5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmaker's Festival Program

FESTIVAL PROGRAM THE 5TH ANNUAL

THURSDAY-SUNDAY

AUGUST 22-25, 2019 middfilmfest.org 1 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

CRUISE THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE DANUBE ...and talk CINEMA!

OCTOBER 29 TO NOVEMBER 8 Join us in Prague...then down the magnificent Danube, making stops in Germany (Vilshofen), Austria (Linz, Durnstein, Weissenkirchen, Vienna), Slovakia (Bratislava) and Hungary (Budapest).

Enjoy dozens of cruise treats and features PLUS (optional) film screenings, discussions and walking tours to film locations in Prague, Vienna and Budapest - organized by indie filmmaker and MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven!

FOR MORE DETAILS

PARTIAL PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT MIDDLEBURY NEW FILMMAKERS FESTIVAL AND ADDISON COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

CONTACT ROBIN BENTLEY AT MILNE TRAVEL 802-388-6600 OR ROBIN.BENTLEY@MILNETRAVEL.COM Or go to www.milnetravel.com/vacation-travel/jay-craven

2 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

WELCOME TO THE 5TH ANNUAL MIDDLEBURY NEW FILMMAKERS FESTIVAL! Taylor’s film score to accompany the screening of VSO Award winner Jeremy Lee Mackenzie’s new film, The Greatest Night.

We’ll award our fourth annual VSO winner for best integration of music into film on Closing Night.

Greetings, everyone...

And thanks for joining us to share these four fun days in August when we get to connect audiences with filmmakers to celebrate cinema. We’re thrilled to welcome you to our fifth edition of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival.

We’ll present our Hernandez/ Bayliss Prize, for a feature film that best captures the triumph of the human spirit – and our third Clio Visualizing History Prize for the Advancement of Women in Film. Also our second Gaia Prize for Environmental Filmmaking and our inaugural Shouldice Family Prize for Best Vermont-Made Film.

We’ve been busy since last year’s Fest - staging our Winter/ Spring Screening Series at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury and touring our 2018 Best of Fest selections, Dateline: Saigon and All the Wild Horses – to Burlington, Vergennes, Rutland, Greensboro, Montpelier, Putney and Woodstock.

Milne Travel will join us again this year as a valued sponsor.

They are organizing a special October 29th to November 8th excursion to Prague and river cruise along the Danube River. Partial proceeds will benefit the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival and the Addison County Chamber of Commerce. Among many cruise treats and features, MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven will offer several (optional) film screenings, discussions and a couple of walking tours to film locations in Vienna and Budapest. For more details, contact Robin Bentley at Milne Travel (802-388-6600 or robin.bentley@milnetravel.com).

We’ve got more than 110 films scheduled for MNFF5 and they promise to enrich and expand our views on people and places around the world. And we’ll again offer special pre-festival Kids and Family Day screenings on Wednesday, August 21st at the Marquis Theatre. There will be plenty of popcorn and a special kids menu!

We’ll host special on-stage honorees including legendary writer/director Paul Schrader, whose films (First Reformed, Affliction, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver) have logged fifteen Academy Awards and nominations. Also, acclaimed award-winning actor Bruce Greenwood (The Sweet Hereafter, Capote, Exotica, 13 Days, Star Trek, I’m Not There, Mad Men) will be here for screenings and discussions.

We’re pleased to again partner with Orly Yadin and the Vermont International Film Festival, sponsors of The Biggest Little Farm screening (1:30pm, Saturday, August 24th at Dana Auditorium). And we’ll stage an informative discussion focused on indie film distribution and one on acquisition policies and practices within the PBS system. And there’s much more, including a world-premiere live performance by Vermont Symphony Orchestra musicians of composer Matthew Evan

Feel free to also tell us your thoughts on the films and events you see. And please consider tax-deductible support – to help us light up the screen.

Todd Balfour

Warm regards,

Jay Craven MNFF Artistic Director

Matt Kiedaisch

We’ll also welcome back, for a fourth consecutive year, twotime Academy Award-winning filmmaker and MNFF honoree, Barbara Kopple, with her latest film, New Homeland. Also returning, three-time Emmy nominee and MNFF honoree Ricki Stern, with her new Netflix film, Reversing Roe, that takes a deep historical look at the abortion debate from various points along the ideological spectrum. Ricki will be here with one of the film’s stars, Dr. Colleen McNicholas, an important figure in the struggle for reproductive rights.

Enjoy the Festival! Join us for happy hours and parties. And spread the word to friends and family to join you for all or part of this year’s film extravaganza.

Lloyd Komesar MNFF Producer

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FESTIVAL MAP Seymour St

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MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE

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FESTIVAL DESTINATION

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MAHANEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS @ PORTER FIELD RD

Location, Location, Location!

Location, Location, Location!

“Choosing location is integral to the film” - Ridley Scott

And the perfect location is not just critical to the value of your home, but key to the long-term satisfaction that your family will experience. When you want to know all about Addison County’s unique spots and hidden gems, work with a team of Location Experts... ... Places Please!

70 Court Street, Middlebury, VT

802-989-7522

champlainvalleyproperty.net cvpropnf@comcast.net

Your Location Scouts

Nancy Foster, Principal Broker & Owner Robin Foster Cole, Realtor • Diana Berthiaume, Realtor John Snyder-White, Realtor • January Stearns, Realtor Brenda Jaring, Administrative Assistant 4 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS WHERE DO I PICK UP INFORMATION?

The Festival Information & Merchandise Store has stacks of printed MNFF Festival Programs. It’s located at 66 Merchants Row, immediately adjacent to Town Hall Theater. You can’t miss it because of its festive color treatment. Our staff will be on site from 9:00am to 5:00pm on Thursday, August 22, Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24 and 9:00am to 1:00pm on Sunday, August 25. Printed film and event schedules will also be available throughout town, at numerous locations and all screening venues.

WHERE AND WHEN ARE FILMS BEING SCREENED? On Opening Day, Thursday, August 22, films screen at 10:00am and 1:30pm at Marquis Theatre and Town Hall Theater. Our Opening Night film will be screened that night at Town Hall Theater at 7:00pm. (Please note: this event is ticketed separately. A Festival Pass does not grant entry.)

On Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24, films screen at Town Hall Theater, Marquis Theater, Dana Auditorium and Twilight Hall.

Screening times are 10:00am, 1:30pm and 7:15pm. No films screen between 4pm-7pm. The 4pm slot features special panels and onstage conversations. Check the daily schedule grid or the Festival Program for details.

On Sunday, August 25, films screen at Town Hall Theater, Marquis Theater, Dana Auditorium and Twilight Hall, starting at 10am, 1pm and 4pm.

The presentation of the VTeddy Awards at the Closing Ceremony will be on Sunday, August 25 at 6:30pm at Town Hall Theater followed by our Closing Night Film at 7:30pm.

WHERE CAN I BUY FESTIVAL & DAY PASSES?

Festival Passes and Day Passes can be purchased directly at our website at middfilmfest.org or in person at the Town Hall Theater Box Office, corner of S. Pleasant Street and Merchants Row. Festival Passes are $95 and admit you to any film on any of the four main screening days.

Day Passes are $35 and admit you to any film on a specific day, either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. There are no Thursday Day Passes.

Use your Festival Pass or purchase single admission tickets at the Town Hall Theater or Marquis Theatre for Thursday screenings.

To online purchasers of Festival Passes and Day Passes: please bring your photo ID and confirmation number or print-at-home ticket to exchange for your actual Pass at the Town Hall Theater [THT] Box Office. Passes are not mailed but can be picked up from the THT Box Office beginning 12noon on Monday, August 19. Town Hall Theater Box Office hours during the Festival are 9:00am-8:00pm on Thursday-Saturday and 9:00am-4:00pm on Sunday. Best to pick up your pass at least THIRTY MINUTES before your first screening.

WHY BUY A PASS?

When you purchase a Festival Pass, you receive special perks. Fest Pass holders will be seated first at all screenings. Day Pass holders will be seated following the seating of all Festival Pass holders.

No seats are reserved, but your place will be held until 10 minutes before show time.

Also note that the Friday Happy Hour at the Sheldon Museum Garden and Friday Night Party at Notte are open only to Festival Pass holders, as is the Saturday Happy Hour at the Middlebury Inn and the Saturday Night Party at American Flatbread in the Middlebury Marble Works. (Non-Passholders can attend the Saturday night party for $15, payable at the door.)

CAN I JUST BUY SINGLE TICKETS TO MOVIES?

Individual ADVANCE tickets to all feature films will be on sale through August 25 at middfilmfest.org. Tickets are $15 and provide priority seating following Festival Pass holders. Advance ticket availability is based on venue size. So, our smaller venues, Marquis Theatre and Twilight Hall, will have fewer seats available in advance.

Single WALK-UP/RUSH tickets for any film are available for $12 at each of the four main venues’ lobby box offices – at any time during the Festival. A single ticket is good for any film at any venue on any day. Single ticket seating begins 5 minutes prior to listed showtime after all Passholders and Advance Ticket holders have been seated.

DOES MY FESTIVAL PASS ADMIT ME TO THE OPENING NIGHT FILM?

No. Opening Night is a separately ticketed event and can be purchased at our website, middfilmfest.org, or in person at the THT Box Office. Admission to both the Film Screening and the After Party at Swift House Inn is $60. Please note: Opening Night is now on a Waitlist Only basis.

WHERE CAN I BUY FESTIVAL MERCHANDISE? Festival merchandise will be sold at the MNFF Information & Merchandise Store. Hours and location are noted above in the Festival Information paragraph. 2019 items include our popular MNFF hats in black and navy blue and handsome black tote bags. Joining us at the Merch & Info Store will be lu•lu Ice Cream and Danforth Pewter.

ARE THERE FREE EVENTS AT THE FESTIVAL?

Absolutely! We have gone to great lengths to ensure that there is something for everyone. All of our panels and presentations with filmmakers and industry professionals are free and open to the public. For times and details on panels and parties, visit middfilmfest.org or consult our printed Festival Schedule.

WHERE DO I FIND PARKING?

Parking options exist throughout the town of Middlebury and the Middlebury College campus. Street parking is available throughout downtown. There are municipal lots below the Cross Street Bridge and in Frog Hollow at the base of Mill Street. Many additional spaces are in the lot behind the Mahaney Center for the Arts at Middlebury College (72 Porter Field Rd).

CAN I SPEAK WITH FILMMAKERS & PRODUCERS AT THE FESTIVAL?

Of course! This is one of the special benefits of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. Attending filmmakers will be available to audiences at post-screening Q&A sessions, panels, happy hours and parties. Feel free to engage with them. Filmmakers genuinely appreciate your interest in their work and life stories.

5 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

KIDS & FAMILY DAY WEDNESDAY 8/21 PRESENTING SPONSOR

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FILMS @ THE MARQUIS UNDER 8 FREE | 8-17 $5 | 18+ $10 TICKETS AVAILABLE DAY OF SHOW

Storm Boy 10:00 AM

In the movie of your life.... do you have a starring role?

AGES 8+

Liyana

1:00 PM AGES 10+

Follow your dreams and be a star in Brandon, Vermont !

Tito and the Birds 4:00 PM AGES 12+

PORTUGUESE w/ ENGLISH SUBTITLES

LUNCH SPECIALS BY THE MARQUIS CAFÉ

12:00 PM -1:00 PM

Check us out, only 20 minutes south.

Or, visit us at brandon.org

MARQUIS THEATRE

CHASE SCENE CHALLENGE 802-247-6401 info@brandon.org

Young filmmakers can enter the “Chase Scene Challenge,” a moviemaking contest hosted by local media maker, Kurt Broderson, who will show what it takes to make an exciting chase scene. Kids can check out a camera from MCTV at Ilsley Library and film a 30-60 second chase scene with family and friends.

The finished “chase scenes” will play on the Café screen at the Marquis and the winning entry will be broadcast on MCTV and receive 4 passes to an upcoming movie at the Marquis Theatre.

