MADAWASKA — A restored 1929 film about Acadian heroine Evangeline will be shown at Madawaska’s 20th Acadian Festival, 150 years after Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline” was written.

Red, white and blue Acadian flags with the gold star of Mary will soon flutter in the wind in preparation of the festival June 22-30.

Longfellow wrote his poetic account of Evangeline and her search for her lover Gabriel in 1847, eloquently depicting the lives, fears and deaths of Acadians during the deportation of thousands from their Nova Scotia homeland to other parts of North America in the 18th century.

Edwin Carewe’s 1929 film “Evangeline” was lost and only recently found. The Maine Humanities Council and Northeast Historic Film teamed up to restore the movie, which was refurbished by the Film and Television Archives of the University of California at Los Angeles. It was viewed for the first time since 1929 last year in Portland.

In Carewe’s film, actress Dolores Del Rio became the first performer in an American film to sing in a foreign language — French.

Lisa Ornstein, director of the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, said the 7 p.m. showing at the Fox Theater will be an “unusual event, a free showing of a movie not shown in the St. John Valley since 1929.”

She said a live musician will perform during the film because some of the movie’s sound discs are missing. The movie had music by Billy Rose and Al Jolson.

The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m. June 25 at the Century Theater in Fort Kent, and a video will be shown at 2 and 7 p.m. June 29 at the Acadian Village at Van Buren.

In addition, a live troupe of performers from Nova Scotia will perform “Evangeline” at the Centre Culturelle du Mont Carmel at Lille Village at 7 p.m. June 30.

On Monday five people started working full time to make the festival a success, according to Jason Parent, executive director of the Greater Madawaska Chamber of Commerce, this year’s sponsor.

The eight-day celebration will start with the traditional Acadian Mass on June 22 at the St. David Catholic Church. “Up with People” will perform their rendition of “The Festival,” with a cast of 100 young people from around the world Sunday night at the Madawaska Multi-purpose Building.

The re-enactment of the historic Acadian landing will be held 4 p.m. June 26 along the shores of the St. John River at St. David. The remainder of the week will include a horse show, bingo games, a ’50s hop and New Year’s Party, a road race, craft fair, chicken barbecue and fireworks.

A cultural display, “Treasures of the St. John Valley,” will be held June 27 at Madawaska High School. An Acadian supper will be served at the school the same night. Antique tractors and engines will be on display Saturday and Sunday at the Multi-purpose Building.

After the 1 p.m. parade on June 29, the Multi-purpose Building will be abuzz with activities into the night. Closing ceremonies and a fireworks display will end the 20th edition of the festival Sunday night.

Organizers of the Dube Family Reunion expect more than 800 relatives from across Canada and the United States to attend the three-day event June 27 to 29. Each year a reunion of a French or Acadian family, selected by the Madawaska Historical Society, is held in conjunction with the festival.

Nancy Dube, chairman of the Dube Family Reunion, said, “We have had a lot of responses. Around 800 are coming. They are from across the U.S. and Canada. One woman from Canada said she will travel over 1,000 miles to get to the reunion.”

For more information on the festival, “Evangeline” or the Dube Family Reunion, call the Greater Madawaska Chamber of Commerce at 728-7000.