The annual film festival officially starts Thursday, Oct. 30 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 2. It has something for everyone, organizers say, from the film festival novice to the seasoned movie critic.

Festival Coordinator Noah Ramer said there will be interesting content for every type of cinema fan who attends all or part of the four-day festival.

“We craft the program as one that is accessible to all, with some options for attendees who would like to try a film or attend a seminar that may be a bit outside their typical realm of experience,” Ramer said.

The festival will commence with an opening night party from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid, which will serve as headquarters for the festival. Tickets for all events can be obtained at www.adirondackfilm.org.

For those who are new to the festival, Ramer said there are several documentaries that are accessible to general audiences. Two music-based documentaries are especially sure to make waves, Ramer said. The first is the opening night film, “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House.” The documentary will follow the opening night party. It will be shown at the Palace Theatre, 2430 Main St. The film is about the beginnings of house music as it emerged from Disco culture. A question-and-answer session with Director Elegance Bratton and Producer Chester Algernal Gordon will follow the screening.

“It’s an electric and riveting documentary, doubly so as we have the film’s director and producer for a Q&A after the screening,” Ramer said.

The second documentary is “Viva Verdi,” a story about a retirement home in Milan, Italy that specifically houses aging musicians and opera singers. The screening will be held at the Palace Theatre on Saturday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. and will be followed by a Q&A with the Director and Producer Yvonne Russo.

For others dipping their toes in the film festival waters for the first time, Ramer suggested that the special Halloween screening of “The Silence of the Lambs” is a good and scary wading pool. It is being shown on Friday from 8:30 to 11 p.m. at the Palace Theatre. The film will be followed by a post-screening Q&A with Larry Jackson, the executive in charge of production of the film.

Or, for a more kid-friendly experience, Ramer suggested the 30th anniversary, free screening of “Jumanji.” Ramer said parents can bring children to enjoy the action and complimentary popcorn provided by the village of Lake Placid from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Palace Theatre. Another child-friendly entry is the animated film “Arco,” a sci-fi fantasy featuring the voices of Will Ferrell, Natalie Portman and Andy Samberg on Saturday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Palace Theatre.

For approachable documentaries with an eye toward socio-historical issues, Ramer suggested the Tribeca Film Festival Documentary winner, “Natchez,” and the double-feature of the shorts “A Return Home and La Liga.” Scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Palace Theatre, “Natchez” explores how one town in the American South attempts to reconcile and live with its past. “A Return Home and La Liga” is scheduled for 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Palace Theatre. This double-feature looks at the lives of marginalized people, such as immigrants and undocumented workers, as they attempt to find community in an unfamiliar world. There will be a Q&A session with the creative teams of both short films following the screenings.

For those who might know a little bit more about film history and want to venture into deeper waters, Ramer highlighted “Buffalo Bill and the Indians” from the seven-time Oscar-nominated Director Robert Altman. The screening, which will take place at the Palace Theatre on Saturday from 8 to 10:30 p.m., is itself an event as the film has not been publicly screened in Upstate New York in more than a decade. It, too, will be followed by a Q&A with actor Allan Nicholls.

Ramer also said film festival lovers will enjoy the films coming from the Cannes Film Festival, arguably the biggest film festival in the world. Those include: “The Secret Agent” (Brazil’s entry to the 98th Academy Awards), “Young Mothers” (the latest film from the legendary Dardenne Brothers), and “My Father’s Shadow” (United Kingdom’s entry to the 98th Academy Awards). At the Palace Theatre on Saturday, “The Secret Agent” will be screened from 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.; “Young Mothers” will be shown from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.; and “My Father’s Shadow” will be shown from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“The Secret Agent” was the Cannes Film Festival’s most awarded film with wins in several categories, including Best Actor and Best Director. “Young Mothers” won the festival’s prize for Best Screenplay, while “My Father’s Shadow” won the Special Mention for the Camera d’Or, the prize for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes selections.