FREE & OPEN TO ALL AGES

6 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

FESTIVAL EVENTS FRI 8/23 4:00 PM TOWN HALL THEATER

HONOREE EVENT | ON-STAGE CONVERSATION WITH WRITER & DIRECTOR PAUL SCHRADER Following the screening of his most recent film First Reformed, legendary writer/director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Blue Collar, Affliction) takes the stage with MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven for an extended conversation about his career, his influences and where he is heading artistically. Mr. Schrader will receive a VTeddy Award for Sustained Excellence in Cutting Edge Filmmaking.

FREE & OPEN TO ALL!

FRI 8/23 5:00 PM THE SHELDON MUSEUM GARDEN 1 PARK ST

FESTIVAL FRIDAY HAPPY HOUR Enjoy music by The Balladeer and the Bluesman, light food and an array of beverages in the beautiful Garden at the Sheldon Museum. MNFF thanks Bill Brooks and the Sheldon Museum team for hosting this lovely event. Catering provided by Otter Creek Bakery.

– Passholders Only, Please. –

FRI 8/23 5:00 PM MARQUIS THEATER CAFÉ

FILMMAKERS COCKTAIL HOUR An informal opportunity for filmmakers to meet, mingle, eat and drink in one of Middlebury’s iconic film spaces.

– Filmmakers Only, Please. –

7 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

FESTIVAL EVENTS FRI 8/23 7:15 PM

Visit our Beer Tent at the Sheldon Museum!

TOWN HALL THEATER

REVERSING ROE | HONOREE EVENT ON-STAGE CONVERSATION WITH DIRECTOR RICKI STERN & DR. COLLEEN McNICHOLAS HOSTED BY HATTIE GARNER LEFAVOUR Returning Honoree Ricki Stern and Dr. Colleen McNicholas join moderator Hattie Garner Lefavour from Middlebury College in a discussion of the film’s origins, intentions and impact. An of-themoment and very special event that will illuminate the significance of Reversing Roe.

FRI 8/23 9:15 PM NOTTE 86 MAIN ST

FRIDAY NIGHT PARTY © Sally J Smith – Greenspirit Arts

Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury Presents

Gather for a great finale to Festival Friday with food, drink and conversation at Middlebury’s true “underground” gathering spot, Notte.

An MNFF tradition sponsored by the generous folks at Two Brothers Tavern.

– Passholders Only, Please. –

Whimsical Wonders: Fairy Houses from Nature by Sally J Smith Through September 1, 2019

•

One Park Street, Middlebury, VT 05753 802-388-2117 • www.HenrySheldonMuseum.org 8 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

FESTIVAL EVENTS FRI 8/23 11:00 PM MARQUIS THEATRE

NEW! LATE NIGHT @ THE MARQUIS RUBEN BRANDT, COLLECTOR MNFF presents its inaugural late night film screening at the Marquis Theatre with the showing of Ruben Brandt, Collector, a brilliant, wildly imaginative and utterly original animated feature from Hungarian director Milorad Krstic.

FREE FOR FEST PASSHOLDERS | Walk-Up Tickets $12

SUSHI AVAILABLE

Monday - Friday - Lunch 11:30am-2:30pm, Dinner 4:30-9:00pm Closed Tuesdays Sat & Sun dinner menu all day 12:00-9pm • Closed 3-4:30 for our lunch break Please make reservations for parties of 6 or more.

SPONSORED BY

SAT 8/24 8:30 AM MIDDLEBURY INN PATIO 16 COURT SQ

COFFEE WITH. . . OUTSTANDING WORKING ACTORS: MNFF HONOREE BRUCE GREENWOOD, POLLY DRAPER & JEREMY HOLM HOSTED BY JAY CRAVEN MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven chats over coffee with three great working actors whose combined credits include Mad Men, House of Cards, Star Trek, Capote, The Sweet Hereafter, Thirtysomething, I’m Not There, Mr. Robot, The Good Wife and many more. Conversations will include the actors’ craft, what stories interest them and what life as an actor has brought them. Don't miss this lively start to Festival Saturday. Coffee and baked goods provided by MNFF sponsor, the Middlebury Inn. FREE & OPEN TO ALL! 9 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

22 Merchants Row Middlebury 989-7376 SabaiSabaiThai.com Check us out at Sabai Sabai Thai Cuisine

FESTIVAL EVENTS SAT 8/24 4:00 PM

SAT 8/24 5:00 PM

MIDDLEBURY INN

MIDDLEBURY INN PATIO

16 COURT SQ

16 COURT SQ

FESTIVAL SATURDAY HAPPY HOUR Mingle and schmooze with filmmakers and special guests on the patio of the Middlebury Inn, one of the prettiest spots in town. MNFF thanks the fine folks at the Inn for providing food, beverages and atmosphere. – Passholders Only, Please –

SAT 8/24 7:15 PM

NAVIGATING THE PBS PROGRAMMING WORLD - PRODUCERS & ACQUIRERS TELL ALL

TWILIGHT HALL

HOSTED BY LLOYD KOMESAR Join Producers Beth Levison and Michael Rosenfeld and PBS Programmers Ron Bachman and Eric Ford in a wide-ranging discussion of how producers sell and how acquirers select films to feed the sprawling and multilayered PBS programming and distribution system. Enjoy a panel of true experts with much to share. Moderated by MNFF Producer Lloyd Komesar.

FREE & OPEN TO ALL!

THE SWEET HEREAFTER | HONOREE EVENT ON-STAGE CONVERSATION WITH ACTOR BRUCE GREENWOOD HOSTED BY JAY CRAVEN

SAT 8/24 4:00 PM

Following the screening this heralded film, The Sweet Hereafter, acclaimed actor Bruce Greenwood talks with MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven about one of his favorite roles and the choices that underlie his superb career.

UNITY HALL @ THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

SAT 8/24 9:15 PM

2 MAIN ST

AMERICAN FLATBREAD

INDEPENDENT FILM DISTRIBUTION: WHERE IS THE BUSINESS HEADING? HOSTED BY JAY CRAVEN MNFF special guest, Marc Mauceri, Vice President of First Run Features, talks the business of acquiring and distributing independent narratives and documentaries with MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven. Founded in New York in 1979, First Run Features remains one of the largest independent distributors in North America, releasing in theaters nationwide, on home video (DVD and Blu-Ray) and online through a diverse group of innovative digital partners. Mr. Mauceri, with over 30 productive years at First Run Features, has a distinctive point of view well worth knowing.

FREE & OPEN TO ALL!

MARBLE WORKS 137 MAPLE ST

SATURDAY NIGHT PARTY FEATURING MUSIC BY ROSCOE & ETTA Enjoy tasty complimentary flatbreads and small bites, and sample a full bar offering craft cocktails, local beers, wine and ciders, from our host and sponsor American Flatbread at our big Saturday Night Party! And this year at Flatbread, MNFF presents the fabulous music of Roscoe & Etta, featuring national recording artists Maia Sharp and Anna Schulze on the last stop of their East Coast tour.

FREE FOR PASSHOLDERS | All others $15 at the Door

10 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

FESTIVAL EVENTS SUN 8/25 10:00 AM

SUN 8/25 6:30 PM

TOWN HALL THEATER

TOWN HALL THEATER

WILDLIKE | HONOREE EVENT ON-STAGE CONVERSATION WITH ACTOR BRUCE GREENWOOD

CLOSING CEREMONY & VTEDDY AWARDS PRESENTATION

HOSTED BY JAY CRAVEN The illuminating conversation with MNFF Honoree Bruce Greenwood continues following the screening of Wildlike, a 2014 film by director Frank Hall Green. Mr. Greenwood will receive a VTeddy Award for Sustained Excellence in Acting.

SUN 8/25 1:00 PM

Join us for the joyful presentation of the VTeddy Awards celebrating the winners for Best Feature Narrative, Best Short Narrative, Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Audience Award/ Feature, Audience Award/Short, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Award, the Hernandez/Bayliss Prize, the Clio Visualizing History Prize for the Advancement of Women in Film, the Gaia Prize for Environmental Filmmaking and the inaugural Shouldice Family Prize for Best Vermont-Made Film.

FREE & OPEN TO ALL!

SUN 8/25 7:30 PM

MAHANEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS

TOWN HALL THEATER

72 PORTER FIELD RD

THE GREATEST NIGHT WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE OF ORIGINAL SCORE

BY VERMONT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and Middlebury College’s Mahaney Center for the Arts jointly present the world premiere of VSO Awardee Jeremy Lee Mackenzie’s new short film, The Greatest Night, with an original score composed by Matthew Evan Taylor, Middlebury College Assistant Professor of Music and performed live by the VSO. Unique to MNFF, this popular gathering is a signature event of the Festival.

FREE FOR PASSHOLDERS | All others $15 at the door

CLOSING NIGHT FILM: ERNIE & JOE Q&A WITH DIRECTOR JENIFER McSHANE & VERMONT ATTORNEY GENERAL T.J. DONOVAN Ernie & Joe is an intimate portrait of two San Antonio, Texas police officers who are helping change the way police respond to mental health calls. The film takes audiences on a personal journey, weaving together the officers’ experiences during their daily encounters with people in crisis. In taking this different path, Ernie and Joe’s success is engendering change in police departments around the country.

Ernie & Joe Director Jenifer McShane wraps the 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival with a lively Q&A about her significant and illuminating film, with special guest moderator T.J. Donovan, Attorney General of the State of Vermont.

FREE & OPEN TO ALL!

11 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

THT TOWN HALL THEATER DANA DANA AUDITORIUM MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN TWI TWILIGHT HALL MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

SCHEDULE THURSDAY 8/22

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

10:00 AM THT

Built to Last  13m

One Town at a Time  107m

MQM

Moth 18m

The Witch in the Window  75m

MQS

Difficult People 20m

Golnesa 95m

1:30 PM THT

Voice of America: Lowell Thomas and the Rise of Broadcast News  85m

MQM

Three Sacks Full of Hats 20m

Major Arcana  82m

MQS

The Drink 12m

Turning Ten 13m

A Destruction  71m

DOORS OPEN @ 6:00 PM | TOWN HALL THEATER – Opening Night Ticket Holders Only, Please –

OPENING NIGHT

Introductions and remarks by MNFF Producer, Lloyd Komesar and Artistic Director, Jay Craven.

THE DOG DOC

Documentary | 101m | A maverick veterinarian and his dedicated team of doctors create a mecca for pets and their owners looking for hope and a last chance for animal healing. The Dog Doc poses deep questions about treatment, pushing humans to consider the difference between medication and integrative, holistic care. This film offers an immersive view into a seldom seen world, painting a picture of pure dedication and joy.

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE DIRECTOR: CINDY MEEHL  PRODUCER: ALICE HENTY FILM SUBJECT: DR. JACQUELINE RUSKIN, DVM 

Q&A TO FOLLOW WITH DIRECTOR CINDY MEEHL & DR. JACQUELINE RUSKIN, DVM

Director Cindy Meehl and Dr. Jacqueline Ruskin, DVM, will join MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven on stage for a lively discussion about The Dog Doc.

9:15 PM @ THE SWIFT HOUSE INN

AFTER PARTY The festivities continue at the Swift House Inn, an MNFF sponsor and one of Middlebury’s most beautiful settings. Enjoy the food, drink, music and mingling with our hosts Dan and Michele Brown.

