The Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival, now in its 18th year, is a celebration of cinema worldwide. The films we’ve gathered for you show the full glory of cinema arts. These films’ bold imagery, creative storylines, and unique characters will wrap your in warm cinematic magic.

Schedule of Events:

September 5, 2023:

4:00pm: Golden Years (Switzerland)

Reminiscent Of Bread And Tulips, Barbara Kulcsar Directs The Affectionate Story Of An Elderly Couple In Search Of Happiness With Humor And A Light Touch. Breakout Hit At The Swiss Box Office, Ranking As The Most Successful Swiss Feature Since The Beginning Of The Pandemic

Alice and Peter are celebrating their retirement – and with it, a new phase in their lives. But when her best friend Magalie dies unexpectedly, Alice makes a shocking discovery: She has had a secret affair in France, for 15 years! Confronted with the finite nature of life, Peter is thrown into an existential crisis. To bon-vivant Alice’s great chagrin, he becomes a health fanatic. And when Peter invites Magalie‘s widowed husband Heinz tojoin them on a cruise, which Alice had hoped would breathe new life into their marriage, their harmonious retirement is over. Disappointed and hurt, Alice decides not to return to the ship during a shore excursion in Marseille. Instead, she sets out to find Magalie‘s lover…

7:30pm: Scrapper (UK)

This vibrant and inventive father-daughter comedy follows Georgie (Lola Campbell), a resourceful 12-year-old girl who secretly lives alone in her flat in a working class suburb of London following the death of her mother. She makes money stealing bikes with her best friend Ali (Alin Uzun) and keeps the social workers off her back by pretending to live with an uncle. Out of nowhere, her estranged father Jason (Harris Dickinson; Triangle of Sadness, Beach Rats) arrives and forces her to confront reality. Uninterested in this sudden new parental figure, Georgie is stubbornly resistant to his efforts. As they adjust to their new circumstances, Georgie and Jason find that they both still have a lot of growing up to do. Winner of a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Scrapper is full of spirit, humor, and formal inventiveness that sets it apart from much of British working-class cinema. Dickinson and remarkable newcomer Campbell imbue irresistible charm into this moving and frequently hilarious story of two emotionally tangled people: a grieving kid thrust into adulthood and a father in over his head.

September 6, 2023:

4:00pm: The Gullspang Miracle (Sweden)

A divine premonition leads two sisters to buy an apartment in the small Swedish town of Gullspång. To their surprise, the seller looks identical to their older sister who died by suicide 30 years earlier. What begins as an eerie story of family reunification soon becomes a Pandora’s Box as all three women’s lives spiral out of control.

7:30pm: Ramona (Spain)

Ramona has just moved to Madrid with her boyfriend Nico, and wants to start from scratch: she wants to be an actress, she wants to be a mother, she wants to live in Lavapiés. The day before her first audition she meets an older man, Bruno, with whom she has an instant and strong connection. Ramona runs off, scared of her own feelings but, as fate would have it, the next day she discovers that Bruno is the director she was supposed to meet! The opportunity is too big to pass and, encouraged by Nico, Ramona decides to go for it…

September 7, 2023:

Opening Night:
Party at 5:30pm / Film at 7:30pm

The Eight Mountains (Italy) & Opening Night Party

On Opening Night of the Festival, enjoy meeting fellow festival attendees and special guests inside a tented reception, from 5:30-7:00 PM, on the beautiful waterfront lawn adjacent to Lagoon Pond, just off Beach Road at the Tisbury Marketplace.

We’ll be serving champagne, wine, beer, and locally sourced bites, while a wonderful  jazz quartet performs under the tent.  And for a special sweet treat, Mad Martha’s will be serving up their delicious Ice Cream.

After the reception, guests will be invited to make their way to the Film Center for a special OPENING NIGHT screening. The film begins approx. at 7:30 pm.

Your ticket is good for both the Opening Night reception and the Opening Night Film.

