CAMDEN — The Points North Institute has set their dates for the 18th edition of the Camden International Film Festival, which will run from September 15-18, 2022 in Camden, Rockport, and Rockland. The festival will be held in-person once again, while also streaming their program online through its virtual festival.

The 2021 Camden International Film Festival was the largest documentary gathering in the US since the start of the pandemic, according to Points North, in a news release. Over forty filmmakers were in attendance to participate in post-screening conversations, alongside dozens of industry members and over fifty Points North Artist Program Fellows who were in attendance to workshop their feature and short films.

The annual festival exhibited over 80 feature and short films from across the globe, screening films nightly at the festival’s very own Shotwell Drive-In (constructed in May 2020) and at long-standing festival venues the Camden Opera House and Strand Theatre. The CIFF team also designed a new exhibition and gathering space inside a boat barn at Journey’s End Marina on the working waterfront in Rockland.

Points North has been approved to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. Points North is recommended to receive $150,000 and may use this funding to save jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57,750,000 to just 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC.

“Our nation’s arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. “The National Endowment for the Arts’ American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations, such as Points North, rebuild and reopen. The arts are crucial in helping America’s communities heal, unite, and inspire, as well as essential to our nation’s economic recovery.”

“We are extremely proud of the ways in which Points North has innovated to address the needs of the communities we serve during these challenging times, both in terms of exhibiting and supporting nonfiction cinema, and bringing artists and audience together to safely celebrate the documentary form amidst a global pandemic,” said Ben Fowlie, Executive and Artistic Director of the Points North Institute and the Founder of CIFF. “Cinema is a beacon, and a vital community-building tool and this support from the NEA will allow us to have an even greater impact on documentary filmmakers and film culture in 2022 and beyond.”

Points North is one of seven organizations in Maine to receive funding this round, and will use the grant to add three, new, year-round positions to its core team in order to amplify its work and build its sustainability as an organization: Marketing Coordinator, Program Coordinator, and Production Manager. The safety of festival-goers, filmmakers and Artist Programs Fellows will again be prioritized in 2022, and communications with audiences will be paramount at the 18th edition of CIFF. The core team will work together to deliver an impactful, robust, engaging in-person festival.

For more information on the NEA’s American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of arts organizations funded in this announcement, visit www.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.

About Points North Institute

The Points North Institute is the launching pad for the next generation of nonfiction storytellers. Programs include the annual Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum, as well as a year-round calendar of artist development initiatives that nurture the careers of diverse nonfiction storytellers and help them develop a stronger artistic voice. The 18th edition of the Camden International Film Festival will take place September 15-18, 2022. For more information, visit www.pointsnorthinstitute.org