12 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

THT TOWN HALL THEATER DANA DANA AUDITORIUM MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN TWI TWILIGHT HALL MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

SCHEDULE FRIDAY 8/23

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

10:00 AM THT

Carol Street  15m

When We Walk  80m

MQM

Drowning in Sands 31m

Guardian  77m

MQS

Playhouse  8m

Two Birds  11m

Dream House  30m

DANA

A Song Can't Burn 12m

Teeth  13m

Invisible Hands 80m

TWI

How Purple Became  9m

Canusa Street  10m

The Blueberry Farmer  101m

Benzin  45m

1:30 PM THT

First Reformed  113m

MQM

Maria  26m

Don't Be Nice  96m

MQS

La Guerra  12m

Nothing to My Name  14m

DANA

Soaring Soldiers 11m

For Sama 95m

TWI

Cleo from 5 to 7 [Agnes Varda: A Remembrance] 90m

Exorcist of Apartheid 20m

This Little Land of Mines  64m

4:00 PM HONOREE EVENT | ON-STAGE CONVERSATION w/ WRITER/DIRECTOR PAUL SCHRADER Following the screening of his most recent film First Reformed. [More info p.7] FREE & OPEN TO ALL

TOWN HALL THEATER

5:00 PM THE SHELDON MUSEUM GARDEN 1 PARK ST

FESTIVAL FRIDAY HAPPY HOUR – Passholders Only, Please – Enjoy music by The Balladeer and the Bluesman, light food and an array of beverages. [More info p.7]

MARQUIS THEATRE CAFÉ 65 MAIN ST

FILMMAKER COCKTAIL HOUR – Filmmakers Only, Please – An informal opportunity for filmmakers to meet, mingle, eat and drink in one of Middlebury’s iconic film spaces.

7:15 PM HONOREE EVENT | ON-STAGE CONVERSATION w/ DIRECTOR RICKI STERN & DR. COLLEEN McNICHOLAS | Returning Honoree Ricki Stern and Dr. Colleen McNicholas discuss the film’s origins, intentions and impact.

An of-the-moment and very special event. [More info p.8]

THT

Reversing Roe  99m

MQM

The Big Burn  20m

Book Week 96m

MQS

The Short Goodbye  8m

Swiped 9m

The Return of Richard III on the 9:24am Train  85m

DANA

The True History of Billie the Kid 8m

Dirt Ash Meat 12m

Styx 94m

TWI

Woman at War 101m

9:15 PM FRIDAY NIGHT PARTY @ NOTTE 86 MAIN ST

– Passholders Only, Please – Gather for a great finale to Festival Friday with food, drink and conversation at Middlebury’s true “underground” gathering spot, Notte. [More info p.8]

11:00 PM NEW!! LATE NIGHT @ THE MARQUIS

Ruben Brandt, Collector 96m

Our inaugural late night film screening w/ a wildly imaginative and utterly original animated feature. [More info p.9] FREE FOR FEST PASSHOLDERS | Walk-Up Tickets $12

13 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

THT TOWN HALL THEATER DANA DANA AUDITORIUM MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN TWI TWILIGHT HALL MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

SCHEDULE SATURDAY 8/24

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

8:30 AM COFFEE w/ OUTSTANDING WORKING ACTORS: MNFF HONOREE BRUCE GREENWOOD, POLLY DRAPER & JEREMY HOLM | MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven chats over coffee with three great working actors.

[More info p.9] FREE & OPEN TO ALL

MIDDLEBURY INN PATIO 16 COURT SQ

10:00 AM THT

Louie's Antiques  8m

Once & Again  25m

Made in Boise  84m

MQM

Mrs. Cho  6m

Carl's Motel 15m

The Moon and the Night 19m

MQS

Freedom & Unity / Conversations from the Open Road - Shorts Showcase  82m

DANA

Eternal Harvest  12m

The Coral Keepers  12m

TWI

Summer in the City  10m

Stella's Last Weekened  110m

Feral 73m

The Pollinators  92m

1:30 PM THT

Estrellita  8m

New Homeland  93m

MQM

We Want Our Money Back  6m

Keep Going Joon  27m

Same Boat  83m

MQS

Lonnie  6m

The Boxers of Brule  39m

Ingrid  52m

DANA

The Biggest Little Farm 91m

TWI

Two Balloons 9m

Presented by the Vermont International Film Festival The Quarry Project 18m

Float 81m

4:00 PM MIDDLEBURY INN 16 COURT SQ

PANEL | NAVIGATING THE PBS PROGRAMMING WORLD - PRODUCERS AND ACQUIRERS TELL ALL | Join Producers Beth Levison and Michael Rosenfeld and PBS Programmers Ron Bachman and Eric Ford in a wide-ranging discussion.

[More info p.10] FREE & OPEN TO ALL

THE CONGREGATIONAL PANEL | INDEPENDENT FILM DISTRIBUTION: WHERE IS THE BUSINESS HEADING? | Marc Mauceri, Vice President of First Run Features, talks the business of acquiring and distributing independent films.

CHURCH [More info p.10] FREE & OPEN TO ALL 2 MAIN ST

5:00 PM MIDDLEBURY INN PATIO 16 COURT SQ

SATURDAY HAPPY HOUR – Passholders Only, Please – Mingle and schmooze with filmmakers and special guests on the patio of the Middlebury Inn. [More info p.10]

7:15 PM THT

The Last Black Man in San Francisco 121m

MQM

Hardcover 12m

Love Pool 17m

We Were Islands  80m

MQS

Sweetheart Dancers 13m

Santuario 26m

Seadrift 69m

DANA

Memories of Blue 14m

Maiden 97m

TWI

The Sweet Hereafter  103m

HONOREE EVENT | ON-STAGE CONVERSATION w/ BRUCE GREENWOOD | Acclaimed actor Bruce Greenwood talks about one his favorite roles. [More info p.10]

9:15 PM SATURDAY NIGHT PARTY @ AMERICAN FLATBREAD MARBLE WORKS, 137 MAPLE ST

FREE FOR PASSHOLDERS | All others $15 at the Door Complimentary flatbreads and small bites, and a full bar. MNFF presents the fabulous MUSIC OF ROSCOE & ETTA , featuring national recording artists Maia Sharp and Anna Schulze on the last stop of their East Coast tour. [More info p.10] 14 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

THT TOWN HALL THEATER DANA DANA AUDITORIUM MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN TWI TWILIGHT HALL MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

SCHEDULE SUNDAY 8/25

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

10:00 AM THT

Wildlike  104m

HONOREE EVENT | ON-STAGE CONVERSATION w/ BRUCE GREENWOOD | The illuminating conversation with Bruce Greenwood continues following the screening of Wildlike. [More info p.11]

MQM

Home  5m

Twenty  8m

Sophia 12m

My Dear Children  70m

MQS

Goodnight 2m

Topanga  15m

Rituals 20m

Busy Inside  70m

DANA

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael 95m

TWI

Dandelion Mum 30m

Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day  90m

1:00 PM THT

KO Scotty 5m

Iron Hands 11m

Lynch: A History  85m

MQM

They Were Important to Each Other in That Moment  1m

Échappé  13m

The Bird Catcher  110m

MQS

Small Family, Happy Family  37m

Undeterred 76m

DANA

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché  103m

TWI

Moynihan 102m

MAHANEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS 72 PORTER FIELD RD

SPECIAL SCREENING | MNFF, The Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and Middlebury College's Mahaney Center for the Arts present the world premiere of The Greatest Night, with an original score performed live by the VSO. A signature event of the Festival. [More info p.11] FREE FOR PASSHOLDERS | All others $15 at the Door

4:00 PM THT

Bubblehead 15m

The River and the Wall 97m

MQM

Fall '99 18m

TransMilitary 93m

DANA

Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins 93m

DOORS OPEN @ 6:30 PM | TOWN HALL THEATER FREE & OPEN TO ALL

CLOSING CEREMONY & VTEDDY AWARDS VTEDDY AWARDS PRESENTATION

Join us for the joyful presentation of the VTeddy Awards celebrating the winners for Best Feature Narrative, Best Short Narrative, Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Audience Award/Feature, Audience Award/Short, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Award, the Hernandez/Bayliss Prize, the Clio Visualizing History Prize for the Advancement of Women in Film, the Gaia Prize for Environmental Filmmaking and the inaugural Shouldice Family Prize for Best Vermont-Made Film.

ERNIE & JOE VERMONT PREMIERE DIRECTOR: JENIFER McSHANE  PRODUCER: ANDREA MEDITCH

7:30 PM @ TOWN HALL THEATER

Documentary | 101m | Ernie & Joe is an intimate portrait of two San Antonio, Texas police officers who are helping change the way police respond to mental health calls. The film takes audiences on a personal journey, weaving together the officers’ experiences during their daily encounters with people in crisis. In taking this different path, Ernie and Joe’s success is engendering change in police departments around the country.

Q&A w/ DIRECTOR JENIFER McSHANE & VERMONT ATTORNEY GENERAL T.J. DONOVAN Ernie & Joe Director Jenifer McShane wraps MNFF5 with a lively Q&A about her significant and illuminating film, with special guest moderator T.J. Donovan, Attorney General of the State of Vermont.

15 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

16 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

2019 JURY JESSE NESSER

Jesse Nesser is a documentary filmmaker whose films are diverse in story and locale, but all explore the very common human experience and the remarkable outcomes they produce. His films include Walk With Me: The Trials of Damon J. Keith and Through The Flak: War Stories of the Tuskegee Airmen.

BESS O'BRIEN

Bess O’Brien is a documentary filmmaker and theatre producer. Her films include “The Hungry Heart”, “Coming Home” and “All of Me”. Recent awards include the 2019 Vermont International Film Festival Community Champion Award and the 2019 Public Health Champion Award from the Vermont Public Health Association.

DEBORAH ELLIS

Deb Ellis is a documentary filmmaker and Director/Film and Television Studies Program/University of Vermont.

Her films, including The FBI’s War on Black America, Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train and Peace Has No Borders, explore significant social and political movements.

ALLAN NICHOLLS

Allan F. Nicholls is a BAFTA and WGA award nominated veteran of the movie industry having produced, directed, acted and written music for the past forty years. He is most noted for his collaborations with Robert Altman, Tim Robbins, and John Madden.

MARGOT HARRISON

Margot Harrison is the associate editor at Seven Days, where she has received state and national honors for her film and book criticism. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and member of the Online Film Critics Society.

JIM LOWE

Jim Lowe is arts editor of The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus and Rutland Herald, and has covered the arts scene for them for more than 30 years. He has worked in the classical music management business in New York City and provided support to arts organization throughout Vermont.

MICHAEL MURPHY

"In over 50 years of acting in movies, I have been lucky enough to work with, among many others, the following filmmakers: Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, Oliver Stone, Sarah Polley, John Sayles, Elia Kazan, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Aldrich and Orson Welles. I bring this to your attention only to point out that at one time or another all of these folks were New Filmmakers, just like you. It’s a great life, hang in there and good luck!"

LISANNE SARTOR

Lisanne Sartor is an award-winning writer/director whose short films, Six Letter Word, Prick and Heimlich have screened at world-renowned festivals like Telluride, Cannes and the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival.

Her feature script, “Six Letter Word” won the 2017 Script Pipeline First Look Project Drama Category, among numerous other awards.

STAFF & FRIENDS LLOYD KOMESAR – PRODUCER

Lloyd Komesar spent nearly 30 years as a sales, research and distribution exec in the film and television programming industry, first at Blair Television in New York, then, for the next 25 years, at the Walt Disney Company in New York and Los Angeles. Having acquired extensive knowledge of the distribution models of film and television over his rewarding career, he brings a considerable amount of perspective and insight to the MNFF endeavor.

JAY CRAVEN – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

MNFF’s founding Artistic Director is also an independent filmmaker with nine narrative films and four documentaries to his credit. His films have played Sundance, Lincoln Center and others. He teaches film at Sarah Lawrence College - and directs its biennial Cinema Sarah Lawrence program where professionals mentor and collaborate with students from multiple colleges to make an ambitious narrative feature film for national release. Information at sarahlawrence.edu/cinema

ISABEL MERRELL – ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Isabel Merrell will graduate this February from Middlebury College, where she studies History and Film. This past spring, she worked on Jay Craven's latest feature film, Martin Eden. She hopes to develop comedies for TV and film upon graduation.

BRENNA WILSON – BUSINESS INTERN

Brenna Wilson is a rising senior at Middlebury College from Valdosta, Georgia. She is double majoring in Film and Media Culture and Economics. Outside of school, she likes to cook and watch copious amounts of cartoons. She is looking forward to meeting all the lovely filmmakers she has been corresponding with!

