Ildikó Enyedi Gyula Czimbal photo

WATERVILLE — Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi will receive the Midlife Achievement Award for her distinguished contributions to the cinema during the 26th annual Maine International Film Festival.

The event is scheduled for Friday to Sunday, July 7-16, at the Maine Film Center’s three new cinemas in the Paul J. Schupf Art Center (93 Main St.) and the Waterville Opera House (1 Common St.).

“We are truly thrilled and honored to be able to present this year’s Midlife Achievement Award to Ildikó Enyedi, who’s proven herself over nearly four decades to be one of cinema’s greatest contemporary directors,” said MIFF Programming Director Ken Eisen, according to a news release from the center.

“She stunned and charmed Cannes as a virtual unknown in 1989 with ‘My 20th Century,’ winning the festival’s Caméra d’Or, and her films have continued to be widely honored ever since, including her amazing ‘On Body And Soul’ becoming an Oscar-nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018. Her unique, playful, and powerful voice is always wonderfully expressed on-screen,” Eisen added.

Among Enyedi’s renowned works are “Simon the Magician” (1999), which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival; “On Body and Soul” (2017), awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; and “The Story of My Wife” (2022), which celebrated its Eastern U.S. Premiere at MIFF last year.

Having just served as chair of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Competition, Enyedi will be present throughout MIFF to introduce four of her films, as well as to accept her award at a screening at the Waterville Opera House on Sunday, July 9.

Festival passes are on sale at MIFF.org. The complete MIFF program will be announced Friday, June 9, when tickets will also be made available for purchase online.

Check out other upcoming area events!