the young people who are most likely be the most impacted by the challenges that are coming.
1 p.m. Student Films |This series of films are by students in university-level film programs in Maine and New England, featuring work by students at Bowdoin, Emerson, and SMCC.
3 p.m. Special Sneak Preview of Saving Black Bear | Vacationland’s 2025 Best-of-Fest winning Cassidy Brothers (Childish Things) are back with their latest film. Set for its official debut in September in Orono at the Black Bear Theater, Vacationland is pleased to present a very special sneak peek.
Tickets are available in advance through the City Theater Box Office or in person at the theater. For more information, please visit https://citytheater.org/
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