NOAH SAUER– VIDEOGRAPHY INTERN

Noah Sauer is a rising senior at Middlebury College from Madison, Wisconsin. He is double majoring in Studio Art and Film and Media Culture. Outside of school, he likes to make music and his dream job is to be a music video director. He has loved getting to see the new films this year and looks forward to meeting the people who made them.

VANESSA DOWNING – SENIOR PROGRAMMER

Vanessa Downing is a lifelong lover of film and music and has carved out an exciting and eclectic path pursuing both. She currently serves as Managing Director for the non-profit Wellfleet Preservation Hall on Cape Cod, where she programs a robust film schedule, performance events, and many other arts & cultural offerings for the community.

MATT HEYWOOD – DESIGNER

Matt is an award-winning designer and illustrator with 20+ years of experience. He is cofounder of The Image Farm, an agile design and illustration studio with a multidisciplinary approach to visual communication.

17 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

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Congratulations to MNFF on your fifth season!

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18 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z A Destruction

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

FRIDAY DANA 10:00 am 12m

Humera, an 11-year old girl from a remote village off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan, dreams of becoming a doctor but the only school in her community comes under threat of closure. A Destruction follows Humera as she reaches a critical point in her life where she faces intense pressure to forego her education for an arranged marriage.

Since 1992, professor and musician Nigel Osborne as developed techniques to use music as therapy for children suffering the effects of trauma. These methods are now being utilized in a program for Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon.

Documentary

Location: Pakistan

Language: English

Director: Urooj Yazdani

Languages: Urdu, Sindhi

Director: Roscoe Neil Producer: Martin Ball

VERMONT PREMIERE

Producer: Urooj Yazdani

Documentary

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

A Song Can’t Burn THURSDAY MQS 1:30 pm 71m

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

Location: UK

WORLD PREMIERE

SUNDAY DANA 1:00 pm 103m Alice Guy-Blaché was a true pioneer who got into the movie business at the very beginning—in 1894. Two years later, she was made head of production at the world’s first movie studio, France’s Gaumont. She and her husband moved to the United States, and she founded her own company, Solax, in 1910. But by 1919, Guy-Blaché’s career had come to an abrupt end, and she and the 1000 films that bore her name were largely forgotten.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Pamela B. Green

Languages: English, French

Writers: Pamela B. Green, Joan Simon Producer: Pamela B. Green

Benzin

The Big Burn FRIDAY MQS 10:00 am 45m

The Biggest Little Farm FRIDAY MQM 7:15 pm 20m

In a small, remote German town, 30 years after the reunion of East and West Germany, everybody has left but a few. His mother is long gone, but Leon remains, helping his father run a gas station on Poland’s border.

Suddenly, a young woman from Ukraine arrives, and Leon hopes she can help him find peace with his unknown past.

Caught between the rugged beauty of the Idaho wilderness and the reality of her failing marriage, Helen Turner is counting the days till she can leave it all behind when she’s pulled into the orbit of a young woman whose life is about to change forever.

Narrative

Location: USA

Narrative

Location: Germany

Director: Samantha Silva

Language: English

Director: Oliver Mohr

Languages: English, German, Russian, Ukranian

Writer: Samantha Silva

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Writer: Oliver Mohr, Elena Hell Producer: Oliver Mohr

Producer: Samantha Silva

USA PREMIERE

The Bird Catcher SUNDAY MQM 1:00 pm 100m

Narrative Director: Ross Clarke

Locations: Norway, UK

Writer: Trond Venaasen

Language: English

Producers: Lisa Black, Leon Clarance, Ross Clarke

VERMONT PREMIERE

The Biggest Little Farm chronicles the eight year quest of John and Molly Chester as they trade city living for 200 acres of barren farmland and a dream to harvest in harmony with nature. Featuring breathtaking cinematography, captivating animals, and an urgent message to heed Mother Nature’s call, The Biggest Little Farm provides us all a vital blueprint for better living and a healthier planet.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: John Chester

Language: English

Writer: Mark Monroe

Presented by:

Producers: John Chester, Sandra Keats

The Blueberry Farmer

A Norwegian Jewish teenager who dreams of Hollywood stardom is suddenly faced with playing the role of her life, masquerading as a boy on a Nazioccupied farm while plotting her escape to Sweden and survival.

SATURDAY DANA 1:30 pm 91m

Book Week FRIDAY TWI 10:00 am 101m

FRIDAY MQM 7:15 pm 96m

Bernie Ellis, all around good guy, was bush hogging a pasture on his farm when he noticed a helicopter circling above. The police raided him that day and Bernie was arrested for growing a small number of cannabis plants – marijuana he gave to terminal AIDS and cancer patients and to relieve his own fibromyalgia. For more than a decade, Bernie wrestled with Tennessee and Federal authorities over his legal status. This is his fascinating story.

When it looks like his new novel will be published, high school English teacher and once famous author Nicholas Cutler thinks his luck has finally changed. But what promises to be the best week of his life spirals into the exact opposite. A pregnant girlfriend, a student in trouble with the law, a gravely ill brother-in-law and the prospects of an unfulfilled life force Mr. Cutler to re-examine things in this sly Australian drama.

Documentary

Location: USA

Narrative

Location: Australia

Director: Valerie Whitcomb

Language: English

Director: Heath Davis

Language: English

Producer: Valerie Whitcomb

Writer: Heath Davis

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Producers: Heath Davis, Joe Weatherstone

19 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

all natural wood-fired pizza featuring local ingredients fresh salads small plates housemade desserts indoor & outdoor dining

WELCOME

to Middlebury

for th Join us 8/24 @ 9:15

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Y! T R A P T H G I N Y A D R MNFF SATU E & ETTA O R Y B IC S U M g in r tu fea

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We’re to offer eclectic variety of our While youproud are here, beansure to pop into local shops, deliciously unique restaurants eclectic variety of local shops, sampleand our world-class recreational opportunities delicous locally-sourced restaurants and take in right here in Middlebury. our world-class recreation.

Make sure tooutdoor reserve time to check it Experience all out all that Middlebury has to offer!

— or better yet, plan another trip again soon!

Thank you to the organizers of Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival for their hard work in bringing another wonderful festival to Middlebury this year!

Relax.

Reflect. $15 @ the door e om lc e w ll a S R E D FREE FOR PASSHOL tary flatbread & small bites mplimen co & cider • select wines er be t af cr • ils ta ck co full bar • classic

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Monday 11a-5p • Tuesday-Saturday 11a-6p stoneleaftea.com

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20 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z The Boxers of Brule

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

Bubblehead SATURDAY MQS 1:30 pm 39m

SUNDAY THT 4:00 pm 14m A girl lives a solitary life in her own magnificent underwater world inside her apartment. But when one morning she wakes up to find that her beloved goldfish is dead, she is forced out of her own safe reality and into an amazing fishmonger’s shop, where she meets a boy who helps her pick a new goldfish.

Documentary

Location: USA

Narrative

Location: Denmark

Director: Jessie Adler

Language: English

Director: Vigga Wagner

Language: Danish

Producer: Jessie Adler

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Writer: Vigga Wagner

USA PREMIERE

Producer: Liva Bech Holskov

Canusa Street SUNDAY MQS 10:00 am 70m

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

Built to Last

Shaionna, a young Lakota Sioux boxer, creates a girls’ boxing team to combat the youth suicide epidemic threatening the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation. With the odds stacked against her, Shaionna must confront her own demons as she fights to bring hope and healing to her community.

Busy Inside

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

THURSDAY THT 10:00 am 13m From humble beginnings in a small slate roofed village in Greece, to the heyday of America’s movie palaces, Built to Last is the story of the Latchis Family and how they built an empire of theatres throughout New England in the hard-scrabble years of the Great Depression. The film is told through historically accurate footage, photographs and music from the Latchis family, local historical societies and national archives.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Jennifer Latham

Language: English

Producer: Jennifer Latham

VERMONT COLLECTION

Carl’s Motel FRIDAY TWI 10:00 am 10m

SATURDAY MQM 10:00 am 15m

Karen, a therapist, helps people who suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder — a condition she has herself, juggling seventeen of her own alter egos. In this poetic documentary exploration of the muchmisunderstood condition, Busy Inside follows Karen and her patient Marshay on their complicated quests for self.

A brief oral history of how the Canada-USA border came to run right through a town and down the middle of one street – and what it’s like to live on Canusa Street today.

Jack, played by Scoot McNairy, is in the midst of a heavy decision that is destroying his marriage. Spanning only 15 minutes, the film is set in a motel room where, through a raw, unfiltered lens, we see Jack call his wife to reveal he is leaving her and their son for another woman.

Documentary

Location: Canada

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Perry Walker

Language: English

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Olga Lvoff

Language: English

Producer: Galen Brown

Director: Stuart A. McIntyre

Language: English

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Victor Ilyukhin

Writer: Stuart A. McIntyre

USA PREMIERE

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Carol Street

Producer: Kristin Porter

Cleo from 5 to 7 FRIDAY THT 10:00 am 15m

Carol Street explores black identity at Middlebury College by interviewing students, staff, and alumni about community, outer self, and inner self. Weaving in the personal narrative of a young biracial man questioning his responsibility to his community, the film brings awareness to the sacrifices and pressures of being a black person in a predominantly white community.

The Coral Keepers FRIDAY TWI 1:30 pm 90m

Selfish pop singer Cléo (Corinne Marchand) has two hours to wait until the results of her biopsy come back. After an ominous tarot card reading, she visits her friends, all of whom fail to give her the emotional support she needs. Wandering around Paris, she finally finds comfort talking with a soldier in a park. Directed

by Agnes Varda.

Documentary

Location: USA

Note: Cleo from 5 to 7 is Ms. Varda’s second feature film and is part of MNFF’s “Agnes Varda: A Remembrance”.

Director: Demetrius Borge

Language: English

Writer: Demetrius Borge

Narrative

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Demetrius Borge

Director: Agnes Varda

VERMONT COLLECTION

Writer: Agnes Varda Producers: Georges de Beauregard, Carlo Ponti

Locations: France, Italy Language: French

SATURDAY DANA 10:00 am 11m How can ordinary people appreciate the life-sustaining force of the oceans when most of us don’t dive beneath the surface? A nonprofit in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary has taken on this question by training youth to become scientific divers. The students in Dive-N2-Life have a passion for conservation born from assisting with research on everything from the ecological role of sharks to a devastating coral disease infecting the Keys.

Documentary

Location: USA

Directors: Eilish Nobes , Darlien Morales

Language: English

Writers: Eilish Nobes, Darlien Morales Producer: Kevin McCarey

21 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

WORLD PREMIERE FAMILY

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802-388-6054 countrysidecarpetandpaint.com 22 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z Dandelion Mum

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

Difficult People SUNDAY TWI 10:00 am 30m

When Ivana got bone marrow cancer, she was told she only has 2-3 years to live. But instead of listening to the doctors, she became resilient. 11 years later, she’s working as a visiting scientist at Harvard. Despite surviving against all odds, she is now caught in a bureaucratic system, and torn between staying in the US to get her treatment or returning back home to be with her family.

Documentary Director: Barbora Hollan Writer: Barbora Hollan Producer: Barbara Hollan

Locations: USA, Norway Languages: Czech, English, Norwegian

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

Dirt Ash Meat THURSDAY MQS 10:00 am 20m

Akash, an aspiring graffiti artist, lives with his father Sudhakar in an old building in Mumbai. Akash’s mother is recently deceased. The father and son mourn her death in different ways, but they have one thing in common—stubbornness. Rebelling against his father’s conventional ways, Akash struggles to find his creative voice in the vast liberating spaces of Mumbai.

Narrative

Location: India

Director: Sohil Vaidya

Language: Hindi

Writer: Sohil Vaidya

VERMONT PREMIERE

Producer: Sohil Vaidya

FRIDAY DANA 7:15 pm 12m During the devastating foot and mouth outbreak of 2001, Rhian and her brother Dewi struggle to keep the Welsh hill farm they inherited from their father running. As the disease reaches their doorstep, Rhian tries to control her increasingly unstable brother.

