A mural on Monmouth Street near Maple Avenue touts the five-day Indie Street Film Festival, which flickers to life Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

For the first time since 2007, Red Bank will swarm with screening maniacs this week as independent films, filmmakers and cinephiles invade the downtown — and one or two nearby outposts.

Encompassing nearly 100 feature-length and short films, four screening venues and a handful of bars and restaurants, the five-day Indie Street Film Festival kicks off Wednesday, promising to liven up a post-Independence Day interval when the borough traditionally slips into an early doldrums.

The trailer for “65 percent,” a documentary by Middletown brothers Mike and Jon Altino. Below, comedian Lisa Lampanelli will perform live at the Basie following a screening of “Can’t We Take a Joke?” a documentary in which she appears.

Presented by the Indie Street Institute in partnership with primary sponsor the Count Basie Theatre, the festival is the first by a filmmakers’ cooperative founded by a crew that includes Jay Webb, a 34-year-old film producer and Ocean Township resident.

It’s an ambitious attempt not only to rekindle the spirit of the much-missed Red Bank International Film Festival, which went dark nine years ago, but to supercharge the concept with a day-and-night slate of happenings. They include highly anticipated premieres, discussion panels, competitions, award ceremonies, after-parties, and a film-related live comedy concert that offers up the local debut of insult/roast comedy’s reigning “Queen of Mean,” Lisa Lampanelli.

“We’ve been talking about some sort of festival to distribute content and bring attention to this model,” Webb told redbankgreen when the event was announced in February. “Red Bank has the infrastructure. Really, the town is a beautiful fit for this type of event.”

Describing itself as “world’s first co-op distribution brand… a video-on-demand platform that unites the most talented self-distributing filmmakers to share audiences, resources, and company profits,” Indie Street will host screenings at the Basie, the Two River Theater; at Bow Tie Cinemas on White Street; and, just beyond the fringe of downtown, in the auditorium at Red Bank Middle School on Harding Road.

Borough bars and restaurants, including the Downtown, Jamian’s Food and Drink, 10th Ave. Burrito, Gotham and the Belmonte will get into the act as the sites of various festival-related side events. Even the parking lot at the Molly Pitcher Inn will be put to use.

Among the highlights:

• A hit at the most recent Sundance festival, Chad Hartigan’s “Morris from America” opens the fest at 7 p.m. Wednesday with Craig Robinson (“The Office,” “Hot Tub Time Machine”) as the father of an African-American teen whose coming-of-age plays out in the alien landscape of Germany.

•  “After Sandy,” a documentary directed by Joe Minnella of Tinton Falls on the struggles of Jersey Shore residents attempting to put their lives back together in the wake of the epic superstorm — will show at 4 p.m. Friday, at Two River Theater.