A festival with a mission Ramer underscored the multilayered mission of the festival, a mission as extensive as the stories portrayed in the films.

“We love to screen movies,” Ramer said, “but we also want to ensure that folks are leaving with more information about their community, in the way of local resources and organizations, but also in terms of understanding one another. Film, just like other art forms, is the gateway into empathy and understanding. It is our mission as a film festival to continue cultivating and building camaraderie and understanding in our community.”

The festival’s multifaceted mission extends to the short film programming as well.

“‘Your Shorts Are Showing,’ the LPPF’s short film program, is screening 30 films that span a host of genres all day on Oct. 31,” Ramer said. “Out of those 30 films, nearly half were made by filmmakers in Upstate New York. This demonstrates just how committed we are to supporting filmmakers in our region to ensure that film production has a bright future for years to come.”

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Top picks by industry insiders

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Larry Jackson, well-known producer and film executive, and Paul Hardart, distinguished clinical professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, offered two unique perspectives on the festival.

Jackson is known for many projects, not the least of which was his role as executive in charge of production of the film “The Silence of the Lambs.” With a film career that spans more than 50 years, Jackson described his appreciation for an event like the LPFF.

“What a festival like this represents is past, present, and future, all in one place,” Jackson said. “We get to reassess some classics. We get to discover some important new films that we may not even have heard of previously, often before the general public gets to see them. Finally, in meeting with a generation of highly motivated, imaginative, and creative young film students, we get to both teach and learn from those who will carry the torch of the art form into the future.”

Jackson said he is also looking forward to sharing the origin story of “The Silence of the Lambs” during the post-screening Q&A on Friday. The film won the “Big Five” categories at the 64th Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay) and remains the only horror film to have won the Best Picture category.

“Of course, I’m looking forward to sharing some of the little-known stories of how ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ came into being,” Jackson said. “It was a process full of surprising and rewarding accidents.”

As a true fan of the history of film, Jackson noted his excitement to moderate a Q&A with actor Allan Nicholls after the momentous screening of Robert Altman’s “Buffalo Bill and the Indians.”

“We get to pay tribute to the incomparable filmmaker Robert Altman on the occasion of his 100th birthday,” Jackson said. “He brought a unique form of poetry and intimacy to telling quintessentially American stories.”

Coming from the business side of the industry, Hardart is an expert on the intersection between media, entertainment, and technology, and will be participating in a panel from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at High Peaks Resort on how storytelling is impacted by evolving technologies. Yet, when asked what he is most looking forward to at the festival, his cinephilia was palpable.

“I love all kinds of films,” Hardart said. “The LPFF offers a broad array of everything that appeals to me. It features short films from exciting new voices, standout international selections like ‘The Poet’ from Colombia and ‘The Secret Agent’ from Brazil, and, of course, a chance to see a classic like ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ on the big screen. It’s going to be a great event.”

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The history of the LPFF

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Harkening back to the history of the LPFF, attendees will discover a heartfelt coming-of-age story of a now burgeoning 25-year-old. The plot has included cameos from the likes of Milos Forman, John Sayles, Martin Scorsese, Raoul Peck, Steve Buscemi and Paul Schrader, but the spotlight has always been on the event itself. The festival was once called the Lake Placid Film Forum, and founding member John Huttlinger emphasized that the original name is significant to the spirit of the festival.

“This was purposefully not meant to be a commercial festival,” Huttlinger said. “The idea was to provide a forum where filmmakers, film industry professionals, authors, actors, film critics and others could come together to engage with each other and with the general public.”

Moreover, Huttlinger noted that the films shown are in keeping with the discursive, community-driven tenor of the festival.

“The program was built around the screening of quality independent films and films of interest that our guests would like us to screen. Connected to the screenings were Q&A sessions, workshops and informal gatherings,” he said.

For a complete schedule of events, visit online at www.adirondackfilm.org.