Dirt Ash Meat is an adaptation of the novel White Ravens by Owen Sheers.

Narrative

Location: UK

Director: Sion Thomas

Language: English

Writer: Sion Thomas

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Catrin Lewis Defis

USA PREMIERE

The Dog Doc

Don’t Be Nice OPENING NIGHT THURSDAY THT 7:00 pm 101m

Dream House FRIDAY MQM 1:30 pm 96m

A maverick veterinarian and his dedicated team of doctors create a mecca for pets and their owners looking for hope and a last chance for animal healing.

The Dog Doc poses deep questions about treatment, pushing humans to consider the difference between medication and integrative, holistic care. This film offers an immersive view into a seldom seen world, painting a picture of pure dedication and joy.

A team of young New York City Slam Poets finds its voice as it competes for the National Championship during the summer of 2016. An emotional and inspiring film that gives insightful commentary on race, gender, identity and sexual politics in America today, Don’t Be Nice is both an absorbing competition doc and a vital writer’s workshop that proves once and for all that winning hearts and minds is the ultimate prize.

Documentary

Location: USA

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Cindy Meehl

Language: English

Director: Max Powers

Language: English

Producers: Nikhil Melnechuk , Cora Atkinson

VERMONT PREMIERE

Producer: Alice Henty Documentary Subject: Dr. Jacqueline Ruskin, DVM

FRIDAY MQS 10:00 am 30m A delayed coming-of-age drama set in Connecticut, Dream House follows Mark, who after being hospitalized for attempted suicide, returns home to live with his eccentric mother Ginnie in their deteriorating estate. Struggling with his sexuality and an overbearing mother, Mark tries to fill his voids with continuous housework, alcohol, and trips to the local gay bar.

Ginnie then hires Ted, who befriends Mark and offers him the possibility of a new life.

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Jeff Bemiss

Language: English

Writers: David Lally , Kevin Commins

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: David Lally

The Drink

Drowning in Sands THURSDAY MQS 1:30 pm 12m

Two colleagues head for a drink after work. After a bystander informs Zoe that Jack has spiked her drink, she’s haunted by the imagined rape and sits before him acting normal so not to raise suspicion until the police arrive.

Échappé FRIDAY MQM 10:00 am 31m

Two Sudanese inventors are determined to stop the desert from swallowing up their country. Despite international sanctions and a failing economy, they succeed in building Sudan’s first robot farmer and enter it into a national TV competition.

SUNDAY MQM 1:00 pm 13m In 1970, a preeminent Soviet ballet company tours the West to showcase their elite dancers. During a performance of “Sleeping Beauty” in New York, a rising ballerina begins to suspect her brother of defecting.

Narrative

Location: UK

Documentary

Location: Sudan

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Cosima Spender

Language: English

Director: Lucy Provan

Director: Allison Mattox

Writer: Teresa Sparks

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Producers: One World Media, The British Council Sudan

Languages: Arabic, English

Languages: English, Russian

VERMONT PREMIERE

Producers: Charlie Wilson, P.J. Walsh

Producers: Cosima Spender, Alessio Bergamo, Valerio Bonelli

Writer: Allison Mattox

23 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

VERMONT PREMIERE

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z Ernie & Joe

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

Estrellita CLOSING NIGHT SUNDAY THT 7:30 pm 95m

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

Eternal Harvest SATURDAY THT 1:30 pm 8m

SATURDAY DANA 10:00 am 12m

Ernie & Joe is an intimate portrait of two San Antonio, Texas police officers who are helping change the way police respond to mental health calls. The film takes audiences on a personal journey, weaving together the officers’ experiences during their daily encounters with people in crisis. In taking this different path, Ernie and Joe’s success is engendering change in police departments around the country.

Estrellita, (or Little Star) tells a piercing story about the constant threat of family separation and deportation for undocumented farmworkers in Vermont. Seen through the eyes of a little girl growing up on a dairy farm, the story begins in an idyllic wonderland of childhood adventure that turns dark when a powerful force raids the farm to capture her father.

Using drones, dance, farm implements, heirloom quilts, agriculture, and video installation, Eternal Harvest is a short film about the cycle of life as depicted by the growing season on a rural Kansas farm.

Experimental

Location: USA

Documentary

Location: USA

Animated

Location: USA

Director: David Wayne Reed

Language: English

Director: Jenifer McShane

Language: English

Director: Daniel Houghton

Writer: David Wayne Reed

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Producer: Andrea Meditch

Writer: Daniel Houghton

Languages: English, Spanish

VERMONT PREMIERE

Producer: Daniel Houghton

VERMONT COLLECTION

Exorcist of Apartheid

Fall ’99 FRIDAY MQS 1:30 pm 20m

Feral SUNDAY MQM 4:00 pm 18m

A young, white filmmaker in South Africa asks his grandmother what his grandfather did during apartheid. She gives him a box of family videos. A fascinating set of revelations follows.

Fall, 1999. A bisexual punk, Danny, navigates his first serious romantic relationship with a quiet boy from Connecticut, Michael, at a small liberal arts college.

Once he receives a call from a former lover, Danny must confront his own fears of isolation and mortality when he finds out he needs to be tested for HIV.

Documentary Director: Adam Heyns

Location: South Africa

Narrative

Producer: Christoph Heyns

Language: Afrikaans

USA PREMIERE

First Reformed

Location: USA

Director: Paul Schrader

Language: English

Writer: Paul Schrader Producer: Jack Binder

An examination of loneliness and the masks we wear to face the world, Andrew Wonder’s intriguing drama Feral tells the story of Yasmine, a young woman living in the tunnels underneath Manhattan. She is struggling to overcome her past while she meets other city dwellers fending for their own lives.

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Max Tullio

Language: English

Director: Andrew Wonder

Language: English

Writer: Max Tullio

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Writers: Andrew Wonder, VERMONT PREMIERE Jason Mendez, Priscilla Kavanaugh

Producer: Genevieve Scott

FRIDAY THT 1:30 pm 113m

Narrative

SATURDAY MQM 10:00 am 73m

Location: USA

Producer: Alon Simcha

Float

The pastor of a small church in upstate New York, played by Ethan Hawke, spirals out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife.

Producer: David Wayne Reed

For Sama SATURDAY TWI 1:30 pm 81m

In the ultra-competitive indoor sport of flying elite, stunningly-designed model airplanes, a wild-card newcomer threatens to knock a teammate off his world champion throne. A tale about obsession and passion, about camaraderie and competition, about time and beauty, Float is a documentary that is as much about the intricacies of the sport and the science as the complexity of the people involved.

Documentary Director: Phil Kibbe Writers: Phil Kibbe, Ben Saks Producers: Ben Saks, Laura Heberton

Locations: Argentina, Japan, Romania, UK, Serbia, Montenegro

FRIDAY DANA 1:30 pm 95m For Sama is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her.

Documentary

Location: Syria

Directors: Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts

Language: Arabic

Producer: Waad al-Kateab

Language: English

VERMONT PREMIERE FAMILY

24 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z Freedom & Unity / Conversations from the Open Road

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

Golnesa

SATURDAY MQS 10:00 am 82m total Freedom & Unity: A collection of 8 short films from local Vermont teens, selected from the winners of the statewide Freedom & Unity TV Competition. The films illuminate their lives, passions and interests in their home state. Conversations from the Open Road: Chicago: Public Schools Closures, a collection of 5 shorts, shot on location in The Windy City. Q&A with the filmmakers will follow.

Documentary

Location: USA

Directors: Various 

Language: English

Writers: Various

VERMONT COLLECTION

Producers: Various

FAMILY

Guardian

THURSDAY MQS 10:00 am 95m Golmammad and Golnesa, a young Afghan couple, are illegal immigrants who are working in a traditional brick making kiln in Iran. Following significant events that happen to them, their lives undergo profound changes.

Location: Canada

Director: Courtney Quirin 

Language: English

Producer: Courtney Quirin

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

How Purple Became

Location: USA

Director: Cathy Ye 

Language: English

Writer: Cathy Ye

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Cathy Ye

A short animated film about trying to sleep amidst anxiety.

Location: Iran

Director: Cece Wheeler

Location: USA

Language: Persian

Writer: Cece Wheeler

Language: English

Writer: Vida Salehi

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Producer: Cece Wheeler

VERMONT COLLECTION

Producer: Sattar Chamani Goi, Yousef Karimi

WORLD PREMIERE

Home SATURDAY MQM 7:15 pm 12m

Carrie Austen joins an elite book club only to discover it’s an underground fight club where mothers go to release their frustrations.

SUNDAY MQM 10:00 am 5m A close examination of a mother’s life at home with a one year old and an absent father.

Narrative

Location: USA

Narrative

Location: France

Director: Lukas Dong

Language: English

Language: English

Writer: Gillian Anis

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Directors: Pamela Albarren, Caroline Askew 

Producer: Mo Thompson, Camille St Gal de Pons

FRIDAY TWI 10:00 am 9m

Narrative

SUNDAY MQS 10:00 am 1m

Director: Sattar Chamani Goi

Writer: Caroline Askew

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Caroline Askew

Ingrid

Each missing a central aspect, two characters meander through a Jungian journey seeking to understand the construction of the whole Self.

ATTEND MNFF5

Narrative

FRIDAY MQM 10:00 am 76M

Documentary

 FILMMAKER TO

Goodnight

Hardcover

Guardian follows stewards of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, who live full-time on boats in the depths of the wilderness to monitor salmon, the backbone of the ecosystem, economy and culture along the BC coast. But, in an age of science censorship and soaring natural resource development, Guardians— and the wildlife they have dedicated their lives to protect—are now disappearing. The film tackles the consequences of the erosion of science and environmental management.

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

Invisible Hands SATURDAY MQS 1:30 pm 52m

Ingrid tells the fascinating story of a successful fashion designer and mother in Texas who dropped everything and moved to rural Oklahoma in order to pursue a personal and creative life. She has since become a reclusive hermit and spends her time creating clay sculptures and art out of rocks from the nearby creek.

What would drive a successful fashion designer to immerse herself in nature and leave everything behind?

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Morissa Maltz 

Language: English

Producers: Danielle Firoozi, Morrissa Maltz

VERMONT PREMIERE

FRIDAY DANA 10:00 am 80m Award-winning documentary Invisible Hands exposes child labor and trafficking within the supply chains of the world’s biggest corporations, which produce some of our most loved items.

Documentary Director: Shraysi Tandon Writer: Chad Beck Producer: Christina Weiss Lurie

25 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Locations: Ghana, China, India, Indonesia, USA Language: English

Don’t get left on the Cutting Room floor.

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VERMONT’S TWICE-WEEKLY L NEWSPA P PER Middlebury, VT 05753 • (802) 388-4944 • ww w.AddisonIndependent.com 26 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z Iron Hands

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

Keep Going Joon SUNDAY THT 1:00 pm 11m

As a 12-year-old girl prepares for her final test trying out for the traditionally all-boys Chinese youth Olympic weightlifting team, she makes an unlikely connection with the gym’s reclusive groundskeeper.

Narrative

Location: China

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

KO Scotty SATURDAY MQM 1:30 pm 26m

Juniper, a middle age father, severely injures himself playing his favorite Tuesday night pick-up basketball game. After surgery to repair his torn ACL, he goes through a tedious rehab to get back to his beloved pastime, only to injure himself again … and then again.

Each surgery causes him to confront his love for the game and his wife’s hope that he’ll stop playing.

SUNDAY THT 1:00 pm 5m Scotty is a young bear who wants to become a Muay Thai kick boxer after getting fired from a company due to the financial crisis. After much training, he gets an invitation from his coach to a fight with the local champion.

