Festival (2005)

More than 60 Maine high schools compete in the Maine State Drama Festival, an annual one-act play competition. FESTIVAL follows one school's emotional and, ultimately, triumphant journey through the pressure-packed 2004 state competition in Camden, Maine. For their first feature documentary, Maine filmmakers Jim and Tom Isler turned their cameras on the Theatre Company at Falmouth High School, which, over the past decade, has earned a reputation as one of the state's powerhouse theater companies; in ten years, FHS reached the state festival eight times, taking home four state titles. FESTIVAL offers an engrossing and entertaining inside look at an intensely competitive subculture of high school-one that matters deeply to those who participate in it-as experienced by some of the most talented high school actors and actresses in Maine. FESTIVAL is also a loving portrait of Dede Waite, the company's dedicated and idiosyncratic director of 19 years, as well as a beautiful document of youthful exuberance and the inspiring dedication of a group of teenagers to their craft, their art and each other.