LEWISTON — The Emerge Film Festival is moving its annual celebration of movies to the fall.

Organizers also announced that the stand-alone festival will become part of The Dolard and Priscilla Gendron Franco Center and absorbed into its programming.

The announcements were made Friday in a joint statement by Ramsey Tripp, president of the Emerge Film Festival, and Mitch Thomas, executive director of the Franco Center.

Previously held in April, the sixth annual film festival is scheduled for Oct. 3 to Oct. 5.

“October is a beautiful time to be in Maine,” Tripp said. “We can’t wait to showcase our community, our state and our filmmakers this fall.”

The Franco Center has been a primary venue for the festival’s headline films most nights and has been the location of the festivals EFFy Awards nearly each year.

Tripp said the change should benefit both organizations and especially help the festival’s survival. Emerge relies on a dedicated crew of volunteers, and the partnership with the Franco Center will provide important stability and support.

“This partnership will give us a greater platform to help us reach some of our objectives like having year-round programming while also giving the Franco Center a way to brand some of their other film offerings and grow their programming,” Tripp said.

“Emerge is an important part of our community, an arts event that draws in filmmakers and film-lovers from all over the state, the country, and the world to Lewiston,” Thomas said. “We are excited to continue and deepen our commitment to this event. The committee is already hard at work on planning the next festival and making it the same high-quality event that festival-goers have come to expect.”

Films are being accepted by the festival organizers in the following categories: feature,  documentary, short, and emerging or student filmmaker. Films can be submitted to Emerge through the FilmFreeway link on its website.