Sean Mewshaw and Desi Van Til have been on a pretty good run with their Maine-set romantic comedy “Tumbledown.”

The film got rave reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April, and then Starz picked up the distribution rights, setting a theatrical release date of February 2016.

Also, this week the film will kick off the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville. That screening today will be a sweet moment for Mewshaw and Van Til, Portland-based filmmakers who worked for years to make a movie that is something of a love letter to Maine.

“To be able to see it with Mainers will probably be the culmination of the whole experience for us,” said Mewshaw, who directed the film. “The setting plays a very big part in the film.”

Mewshaw and Van Til, who are married, wanted to film “Tumbledown” in western Maine around Tumbledown Mountain and Van Til’s hometown, Farmington. But financing requirements forced them to film much of the movie near Concord, Massachusetts, because of larger tax incentives for filmmakers in that state.

The two filmmakers met in Hollywood while working on other people’s films but moved to Maine specifically to make “Tumbledown” in Maine. Van Til was the film’s writer.

The film stars Jason Sudeikis and Rebecca Hall with a story firmly rooted in Maine. It’s about the independent-minded young widow of a folksinger living in beautiful yet harsh western Maine and a big-city writer who comes to the area to find out more about her late husband. Though the actors were filmed elsewhere, Mewshaw said there are several “establishing shots” of mountains and lakes and other scenery shot in Maine.

The film also includes lots of props, including business signs transported from Farmington to Concord.

“The exterior shots really establish the setting as Maine,” said Ken Eisen, program director for the film festival. “The setting, in Maine, feels very organic, very important to the film.”

“Tumbledown,” 6:30 p.m. Friday, Waterville Opera House, 1 Common St. $12; miff.org