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
3 5th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | 2019 FESTIVAL PROGRAM
FESTIVAL MAP Seymour St
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MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
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FESTIVAL DESTINATION
OPENING NIGHT PARTY! SWIFT HOUSE INN
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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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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
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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
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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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Farmers’ Market 530 Exchange Street (Home of VFW)
Advertise with us and see how business develops.
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INDEPENDENT
VERMONT’S TWICE-WEEKLY L NEWSPA P PER Middlebury, VT 05753 • (802) 388-4944 • ww w.AddisonIndependent.com
Fresh Films, Fresh Food ! Crafts Produce p Eggs Maple Syru ... and Wine more! Bread RAIN OR SHINE 9am to 12:30pm Saturdays (Year Round) Wednesdays (June-October) For events & available products:
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