Schedule

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Prime Minister

6 - 8 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

Prime Minister is our MNFF11 Opening Night film! Tickets to this event include entry to the film screening as well as entry to the Opening Night Afterparty. Doors will open at 5:30 pm and the screening will begin at 6:00 pm. Special guests to be announced in mid-July. Please note the following ticketing information for Opening Night: Opening Night is ticketed separately from all other festival film screenings and events. 

MNFF11 Opening Night Afterparty

8 - 11 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

Join us for our annual Opening Night Afterparty! The party will follow the MNFF11 Opening Night screening of Prime Minister at Town Hall Theater. When the screening concludes, the party begins! Note that to gain entry to the Opening Night Afterparty, you must purchase and show your ticket to the Opening Night film. No entry to the Afterparty will be granted without an Opening Night film ticket.

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Inside The Onion and The Daily Show

9 - 10:30 AM @ Crooked Ladle

Join us for an up-close-and-personal conversation with The Daily Show 's Devin Delliquanti and actor and puppeteer Paul Zaloom as they talk about what makes for good comedy, both on-screen and off.

Shorts Program: Narrative Spotlight

9 - 10:30 AM @ Dana Auditorium

A program of four narrative shorts, including Overcomer , Cliff Edge , Learners and Sally Get the Potatoes. | A self-conscious woman with a striking scar battles anxiety when an online job interview is switched to an in-person one. | When David, a retired widower, reluctantly agrees to give driving lessons to his son’s girlfriend Ellen, things get off to a terrible start. As Ellen crunches the gears, can they find enough common ground to tolerate one another? 

The Waste Commons

9 - 10:30 AM @ Twilight Hall

Enclosing open-air dumps and outlawing waste picking are key approaches to modernizing cities around the world. The Waste Commons explores the dramatic transformations involved in the impending closure of the city waste dump in Dakar, Senegal, and the lives that hang in the balance.

Room for Us?

11 AM - 1 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

Where do you go when the cheapest freestanding house costs $1.8 million and you're 30 miles out to sea? This documentary explores the vibrant, diverse lives of Nantucket's year-round community as they grapple with the challenges of finding a home in one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets.

DJ Ahmet

11 AM - 1 PM @ Dana Auditorium

15-year-old Ahmet, from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love — a girl already promised to someone else.

Mad Bills to Pay (with The Steak)

11 AM - 1 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

On an ordinary day, a mother prepares a cake and food for her daughter's birthday. Suddenly, the enemy's Army launches a surprise attack, leaving the mother with no time to escape. | Rico’s summer is a mix of chasing girls and hustling homemade cocktails out of a cooler on Orchard Beach, the Bronx. But when Destiny, his teenage girlfriend, crashes at his place with his family, it’s only a matter of time before his carefree days come spiraling down.

André Is an Idiot (with Oh, Yeah!)

11 AM - 1 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

The story of the iconic electronic music group Yello and the phenomenon of their 1980s hit song, exploring the song’s cultural impact and its enduring place in the American psyche. | André, a brilliant idiot, is dying because he didn’t get a colonoscopy. His sobering diagnosis, complete irreverence, and insatiable curiosity, send him on an unexpected journey learning how to die happily and ridiculously without losing his sense of humor.

Filming for Laughs

11 AM - 12:30 PM @ Town of Middlebury Offices

Join a roundtable of funny people for a lively conversation about the role of comedy on screen. Vermont-raised comedian Tina Friml, The Onion 's Paul Zaloom, The Daily Show 's Devin Delliquanti and professor Caty Borum muse on what makes for good comedy on film and television. Plus, Tina Friml performs a special MNFF live stand-up set!

Far Out: Life On & After the Commune

11 AM - 1 PM @ Twilight Hall

The story of two rural New England communal farms, and the group of "hippie" writers, activists and artists who transformed Vermont and Western Massachusetts.

Walk with Me

2 - 4 PM @ Dana Auditorium

Walk with Me is the journey of Charlie and Heidi as they learn to live with his Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease. Over four years, they criss-cross the country, redefining how life will be lived to its fullest, Charlie’s charm, warmth and appeal take center stage, illuminating a story of love and a reminder that life is really about our relationships.

Remaining Native

2 - 4 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggles to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great grandfather's escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present, and future.

Paint Me a Road Out of Here

2 - 4 PM @ The Sheldon Museum

Following the film, join John Vincent of A Revolutionary Press and Museum staff for print-making on a historic press and conversation in the Finding Hope Within: Healing and Transformation through the Making of Art Within the Carceral System special exhibit. | The 50 year journey of women at Rikers Jail and a painting that leads the way out.