The Eight Mountains (Italy):

An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set in the breathtaking Italian Alps, The Eight Mountains follows over four decades the profound, complex relationship between Pietro (Luca Marinelli) from Turin, and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi), who grew up in an isolated mountainside village. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

September 8, 2023:

4:00pm: El Eco (The Echo) (Mexico)

A young mother runs across a mountain meadow with her children and they save a sheep from drowning. A girl cares for her elderly grandmother so tenderly that you want to cry while another practices being a teacher with just the right tone of voice, her dolls lined up before her as willing pupils. The fathers are mostly absent: as construction workers or tradesmen, they rarely share their daily lives with their families.

7:30pm: Short Film Juried Competition (International)

From more than 250 entries our festival selection committee has chosen 10 finalists. We will screen each short film and our jury will select the “Best Overall” film at the conclusion of the program. The winning short film will be shown again prior to the Closing Night feature.

Our Jury:

Diana Barrett - Diana has been a long time festival jury member and president and founder of the Fledgling Fund, a philanthropic organization that supports documentary films that have a social impact.

Sarah Kernochan - Sarah is a two-time Academy Award winner for short documentary film, a director, and screenwriter.

David Helpern - David is a producer, director, and screenwriter (and seasonal resident of Martha’s Vineyard).

Monty Cole - Monty has directed for Steppenwolf, Center Theatre Group, The Goodman Theatre, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Victory Gardens Theater, the Center for New Performance, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Alley Theatre and others. His re-interpretations of classics from Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape to Hamlet have received awards and critical praise in Chicago. His short film Sons of Toledo was our juried short competition winner in 2022.

September 9, 2023:

1:00pm: Dancing Queen (Norway)

Mina gets her world turned upside down when the famous dancer ED Win moves to her town. She falls head over heels in love, and when he invites everyone to an audition for his new dance crew, Mina sees her chance and signs up. Intoxicated by love she throws herself into the excitement. But there is one essential thing she has forgotten: She can´t dance!

4:00pm: Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Estonia)

The healing powers of sisterhood take on a new meaning in this luxuriant portrait by Anna Hints. Following a group of Estonian women who gather in a handmade sweat lodge, the film languidly moves through the seasons as bodies gather in the rituals of the sauna. Baring their souls and their flesh, tears are released into the heavy, warm air, and quickly dispelled with laughter as the women nurture one another. The specificity of each individual’s experience weaves a rich tapestry and yet there is a undertow of universal understanding flowing throughout this finely crafted film. Hints immerses us in a space innately known to all humans, suspending viewers in an ephemeral experience of love and acceptance.

This debut feature won the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema–Documentary directing award.

7:30pm: Finestkind (USA)

Two brothers from opposite sides of the tracks are reunited as adults. Desperate circumstances force them into a deal with an organized crime syndicate in Boston, and a young women gets caught in the middle.

With Jenna Ortega, Tommy Lee Jones, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ansel Elgort

September 10, 2023:

Closing Night:

Totem & Closing Night Party:
Film at 4:30pm / Party at 6:30pm approx.

Totem (Mexico):

Tótem is a choral film about life. Seven-year-old Sol spends the day at her grandfather’s home, helping her aunts Nuri and Alejandra with the preparations for a surprise party they are throwing for Sol’s father, Tonatiuh. As daylight fades, a strange and chaotic atmosphere takes over, shattering the bonds that hold a family together. Sol will come to understand that her world is about to change dramatically, embracing the essence of letting go and cherishing the breath of life.

Join us to celebrate the final night of films and bring another wonderful festival to a triumphant end. Following the Closing Night Film, we will reconvene on the porch of a local restaurant in Vineyard Haven, for our closing Night Party. Your ticket includes both the closing night film, and admittance to the party. Enjoy wonderful food, libations and live music.

Your ticket is good for both the Closing Night film and the Closing Night Party starting at 6:30 PM. Keep the good times rolling after the film and join us for our Closing Night Party at a restaurant in Vineyard Haven from 6:30-8:30 PM. Enjoy a wonderful buffet prepared specialty for the festival, wines, and beer, and live music/singing from the outdoor deck.

Dates: September 5 - 10, 2023

Location:

Martha's Vineyard Film Center,
79 Beach Road,
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.

Buy Tickets

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