CAMDEN – The first Camden International Film Festival, devoted entirely to nonfiction films, begins Thursday and runs through Sunday at locations in Camden, Rockport and Rockland.

Documentary director and cinematographer Albert Maysles will be honored with a lifetime achievement award for his work in the documentary field.

The festival will showcase feature-length documentaries and shorts by internationally recognized filmmakers, while emphasizing the large community of documentary makers in Maine.

Nearly 20 filmmakers will attend the festival.

Maysles is described as the “dean of American documentaries.” He and his late brother David are considered pioneers of “direct cinema,” the American version of French cinema verite.

The Maysles brothers were the first to make films in which human life unfolds, without scripts, sets or narration. In 1960, Albert Maysles was co-filmmaker of “Primary,” about the Democratic primary campaigns of John F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey.

In 1968 they created “Salesman,” a portrait of four door-to-door Bible salesmen from Boston. Winner of an award from the National Society of Film Critics, it is considered a classic American documentary.

Maysles and his brother made “Gimme Shelter” in 1970, about the Rolling Stones’ infamous performance at Altamont Speedway in California, and worked on “Monterey Pop” in 1968 and “The Grateful Dead Movie” in 1976.

The Camden festival will include the U.S. premieres of the Spanish film “Switch Off” and Great Britain’s “Breakdown.”

“Switch Off,” by Manel Manoy, explores the conflict between the Endesa Co. and indigenous peoples living around the Biobio river in Chile.

“Breakdown,” by Joanne Tucker, is her film about the breakdown of U.S. foreign policy in the Islamic world. Tucker will be on hand to answer audience questions.

Two dozen films will be screened.

VisionMill Studios in Camden, in conjunction with the festival, will produce “CIFF-TV,” a one-hour nightly program that will be broadcast over the Web at 7 each festival night. It will include interviews with directors, organizers, audience members and venue managers, and clips from the films.

Films and panels will be held at Bayview Street Cinema, Camden Opera House, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Maine Photographic Workshops Union Hall and Soundstage, the Farnsworth Art Museum and the newly renovated Strand Theater in Rockland.

Tickets are available at www.camdenfilmfest.org or by telephone at 230-0885, ext. 2.