Joel Johnson of Augusta receives popcorn Sunday at the concession stand at the Maine Film Center in downtown Waterville. Johnson is attending the 27th Maine International Film Festival to watch “Crossing.” Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE — This is the 19th year that Peg Anderson has volunteered at the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville.

She said she is impressed every year with MIFF.

“We have these gems of movies, where you go, ‘Wow!'” Anderson said Sunday, while taking a break on a bench inside the Paul J. Schupf Art Center at 93 Main St. in downtown Waterville.

Sunday marked the third day of the 27th annual festival, which kicked off Friday and runs through Sunday, July 21. This year’s offerings include more than 100 films from more than 40 countries, according to festival organizers. Twenty-two of the films were made in Maine.

“We’ve had an incredible opening weekend,” Mike Perreault, executive director of the Maine Film Center, which hosts the festival, said.

Filmgoers enter a theater Sunday at the Maine Film Center to see “Crossing” during the 27th Maine International Film Festival in downtown Waterville. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

The Waterville Opera House, which with the film center hosts the festival, was full Saturday night for the premiere of “Lost on a Mountain in Maine,” an adaption directed by Waterville native Ryan Cook of the story of Donn Fendler, who was 12 when he got lost on Mount Katahdin for nine days in 1939

Shortly before the premiere, thunderstorms knocked out power to the building, but it restored for the film’s 7 p.m. start.

“We still managed to get everyone to their seat 10 minutes before it started,” Perreault said, crediting the festival’s staff members and volunteers for their efforts.

On Sunday afternoon, filmgoers were trickling into theaters for screenings, including the 1951 Mexican film “Victims of Sin,” a documentary about undocumented immigrants in the United States, called “Dreamers,” and the feature drama, “Crossing,” an international coproduction whose director hails from the country of Georgia, a former Soviet republic at thewhich is at the intersection of Europe and Asia.

Sunday’s program also featured a workshop on making an indie film — an independent movie — with the makers of “Lost on a Mountain in Maine,” which was held at the Greene Block + Studios at 18 Main St., also in downtown Waterville.

For Anderson, the festival is more than a chance to see films from around the world.

Staff members Michelle Sweet, left, and Marie Sugden stand Sunday in front of 27th Maine International Film Festival posters at the Maine Film Center in downtown Waterville. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

“I come for the movies. I come for the fans. And I come for the filmmakers, too,” she said.

Anderson, who said she volunteers to take any task, from taking tickets to sweeping floors, said she enjoys speaking with the filmmakers who attend the festival about their work. Anderson said she also enjoys — year after year — seeing many of the same volunteers and attendees.

“I enjoy being here because I’ve been coming here for so long,” said Anderson, who is from Westborough, Massachusetts, but spends summers at a second home on East Pond in Smithfield. “I kind of, like, check in with my friends.”

Ezra Ehrenzeller of Oakland scans tickets Sunday at the Maine Film Center in downtown Waterville. Ehrenzeller is volunteering at the 27th Maine International Film Festival as a member of the National Honor Society at Maine Connections Academy in Scarborough. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

While taking a break Sunday afternoon, Anderson recognized an elderly woman who had attended the festival for years but did not for several years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, when Anderson saw her, Anderson told the woman how glad she was that she able to attend again, even though the two did not know each other’s names.

Anderson also recognized a former volunteer, Susan Watts, who was walking past. Watts said she volunteered at the festival for about 10 years.

“One of the biggest reasons that I come is the community,” Watts said of Waterville.

A newer volunteer, Ezra Ehrenzeller, a student from Oakland, said he was volunteering at MIFF as part of a National Honor Society program.

Greta Thiele scoops popcorn Sunday for filmgoers attending the 27th Maine International Film Festival in downtown Waterville. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

“I get to see cool movies, I get to help people,” Ehrenzeller said. “Not a bad way to fill up your hours.”

Perreault said the festival represents “the best 10 days in Maine,” and it supports local businesses, including restaurants and hotels.

“Main Street is alive,” Perreault said. “It’s vibrant.”

New this year to the lineup is a series of Rwandan films, born out of a partnership with a festival in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, Perreault said.

Early arrivers to the Waterville Opera House are seated Sunday for “Victims of Sin” during the 27th Maine International Film Festival in downtown Waterville. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Another highlight includes the New England premiere of “The Ghost Trap,” the festival’s centerpiece film. The feature, filmed in Maine, is scheduled to be screened Wednesday and Saturday.

Dutch director Jos Stelling is set to be awarded the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award, while also showing his latest film, “Nastasja’s Dance,” on Monday.

Canadian director Mary Harron is this year’s Mid-Life Achievement Award honoree. Several of Harron’s films, including “Daliland” and “American Psycho,” are scheduled to be shown this week.

For more information about MIFF and its lineup, or to reserve tickets, see miff.org.