WATERVILLE — The Maine International Film Festival Opening Night Party and the opening of the annual MIFFONEDGE exhibition is set for Friday, July 8, at the new Common Street Arts gallery and studio in The Center building, 93 Main St. The exhibit explores the intersection of film and art to push the boundaries of commonly accepted notions of cinema. Projectors on bicycles, while perhaps route in Brazil, can raise eyebrows here in Waterville.

Featuring innovative work spanning decades of moving image history, the annual MIFFONEDGE exhibition Volume 4 will focus on animation and will include a special installation by VJ Suave of Brazil as well as pieces by Robert Breer, Stephanie Maxwell and Kelly Gallagher.

MIFFonEDGE

A special room will be set up to house the installation, mobile “Suaveciclos” (film-projecting bicycles) will travel through Castonguay Square, communicating with attendees through drawings, animation and poetry. A live band, Bella’s Bartok, will perform in the square along with food and libations, according to a Waterville Creates! news release.

“It’s like we’re bringing a Brazilian Narnia to downtown Waterville, it’ll be like stepping into another dimension,” Shannon Haines, director of the Maine International Film Festival, said in the release. “This is going to be a wildly immersive experience for Festival goers and promises to be unlike anything seen at MIFF to this date — it’s a really playful exhibition that people of all ages can enjoy.”

Supported in part by a Waterville Creates! Collaborative Partner Grant, MIFFONEDGE is the first exhibition to be shown at the new Common Street Arts gallery space, and will open at 9 p.m. Friday, July 8, at 93 Main St. The exhibition will be open 2-9 p.m. daily from Saturday, July 9, through Saturday, July 16. An official ribbon cutting and opening gala is being planned for later this summer with details to be announced soon.

For more information, call 509-3365 or visit WatervilleCreates.org.