Narrative

Location: Thailand

Director: Johnson Cheng

Language: Chinese

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Thee Khanthavit

Language: Thai

Writer: Johnson Cheng

VERMONT PREMIERE

Director: Cedar Daniels 

Language: English

Writer: Thee Khanthavit

NEW ENGLAND

Writers: Cedar Daniels, Brandon Beilis

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Producers: Tianqi Zhuo, Felicity Wang

Producer: Kajornphan Sumpownoi PREMIERE

Producers: Ryan Parks, Peter Demas, Cedar Daniels

La Guerra

The Last Black Man in San Francisco FRIDAY MQS 1:30 pm 12m

SATURDAY THT 7:15 pm 121m

A short documentary about Angelica Guerra, a young, Mexican American woman from Southern California who has taken on a much greater role in her family in the face of her parents’ deportation. Angelica chose to make the best of her situation by continuing to study, work, and take care of her siblings to keep the American Dream alive, despite her family’s separation.

Jimmie and his best friend Mont try to reclaim the house built by Jimmie’s grandfather, launching them on a poignant odyssey that connects them to their past, even as it tests their friendship and sense of belonging in the place they call home.

Director: Joe Talbot

Location: USA

Locations: Mexico, Director: Erin Nene-Lee Ramirez  USA Producers: Erin Nene-Lee Ramirez, Language: English

Writers: Jimmie Fails, Joe Talbot, Rob Richert

Language: English

Documentary

Jillian Littleton, Eliana Velasco

Liyana

Producer: Joe Talbot

VERMONT PREMIERE

KIDS & FAMILY WEDNESDAY MQM 1:00 pm 77m A Swazi girl embarks on a dangerous quest to rescue her young twin brothers. This animated African tale is born in the imaginations of five orphaned children in Swaziland who collaborate to tell a story of perseverance drawn from their darkest memories and brightest dreams. Their fictional character’s journey is interwoven with poetic and observational documentary scenes to create a genre-defying celebration of collective storytelling.

Animated, Documentary

Location: Swaziland

Directors: Aaron Kopp, Amanda Kopp

Language: English

Producers: Aaron Kopp, Amanda Kopp

Lonnie

Louie’s Antiques SATURDAY MQS 1:30 pm 6m

FAMILY

Love Pool SATURDAY THT 10:00 am 8m

SATURDAY MQM 7:15 pm 17m

A character piece on Lonnie Holley, a found object artist and musician based in Atlanta, Georgia.

In Louie’s shop, antique objects get a second life–- and come to life.

Eternally single Mark refuses to settle for anyone but ‘the one’, but a chance encounter in the back of a taxi pool forces him to consider that sometimes love can be found in the strangest places.

Documentary

Location: USA

Documentary

Location: USA

Narrative

Location: UK

Director: Mac Christopher 

Language: English

Director: Melissa McClung 

Language: English

Director: Asim Chaudhry

Language: English

Producer: Walker Edelman

VERMONT COLLECTION

Producer: Melissa McClung

VERMONT COLLECTION

Writer: Asim Chaudhry

VERMONT PREMIERE

VERMONT PREMIERE

Producer: Daniel Emmerson, Katherine Pomfret, Collie McCarthy

WORLD PREMIERE

27 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Music & Dinner

Come enjoy intimate, one-of-a-kind shows at Brandon’s best kept secret

Gypsy Reel

Steve Hartmann

Lara Herscovitch

Listen to this crowd-favorite play high energy stirring music rooted in the Celtic tradition and world rhythms.

This Jericho, Vermont based singer-songwriter brings a unique sound to the Brandon Music stage.

A modern American songwriterpoet-performer gem, creating masterful contemporary folk with blues, pop and jazz influences.

An energetic, blend of modern jazz, funk, blues, classical, Indian classical, and American folk.

Saturday, Aug. 31

Saturday, Sept. 7

Saturday, Sept. 21

Saturday, Sept. 28

Jeremy Mahoney

Piandia

Kyle Carey Kyle Carey weaves together resonant threads of Celtic and American roots music into a rich tapestry of acoustic storytelling.

Friday, Oct. 4 PLUS:

Umoja Trio

Saturday, Oct. 5

Corey Laitman Trio Laitman’s alternative folk-pop is set apart by its layered, poetically conceived narratives that surprise and disarm.

Saturday, Oct. 12

John Funkhouser Quartet

Piandia is a duo of professors, John Funkhouser (piano) and Jerry Leake (tabla), who delve into the ancient tradition of North Indian (Hindustani) classical music. Deeply soulful and spiritually uplifting!

& his Colorado Swing Band

Jeremy Mohney is swing. He and his band’s music conveys the pure joy of life through a catchy rhythm and floating melodies.

Saturday, Oct. 19

Saturday, Oct. 26

Tickets are $20. Add a pre-concert dinner for $25. Reservations required for dinner and recommended for the show.

802-247-4295 • info@brandon-music.net • 62 Country Club Road, Brandon, VT

brandon-music.net

28 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z Lynch: A History

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

Made in Boise SUNDAY THT 1:00 pm 85m

SATURDAY THT 10:00 am 86m In Boise, Idaho, where 70% of new arrivals are gay men from overseas, as many as one in fifteen mothers will become surrogates in their lifetime. Surrogacy has nearly quadrupled in the last 20 years, and this small Western city presents an opportunity to explore this growing yet complex and controversial phenomenon.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: David Shields 

Language: English

Director: Beth Aala

Documentary Producers: Beth Levison , Alex Pitz

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

Maiden

Lynch: A History explores the silence that nonconformist NFL star Marshawn Lynch deploys as a form of resistance. Culling more than 700 video clips and placing them in dramatic, rapid, and radical juxtaposition, the film is a powerful political parable about the American media-sports complex and its deep complicity with racial oppression.

Producer: David Shields

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

Locations: USA, Spain Languages: English, Spanish

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

SATURDAY DANA 7:15 pm 93m In 1989, the very idea of a competitive all-female sailboat crew was nearly inconceivable to the manly world of open-ocean yacht racing. They’d never make it to the start of the Whitbread Round the World Race, much less survive to the finish. They’d never find funding. They didn’t have the strength or skill. They’d die at sea. Did that many professional female sailors even exist? Tracy Edwards proved all the naysayers wrong.

Documentary Director: Alex Holmes Writer: Alex Holmes

Location: International Language: English

Producer: James Erskine

Major Arcana

Maria THURSDAY MQM 1:30 pm 82m

Set in the backwoods of Vermont, Major Arcana follows an itinerant carpenter’s attempt to end a legacy of alcoholism and poverty by building a log cabin by hand.

His plans are complicated when he reunites with Sierra, a woman with whom he shares a troubled past, and he must reconcile his old life with his new one. A vivid depiction of life in early sobriety, it’s a universal story resonant to these uncertain times.

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Josh Melrod 

Language: English

Writer: Josh Melrod

VERMONT COLLECTION

FRIDAY MQM 1:30 pm 26m

2066 is lonely . . . a world where the rich are hooked to machines and the poor labor to support them. Then, a fated power outage causes two strangers’ paths to cross for an instant and a fleeting bond arises.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Shiri Paamony Eshel 

Languages: English, Spanish

Producer: Emily Olmos

Producer: Shiri Paamony Eshel

The Moon and the Night

Moth SATURDAY MQM 10:00 am 19m

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Erin Lau

Language: English

Writers: Erin Lau, Justin Omori

VERMONT PREMIERE

Producer: Olivia Gray

SATURDAY DANA 7:15 pm 14m

Maria is an 18 year old poet, daughter of Mexican immigrants from the Bronx, NY. Her life was never easy, living with her alcoholic father, mother, mother’s schizophrenic husband and two sisters. The family moved between housing projects and shelters and she never really had hope for a better future. In high school, she experienced depression and social isolation which led her to cutting herself. Luckily, she started writing poems.

Producer: Sarah Brennan Kolb

Set in rural Hawai‛i, a Native Hawaiian teenage girl must confront her father after he enters her beloved pet in a dog fight. Through the journey, the film explores undercurrents of personal, cultural, and socioeconomic strife in Hawai‛i, but, at heart, is a coming-ofage tale of a young woman who must make the difficult realization that to save her family, she must stand on her own.

Memories of Blue

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Yuchi Ma

Languages: English, Chinese

Writer: Tim Schauer

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Moynihan THURSDAY MQM 10:00 am 18m

SUNDAY TWI 1:00 pm 102m

Three generations of the family once lived together, but one day, grandmother was forced to move out and be alone. Her granddaughter visits her less and less and her daughter doesn’t bother to visit at all. A moth appears in the old woman’s flat and its continuous appearance acts as a metaphor for the old woman’s loneliness.

A biographical portrait of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, twentieth century colossus: public intellectual, policy specialist, ambassador and U.S. Senator from New York. The film captures the spirit of Moynihan’s remarkable ideas as they evolved over the course of his tumultuous life in postwar America, featuring both the triumphs and the controversies.

Narrative

Location: Russia

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Alexey Frenkel

Language: Russian

Language: English

Writer: Alexey Frenkel

VERMONT PREMIERE

Directors: Joseph Dorman, Toby Freilich Writer: Joseph Dorman Producers: Joseph Dorman, Toby Freilich

29 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z Mrs. Cho

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

My Dear Children SATURDAY MQM 10:00 am 6m

An immigrant mother’s gambling addiction shatters her family.

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Anna Sang Park  Writer: Anna Sang Park

Language: Dialogue-Free

Producers: Anna Sang Park, Isabella Jackson

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

My Dear Children follows one woman’s quest to unravel a family mystery. Her journey reveals a heartbreaking and little known humanitarian tragedy when antiJewish massacres, “pogroms,” swept Eastern Europe following WWI. Scholars today describe what happened as “the holocaust of its day.” The consequences of that earlier holocaust continue to reverberate through the generations and warn us of what could happen yet again.

Documentary Directors: LeeAnn Dance , Cliff Hackel Producers: LeeAnn Dance, Cliff Hackel

A short documentary discovering the past of the filmmaker’s grandfather.

ATTEND MNFF5

SATURDAY THT 1:30 pm 93m Every summer since 1914, Camp Pathfinder, a summer camp located in Canada’s Algonquin Park, invites boys from across Canada and the United States to spend a few weeks in the backcountry. Two years ago, Camp Director Mike Sladden, enraged by the growing global refugee crisis, had an idea. What if he could find a way to bring a group of displaced boys from war-torn Syria and Iraq to spend the summer at Pathfinder?

Locations: South Africa, Ukraine

Documentary

Languages: English, Ukranian

Producer: Barbara Kopple

Director: Barbara Kopple 

Locations: USA, Canada Language: English

VERMONT PREMIERE

VERMONT PREMIERE

Once & Again FRIDAY MQS 1:30 pm 14m

 FILMMAKER TO

New Homeland SUNDAY MQM 10:00 am 70m

Writer: LeeAnn Dance

Nothing to My Name

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

One Town at a Time SATURDAY THT 10:00 am 25m

“How can I get closer to the past, which moves farther and farther away?” So begins Once & Again, a film about early recorded sound and the hunger for connection across time that marks each of us.

THURSDAY THT 10:00 am 104m Vermont has 251 towns. Explore them…One Town at a Time. One Town at a Time is a coming-of-age story that is firmly rooted in the community spirit that makes Vermont so special. You will hear from “251 Club” members of all kinds and, after listening to their stories of traveling through Vermont, you’ll want to start exploring as well.

Documentary

Location: China

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Qian Li 

Director: Isabel Dunn 

Language: English

Documentary

Location: Vermont

Writer: Qian Li

Languages: Chinese, English

Producer: Isabel Dunn

Language: English

VERMONT COLLECTION

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Director: Mike Leonard 

Producer: Qian Li

Writer: Mike Leonard

VERMONT COLLECTION

WORLD PREMIERE

Playhouse

Producers: Mike Leonard, Mary Rizos, Kevin Quigley

The Pollinators FRIDAY MQS 10:00 am 8m

Resting on the shoulder of a single day, a young girl experiences the daunting immediacy of responsibility when tasked to take care of her ailing grandmother.