The Serious Power of Comedy for Good

2 - 3:30 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Anderson Studio

Can comedy save us from ourselves? In this multimedia presentation, professor and author (The Revolution Will Be Hilarious and A Comedian and An Activist Walk Into a Bar) Caty Borum takes us on a journey through her research. Join us to hear Caty's stories from the weird (and fun) world of studying, showcasing, and producing comedy for social good and civic power.

Anxiety Club

2 - 4 PM @ Twilight Hall

ANXIETY CLUB provides a humorous and heartfelt look at our common experience of anxiety through the lens of some of the most brilliant (and anxious) comedians working today.

Student Film Program: Doc Shorts

2:15 - 4:15 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

A program of five student documentary shorts, including A Good Death , Hey Hugo , Two Trees, Boil That Cabbage Down and Kitty Kathryn Sings the Blues. | Nurse Karen Morin helps terminally ill patients acquire life-ending medications as they prepare for their final moments on this earth, along with the loved ones who support them. | A film about a son who loves his mom, and the family who wants him to come home. 

Traces of Time

5 - 7 PM @ Dana Auditorium

Over the final six years of his mother’s life, a filmmaker documents their time together. What began as an act of staying connected evolves into a meditation on memory, loss, how to hold on... and how to let go.

Fantasy Life

5 - 7 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

After getting laid off, a thirty-something paralegal in New York starts babysitting his psychiatrist's three granddaughters and falls for their mother, an actress in a rocky marriage.

The Silence of My Hands (with In Totality)

5 - 7 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

One woman's existential journey into the path of the total solar eclipse. | Rosa, the first deaf law student in Guadalajara, and Sai, an immigrant from California confronting her gender identity, try to stay together despite their realities and the distance that separates them.

Arrest the Midwife

5 - 7 PM @ Twilight Hall

The arrest of trusted midwives ignites an unexpected rebellion, as Amish and Mennonite women break from tradition and emerge as fierce political activists — joining the broader fight for reproductive justice.

Forge

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

In Miami, siblings Raymond and Coco Zhang run a profitable art forgery ring. When they meet millionaire Holden Beaumont, they're coerced into creating counterfeit masterpieces as a front for his old American family's art collection.

Natchez

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Dana Auditorium

Natchez captures a clash between history and memory through a small Mississippi town reliant on antebellum tourism to survive, exploring who has the right to share America’s story.

Friendship

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

Suburban dad Craig falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor, as Craig’s attempts to make an adult male friend threaten to ruin both of their lives.

Champions of the Golden Valley (with Dale)

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Twilight Hall

Dale Hikawa was the first Asian American woman to ever join the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Taking stock of her long career, this trailblazing violist reflects on the meaning of her life’s work. | After missing his chance to become Afghanistan’s first Olympic skier, a coach inspires his home village to create their own ski competition. Young athletes build makeshift wooden skis and compete in a mountain race that brings unity, peace, and triumph – lessons they must call upon when their world is su...

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

8 - 10 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Maloney Performing Arts Plaza

A cash-strapped documentary maker decides to make his newest documentary about a mollusk shell he finds living in his Airbnb with his friends.

Festival Afterparty

8:30 - 10:30 PM @ American Flatbread

Join us for conversation, camaraderie, light fare and drinks at American Flatbread in the Marble Works. Pass holders only, please.

Friday, August 22, 2025

The Players

9 - 10:30 AM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

In 1994, young Emily joins an avant-garde theater cast. Drawn to her castmates' bohemian world and feeling like family, she gets entangled in the group's complicated power dynamics.

Doc Distribution Lowdown

9 - 10:30 AM @ Crooked Ladle

Join a panel of documentary distributors, programmers and filmmakers as they discuss the state of documentary distribution today. Who's buying? What's the future of public broadcasting in the current political moment? And has the streaming bubble burst? If you're launching your documentary this coming year, you'll want to be here.

Shorts Program: Doc Spotlight

9 - 10:30 AM @ Dana Auditorium

A program of three documentary shorts, including Expression of Illness , Imaginary Parachute and Big Cat. | When she learns that her treatment isn’t over, documentary filmmaker and thyroid cancer survivor Bryn Silverman embarks on a solo investigation into her healthcare that reveals the importance of community in the healing process. | How does childhood bring us to art and art bring us back to childhood? | For years, there have been reports of a large, black panther stalking the c...

The Prison Show

9 - 10:30 AM @ Twilight Hall

In Houston, Texas, a local radio airs a weekly show catered to prisoners and the families they’ve left behind. For over 40 years, The Prison Show has unveiled the tentacular reach of the American criminal justice system, which goes far beyond prisons.

Life After

11 AM - 1 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

A gripping personal investigation that exposes the tangled web of moral dilemmas and profit motives surrounding assisted dying. Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport uncovers shocking abuses of power while amplifying the voices of the disability community fighting for justice and dignity in an unfolding matter of life and death.

