The 2022 Bates Film Festival will pay tribute to screen icon Judy Garland with a centennial celebration. In honor of the star’s 100th birthday, the festival will present a special screening of Garland’s 1944 classic “Meet Me in St. Louis” at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 2, at Nordica Theatre in Freeport. After the screening, Griffin will host “A Centennial Celebration of Judy Garland” at 1:30 p.m. at Meetinghouse Arts in Freeport. This event will feature a discussion of Garland’s life and her multifaceted career.

The acclaimed MGM musical was directed by Oscar winner Vincente Minnelli, whom Garland married a year after the film’s release. Minnelli biographer and Lewiston native Mark Griffin will introduce the movie. “It is a great privilege and an honor to be part of the Bates Film Festival,” says Griffin. “I’m thrilled that we’re going to have an opportunity to celebrate the incomparable artistry of Judy Garland. Although it’s been over fifty years since Judy’s untimely death, she remains very much alive through her extraordinary body of work.”

In 1939, Garland was presented with a special Academy Award for her “outstanding performance as a screen juvenile” in “The Wizard of Oz.” This was followed by Oscar nominations for “A Star is Born” (1954) and “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961). In 1961, Garland became the first woman to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year for the live recording “Judy at Carnegie Hall.”

At the Meetinghouse Arts event, Griffin will invite attendees to participate in a trivia contest as well as view Judy Garland memorabilia from his personal collection. Meetinghouse Arts is located at 40 Main St., Freeport.

The screening of “Meet Me in St. Louis” and the Centennial Celebration are free and open to the public.

For more information and the complete Bates Film Festival schedule, please visit www.bates.edu/bff or the film festival’s pages on Instagram and Facebook.

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