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Kerry LeVielle 

Language: English

Writer: Kerry LeVielle

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Moira Fett , Sean Weiner

The Quarry Project SATURDAY DANA 10:00 am 92m

The Pollinators follows migratory beekeepers and their bees throughout a growing season, joining them as they stop at farms to pollinate the myriad of plants and trees that depend upon honey bees to grow and produce our food. Throughout the journey, the film will meet farmers, scientists, chefs and academics to give perspective on this complex food system that we all depend on.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Peter Nelson 

Language: English

Producers: Sally Roy , Michael Reuter

VERMONT PREMIERE

SATURDAY TWI 1:30 pm 18m The Quarry Project is a site specific dance/theatre piece being created for the Wells Lamson quarry, the oldest, deepest granite quarry in the country, now flooded and in “reserve.” Slated for live performances in 2020, this film explores the development phase from rehearsals completed in 2018.

Experimental

Location: USA

Director: Leslie Anderson

Language: Dialogue-Free

Producer: Hannah Dennison

FAMILY

30 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

VERMONT COLLECTION WORLD PREMIERE

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

The Return of Richard III on the 9:24am Train

SUNDAY DANA 4:00 pm 93m The fascinating story of media firebrand Molly Ivins, six feet of Texas trouble who took on the Good Old Boy corruption wherever she found it. Her razor sharp wit left both sides of the aisle laughing, and craving ink in her columns. Best-selling author, Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist and popular TV pundit, Molly courageously spoke truth to power and it cost her more than once.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Janice Engel

Language: English

Producers: Janice Engel, James Egen, Carlisle Vandervoort

Rituals

Narrative

Location: Sweden

Director: Josh Aarons

Language: English

Writer: Josh Aarons

USA PREMIERE

It’s a comedy drama. The drama: a dying man decides to hire professional actors to impersonate his loved ones at a final “family” get together. The comedy: the group of actors he has hired turns out to be even more neurotic than him.

Director: Chris Roberti  Writers: Chris Roberti, Josh Itzkowitz  Producer: Josh Itzkowitz

A deep historical look at one of the most controversial issues of our time, highlighting the abortion debate from various points along the ideological spectrum in a winding story of abortion in America.”

Location: France

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Eric Bu

Language: French

Language: English

Writer: Gilles Dyrek

WORLD PREMIERE

Directors: Ricki Stern , Anne Sundberg

Producers: Alexis Bougon , Stephane Sansonetti 

Producers: Keli Goff, Anne Sundberg

The River and the Wall

Ruben Brandt, Collector SUNDAY THT 4:00 pm 97m

Five friends embark on an epic 1,200-mile mountain bike, horse, and canoe expedition down the Rio Grande River to document the borderlands before construction of a wall and to explore how it would impact wildlife, immigration, public lands, border security, and landowners.

Documentary Director: Ben Masters Producers: Hillary Pierce, Jay Kleberg

Locations: USA, Mexico Language: English

FRIDAY MQM 11:00 pm 96m Ruben Brandt, a famous psychotherapist, is forced to steal 13 paintings from the world’s renowned museums to prevent the terrible nightmares he has as a result of subliminal messaging he received as a child. Four of his patients, expert thieves, offer to steal the works, since he believes that once he owns them, the nightmares will disappear. He becomes a wanted criminal known as “The Collector.” An animated masterpiece many years in the making.

Animated Director: Milorad Krstic Producer: Peter Miskolczi

Santuario SATURDAY MQM 1:30 pm 83m

Narrative

FRIDAY THT 7:15 pm 99m

Writer: Milorad Krstic

Same Boat is the story of a time-traveling assassin who inadvertently falls in love with the woman he’s been sent to kill… while on a cruise ship. The film was secretly shot aboard an actual cruise.

Locations: Mexico, USA Language: English

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

ATTEND MNFF5

Narrative

Producers: Hattie Ellis, Matilda Thompson

Same Boat

 FILMMAKER TO

Reversing Roe FRIDAY MQS 7:15pm 85m

SUNDAY MQS 10:00 am 20m When daily struggles and depression become too much to bear, Sofia flees to her family summer house. Secluded in the Gothenburg Archipelago and surrounded by nostalgia of her childhood, Sofia retraces her youth as she confronts her demons. A chance encounter, rituals, and friendship shine a light in the dark.

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

Language: Hungarian, English, French, Spanish, Italian

Seadrift SATURDAY MQS 7:15 pm 26m

Juana Luz Tobar Ortega immigrated to the United States over 25 years ago as an asylum seeker from Guatemala. But in 2017, she was told that she had 30 days to leave the country or be deported. Refusing to leave her family and home, Juana took sanctuary at an unfamiliar church in Greensboro, NC, where she remains today.

Documentary

Location: USA

Directors: Pilar Timpane, Christine Delp

Languages: English, Spanish

Producers: Pilar Timpane, Christine Delp

VERMONT PREMIERE

SATURDAY MQS 7:15 pm 69m In 1979, a Vietnamese refugee shoots and kills a white crab fisherman at the public town docks in Seadrift, TX. What began as a dispute over fishing territory erupts into violence and ignites a maelstrom of boat burnings, KKK intimidation, and other hostilities against Vietnamese refugees along the Gulf Coast. Set during the early days of Vietnamese refugee arrival in the U.S., Seadrift examines the shooting and its dramatic aftermath, revealing the unexpected consequences.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Tim Tsai

Languages: English, Vietnamese

Producers: Tim Tsai, Andrew Lee, Tengah Nguyen

31 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z The Short Goodbye

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

Small Family, Happy Family FRIDAY MQS 7:15 pm 8m

In the midst of a crippling state of writer’s block, film noir-obsessed Trevor gets a text message from his girlfriend: “It’s over. I’m sorry.” The shock sends him spiralling into his own noir fantasy where he must get to the bottom of this mysterious message. But while in his mind he suavely navigates bartenders, gossip columnists, boxers, and risqué photographers, in reality, his real problem is that he cannot see what a mess he is.

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Kate Eminger

Language: English

Writer: Alexander Kveton

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Producers: Jackie Heltz , Janne Ebel 

Sophia

SUNDAY MQS 1:00 pm 37m Mitilesh, a young woman from Central India, is recruited by local health workers to get sterilized in a mass surgical ‘camp’. As she decides to undergo the surgery, her narrative is situated in the larger context of population control in India – one that has for decades sacrificed women’s health and reproductive rights in the name of economic progress.

Languages: English, Hindi

Narrative

Location: Denmark

Director: Cecilie Skou

Language: Danish

Producer: Jana Edelbaum

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Writer: Cecilie Skou

Language: English

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Writers: Wolfgang Fischer, Ika Kunzel Producer: Marcos Kanter

Languages: English, German

A young boy lives a lonely life with his reclusive father on a desolate Australian coastline, but when he forms a close bond with a pelican, Mr. Percival, his life takes a new and unexpected turn.

Narrative

Location: Australia

Director: Polly Draper 

Language: English

Director: Shawn Seet

Language: English

Writer: Polly Draper

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Writer: Justin Monjo

FAMILY

Producers: Ken Keller, Caron Rudner

Producers: Matthew Street, Michael Boughen

Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day

Summer in the City

Locations: Germany, Austria

KIDS & FAMILY WEDNESDAY MQM 10:00 am 99m

Location: USA

FRIDAY DANA 7:15 pm 94m

Director: Wolfgang Fischer

Storm Boy

Stella’s Last Weekend is the story of two brothers whose relationship is definitely challenged when they find themselves in love with the same girl, but eventually the conflict deepens the unshakable bond between them.

Writer: Jared Rosenthal

Narrative

Producer: Claus Michaelsen

SATURDAY TWI 10:00 am 109m

Director: Jared Rosenthal

A busy doctor plans to spend her annual vacation fulfilling her long-held dream of sailing from Gibraltar to the small island of Ascension in the Atlantic. But everything changes when she sees a damaged, overloaded boat full of refugees nearby. Knowing that at least a hundred people could drown, she begins to organize to help them but slowly begins to fear that it will be impossible to do so.

Albert lives in his own little universe; a universe where all of the world’s diseases can be cured. Albert and his best friend, Theodor, play on the rooftop of Albert’s apartment, where everything is possible. For many years, Albert’s mother has suffered from an incurable cancer, but Albert has a hard time understanding how bad the disease really is. He believes that he can cure his mother through the games he plays with Theodor.

Location: India

Narrative

Styx

FRIDAY DANA 1:30 pm 12m

Directors: Anne Munger , Zoe Hamilton

Location: USA

Producer: Sandra Tan, Jared Rosenthal, Ahad Mahmood

ATTEND MNFF5

Documentary

SUNDAY MQM 10:00 am 12m

Narrative

 FILMMAKER TO

Soaring Soldiers

Stella’s Last Weekend

A homeless subway violinist has her world turned upside down when her most prized possession is stolen.

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

SATURDAY TWI 10:00 am 10m Convinced that civilization is on the verge of collapse, two women set out on a dream logic journey through New York City parks in search of a river that will take them to a faraway island. But does the river exist?

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Mojo Lorwin 

Language: English

Writer: Mojo Lorwin

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Grace Kim

SUNDAY TWI 10:00 am 90m A young woman joins a group of D-Day veterans on a 70th anniversary pilgrimage to retrace their route from the beaches at Normandy during World War II. Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day follows their journey, painting an intimate portrait of these soldiers during their final return to that hallowed ground.

Providing a new perspective through the eyes of a 20year old woman, a story of intergenerational friendship blossoms from the memories of 90-year-old men.

Documentary Director: Charlotte Juergens  Producers: Charlotte Juergens, Lydia Robertson 

32 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Locations: France, UK, USA Languages: English, French

VERMONT PREMIERE

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z The Sweet Hereafter

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

Sweetheart Dancers SATURDAY TWI 7:15pm 112m

A small mountain community in Canada is devastated when a school bus accident leaves more than a dozen of its children dead. A big-city lawyer arrives to help the survivors’ and victims’ families prepare a class-action suit, but his efforts only seem to push the townspeople further apart. At the same time, one teenage survivor of the accident has to reckon with the loss of innocence brought about by a different kind of damage.

Location: Canada

Narrative Director: Atom Egoyan Writer: Atom Egoyan Producer: Atom Egoyan, Camelia Frieburg

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

Swiped SATURDAY MQS 7:15 pm 13m

FRIDAY MQS 7:15 pm 9m

Sweetheart Dancers is a story about Sean and Adrian, a Two-Spirit gay couple determined to rewrite the rules of Native American culture through their participation in the “Sweetheart Dance.” This celebratory contest is held at powwows across the country, reserved for heterosexual couples, until now.

Alarmed by the detrimental effect smartphones are having on those around them, three friends launch a rogue initiative intended to force people to be more present and mindful.

Documentary

Location: USA

Narrative

Location: England

Director: Ben-Alex Dupris

Language: English

Director: Steve Whitely

Language: English

Producer: John Reiss

VERMONT PREMIERE

Writer: Steve Whitely

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Language: English

Producer: Steve Whitely

Actor: Bruce Greenwood 

They Were Important to Each Other in That Moment

Teeth FRIDAY DANA 10:00 am 13m Teeth is an intimate portrait of Hawaiian grandmother Angelica’s recovery from sexual abuse she suffered as a child and young woman. Her emotional and psychological healing parallels the fixing of knocked out and rotten teeth. In her words, “Three things have replaced my misery, Faith, Hope, and Aloha … and the greatest of these is Aloha”.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Aaron Schnobrich 

Language: English

Writer: Aaron Schnobrich

VERMONT PREMIERE

This Little Land of Mines

SUNDAY MQM 1:00 pm 1m

FRIDAY MQS 1:30 pm 64m

Captured entirely in one take, They Were Each Important To Each Other In That Moment is a glimpse of time and space. The one-minute film witnesses unplanned micro-events through rhythms of light, color, sound, shadow, and shape.

This Little Land of Mines shines a spotlight on the resilience of the Laotian people as they live among and work to clear 80 million unexploded American bombs embedded in their land after the Vietnam War era. WINNER: Clio Visualizing History Prize for the Advancement of Women in Film.

Experimental

Location: USA

Director: Hannah Priscilla Craig 

Language: n/a

Documentary

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Director: Erin McGoff  Producers: Erin McGoff, Ka Xiong, Cyril Eberle

Languages: Lao, English

USA PREMIERE

Producer: Ciara Lacy

Three Sacks Full of Hats

Tito and the Birds THURSDAY MQM 1:30 pm 20m

Mick returns home after a long absence to witness the rapidly declining health of his alcoholic brother Sid, which stirs up family tensions and powerful emotions of shame and denial. An exploration of addiction and the healing power of familial love.

Narrative

Location: UK

Director: Debbie Anzalone

Language: English

Writer: Geoff Thomspon

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Producers: Lee Thomas, Jane Nicholson, Peter Nicholson

Locations: Laos, USA

Topanga KIDS & FAMILY WEDNESDAY MQM 4:00 pm 73m

Tito is a shy 10-year-old boy who lives with his mother.

Suddenly, an unusual epidemic starts to spread, making people sick whenever they get scared. Tito quickly discovers that the cure is somehow related to his missing father’s research on bird songs. He embarks on a journey to save the world from the epidemic with his friends. Tito’s search for the antidote becomes a quest for his missing father and for his own identity.

SUNDAY MQS 10:00 am 15m Hearing impaired and homeless Gala escapes from a man who continuously abuses her. While living in an abandoned old truck on a mountain road, she is unaware that the abusive man has discovered where her hiding place is. One night, after a brutal attack, she finds the strength to somehow stand up and walk away for good. She has no idea where this survival walk will end up and how it will change her life.

Animated, Narrative

Location: Brazil

Narrative

Location: USA

Directors: Gustavo Steinberg, Gabriel Bitar, Andre Dias

Language: Portuguese

Director: Aycil Yeltan 

Language: English

Writer: Eduardo Benaim

Writer: Aycil Yeltan

USA PREMIERE

FAMILY

Producer: Aycil Yeltan

Producers: Daniel Greco, Felipe Sabino

33 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

34 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z TransMilitary

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

The True History of Billie the Kid SUNDAY MQM 4:00 pm 93m

TransMilitary chronicles the lives of four individuals defending their country’s freedom while fighting for their own. They put their careers and their families’ livelihoods on the line by coming out as transgender to top brass officials in the Pentagon in hopes of attaining the equal right to serve. The ban was lifted in 2016, but with President Trump now having reinstated it, their futures hang in the balance once again.

Documentary

Location: USA

Directors: Gabriel Silverman, Fiona Dawson

Language: English

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

ATTEND MNFF5

Turning Ten

FRIDAY DANA 7:15 pm 8m Billie visits her aging father in jail, revealing that her childhood in his care was not as safe and happy as he might have believed. Will she get her revenge?

 FILMMAKER TO

THURSDAY MQS 1:30 pm 13m Lamia and her husband await their turn in the clinic for their young daughter to be circumcised. The 10 minute wait leads Lamia to recall her own experience as a child and question whether this is the right fate for her daughter.

Location: Australia

Narrative

Director: Leticia Caceres

Language: English

Director: Jaylan Auf

Writer: Angela Betzien

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Writer: Jaylan Auf

Language: Arabic

Producers: Houda Echouafni, Hossam ElSokari

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Narrative

Producer: Christina Radburn

Writer: Jamie Coughlin

Locations: Cairo, Egypt

Producer: Jamie Coughlin

Twenty

Two Balloons SUNDAY MQM 10:00am 8m

Twenty is about the breakdown of a family as seen from the perspective of a 12 year old boy, who must come to terms with his parents’ separation.

Two Birds SATURDAY TWI 1:30 pm 9m

Two adventurous lemurs navigate their dirigibles halfway around the world to a place where happenstance and fate threaten to disrupt their reunion.

Trapped in a sort of domestic hellscape, on opposite sides of the same wall, Eva and Desiree must find a way to survive. The two characters develop diverging approaches to their circumstances but converge at a point of emotional vulnerability. Two Birds explores the psychological effects of solitary confinement and pulls the larger matrix of gender and domesticity into focus.

Location: USA

Animated

Director: Mia Fichman 

Language: English

Director: Mark Smith

Language: English

Narrative

Location: USA

Writer: Mia Fichman

VERMONT COLLECTION

Writer: Mark Smith

VERMONT PREMIERE

Director: Moira Fett 

Language: English

Producer: Mia Fichman

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Mark Smith

FAMILY

Writer: Moira Fett

WORLD PREMIERE

Narrative

Location: USA

FRIDAY MQS 10:00 am 11m

Producer: Kerry Levielle 

Voice of America: Lowell Thomas and the Rise of Broadcasting

Undeterred SUNDAY MQS 1:00 pm 76m Filmed in the rural border community of Arivaca, Arizona, Undeterred depicts the militarization along the US/Mexico border enacted by US Customs and Border Patrol and how it has affected and changed life in the community. Made by a resident of Arivaca, the entire film was crafted in close collaboration with the community residents who are its subjects.

THURSDAY THT 1:30 pm 85m In the 1930s, as America’s foremost newscaster both in newsreels and on the radio, Lowell Thomas set the standard for reliable, non-partisan broadcast news.

Today, as the profusion of alternative digital sources is changing that network dominated universe and the air rings with charges of “fake news”, this film examines, through the life of Lowell Thomas, the evolution and value of broadcast journalism.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Eva Lewis

Languages: English, Spanish

Documentary Director: Richard Moulton 

Locations: China, India, UK, USA

VERMONT PREMIERE

Writer: Mitchell Stephens 

Language: English

Producers: Richard Moultan, David Wright

VERMONT COLLECTION

Producer: Eva Lewis

We Want Our Money Back SATURDAY MQM 1:30 pm 6m Shortly after breaking up, a couple returns to their therapist to demand a refund.

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Ethan Mermelstein 

Language: English

Writer: Ethan Mermelstein

WORLD PREMIERE

Producer: Silvia Chen

35 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

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36 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Join us at the Farmers’ Market

MNFF5 FILMS A-Z

THT TOWN HALL THEATER MQM MARQUIS THEATRE - MAIN SCREEN MQS MARQUIS THEATRE - SCREENING ROOM

We Were Islands

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael SATURDAY MQM 7:15 pm 80m

An illuminating portrait of the work of controversial film critic Pauline Kael and her profound influence on the male-dominated worlds of cinema and film criticism.

Documentary

Location: USA

Narrative

Location: USA

Director: Rob Garver

Language: English

Director: Amrita Pradhan 

Language: English

VERMONT PREMIERE

Writer: Amrita Pradhan

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Producers: Rob Garver, Glenn Zipper

 FILMMAKER TO ATTEND MNFF5

When We Walk

SUNDAY DANA 10:00 am 95m

Reeta, a young stand-up comedian, feels the heat. As she edges closer to the ominous age of 30, she feels the ever-mounting pressure to fall in love, get married, and settle down. Her growing doubts and conservative Indian family are certainly not helping the situation.

When she meets lonely funeral home employee Juliun, her happy ending finally feels imminent.

Producer: Amrita Pradhan

DANA DANA AUDITORIUM TWI TWILIGHT HALL

FRIDAY THT 10:00 am 80m Follow the life of disability activist and filmmaker Jason DaSilva as he confronts the abrupt end of his marriage and the departure of his wife and young son from New York to Austin, Texas. Though he is quadriplegic, can barely see, and has problems swallowing and breathing, DaSilva sets off for Austin, where he encounters a Medicaid system that would force him to live in a nursing home in order to be near his son.

Documentary

Location: USA

Director: Jason DaSilva 

Language: English

Writer: Jason DaSilva

VERMONT PREMIERE

Producer: Jason DaSilva Editor: Simeon Hutner 

Wildlike

The Witch in the Window SUNDAY THT 10:00 am 104m

Woman at War THURSDAY MQM 10:00 am 77m

A gruff backpacker (Bruce Greenwood) helps a troubled teen (Ella Purnell) trek through the Alaskan wilderness to make her way back home to Seattle.

When Simon brings his twelve year-old son, Finn, to rural Vermont to help flip an old farmhouse, they encounter the malicious spirit of Lydia, a previous owner. And now with every repair they make, she’s getting stronger.

FRIDAY TWI 7:15 pm 101m Halla, a woman in her forties, declares war on the local aluminum industry to prevent it from disfiguring her country. She risks all she has to protect the highlands of Iceland – but the situation could change with the unexpected arrival of a small orphan in her life.

Narrative

Location: USA

Narrative

Location: USA

Narrative

Director: Frank Hall Green

Language: English

Director: Andy Mitton 

Language: English

Director: Benedikt Erlingsson

Writer: Frank Hall Green

Writer: Andy Mitton

VERMONT COLLECTION

Producer: Frank Hall Green

Producers: Andy Mitton, Richard King, Alex Draper 

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Writers: Ólafur Egill Egilsson, Benedikt Erlingsson

Actor: Bruce Greenwood 

Producers: Benedikt Erlingsson, Carine Leblanc, Marianne Slot

WATCH FILM TRAILERS @ middfilmfest.org 37 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Location: Iceland, France, Ukraine Languages: Icelandic, Spanish, English, Ukrainian

THE MNFF CIRCLE OF FRIENDS We extend our heartfelt thanks to all of those individuals and families who have chosen to support the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival and Vermont’s ever growing art community.

BEST FRIENDS FOREVER

Michele Hernandez & Bruce Bayliss

TRUE PALS

The Pearson Family Foundation E. W. Stetson III and Jane Watson

GOOD BUDDIES

Magna & David Dodge Frank & Annie Van Gansbeke Bob & Joanne Kirkpatrick Carl & Barbara Sassano The Shouldice Family Lola Van Wagenen & George Burrill

Robin Lloyd Andrea Landsberg Nancy & Chip Malcolm Eric & Helen McFerran Judith & Dennis O’Brien Joan Gamble & Chip Paison Laurie Patton Neil & Debra Salowitz Abi & Bill Sessions Steve Goldschmidt & Stacy Sussman Rick & Elizabeth Swartz

COMRADES-IN-ARTS

David & Fran Alexander Kevin & Teena Betourney George & Sue Cady Ashley & Louise Cadwell Jay Craven & Bess O’Brien Paul LaFerriere & Dorrie Parini Maynard & Marilyn McLaughlin Alex & Vanessa Wolff David Weller & Rochelle Zabarkes

COMPATRIOTS

CHUMS

Gayl Braisted William F. Brooks Bruce & Sue Byers Cairn & Jean Cross Stephen & Emmie Donadio Richard Dulgarian John & Sandra Everitt Linda Mason Sarah & Owen McClain Jay & Anna Michael Susan Polk & Glen Wehrwein Gerianne Smart Harold & Jean Somerset Ricki Stern

WELL WISHERS

John & Heather Bierschenk Holly Killary & Jonathan Blake Kate Briggs Bob & Suzie Crews Matt & Courtney Debisschop Jim & Lyn DesMarais John & Katherine Dick Nancie Dunn & Bruce Baker Linda Goldstein Bruce & Ginny Hiland Paula Israel Todd & Wendy Jick Dayle & John Kellner Charlie & Marie Kireker

Nancy Bercaw Audrey & Joel Brockner Mark Davis Elisa & Seth Davis Walt Deverell Paul DiSanto Louis & Rilly Miron Liza Sacheli Diane Snyder Harold Sogard Chuck & Rebecca Strum Kathy Sulkes Steve & Faith Terry

Churchill & Janet Franklin Mr. & Mrs. Dort Cameron III Joseph & Kristen Brown Magna & David Dodge Elizabeth & Jim Robinson Larry & Diane Speidell Rick Lapham 38 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

THANK YOU!

2019 SPONSORS

AND HERE’S TO OUR 2019 FILMMAKER GIFT BAG DONORS

FESTIVAL PROGRAM PUBLISHED BY THE ADDISON INDEPENDENT 39 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | August 22-25, 2019 | MNFF5 FESTIVAL PROGRAM