Crocodile Tears

11 AM - 1 PM @ Dana Auditorium

An overbearing mother who lives with her son in a secluded crocodile farm spirals out of control when her son sees the outside world and falls for a girl for the first time.

Powwow Highway

11 AM - 1 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

Two Northern Cheyenne men take a road trip from Montana to New Mexico to bail out the sister of one of them who has been framed and arrested in Santa Fe. On the way, they begin to reconnect to their spiritual heritage.

Bad Press

11 AM - 1 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring its free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government's corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian Country.

Journalism, Public Narrative & Myth

11 AM - 12:30 PM @ Town of Middlebury Offices

Join The New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent David Sanger, VT Digger Editor-in-Chief Geeta Anand, The New York Times movie critic Alissa Wilkinson, and the filmmakers behind A Calling and Bad Press in a conversation about the catalyzing power of journalism in the creation of public narratives--both factual and mythical. Moderated by Addison Independent News Editor John McCright.

My Omaha

11 AM - 1 PM @ Twilight Hall

After graduating from journalism school, Nick Beaulieu returns to his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska to document its surging racial justice movement while seeking to reconnect with his staunchly pro-Trump father Randy. The task is made more urgent when Randy is unexpectedly diagnosed with stage-4 cancer.

Shorts Program: Narrative Spotlight

2 - 4 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

A program of six narrative shorts, including Audio Description , Breadwinner , Dark Orange, I Am a German Shepherd, M. L'espérance and Sunflower Shadows. | A lonely visually impaired man begins to hear his life audio-described. | An obsessive baker moves in with her boyfriend just as her sourdough starter develops a blood-thirsty craving. | A young couple seems to have a peaceful life together, but a closer look reveals their relationship is marred with problems — including viole...

Love Chaos Kin

2 - 4 PM @ Dana Auditorium

An Indian immigrant mother helps her adopted twin daughters reconnect with their White birth mother and estranged Native American father, exposing raw class divides while transforming their understanding of identity and belonging.

Pistachio Wars

2 - 4 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

Journalist Yasha Levine follows a lead on a water sale between a farmer and a small desert town—and discovers a hidden side to California’s healthy snack industry. Documenting towns ravaged by drought, farms built on oil fields, mass extinction, and a water heist straight from the plot of Chinatown, Pistachio Wars takes a road trip into the dark heart of the American Dream.

Disability & The Artistic Imagination

2 - 3:30 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Anderson Studio

For decades, disability has been hidden off-screen, effectively censored from mainstream films and television. When disabled characters and protagonists do appear in films and television, they are often inauthentic or highly stereotyped, and in fiction, have been historically portrayed by non-disabled actors. A 2022 Nielsen study revealed that "total share of screen for people with disabilities is 8.8%, while people with apparent disabilities make up only 0.4%." In this panel, our guests offer...

There Was, There Was Not

2 - 4 PM @ Twilight Hall

The first line of every Armenian fairy tale, There Was, There Was Not tells the collective myth of a homeland lost forever—and four women’s resistance to that loss.

Land With No Rider

5 - 7 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

The last cowboys of New Mexico eke out a fragile survival in a world of isolation, memories and rugged beauty as an epic drought devastates the American West.

The New Cold Wars: In Conversation with David Sanger

5 - 6:30 PM @ Dana Auditorium

The New York Times White House Correspondent David Sanger joins us for an engaging on-stage conversation centering on current trends in international relations and politics, including those at the center of his latest New York Times best-selling book New Cold Wars: Chin's Ruse, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West. In the book, Sanger explores the fast-paced, inside story of America’s plunge into a volatile rivalry with the other two great nuclear powers—Xi Ji...

Friday Happy Hour

5 - 6:30 PM @ Edgewater Gallery

Come and enjoy some light food, beverages and local art at Edgewater Gallery. Pass holders only, please.

Omaha (with Sender Unknown)

5 - 7 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

Grace’s regimented world upends as mysterious packages arrive on her doorstep, each box containing an item she unknowingly needs in the near future. | After a family tragedy, siblings Ella and Charlie are unexpectedly woken up by their dad and taken on a journey across the country, experiencing a world they’ve never seen before. As their adventure unfolds, Ella begins to understand that things might not be what they seem.

The Gas Station Attendant

5 - 7 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

A daughter reflects on her father’s life—weaving the story of his miraculous journey from the streets of India with the realities of life in America. This deeply intimate film is a meditation on family, the immigrant experience, and the dreams we carry with us.

Ada (with Expiration Date)

5 - 7 PM @ Twilight Hall

A son reflects on the waning years of his father's dairy farm, and his decision not to carry on its legacy. | A deeply moving portrait of an architect tested by the impossible choices between career, country and motherhood.

Rebel With a Clause

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

A grammar guru takes her pop-up grammar advice stand on a road trip across all 50 states to show that comma fights can bring us closer together in a divided time.

Hundreds of Beavers

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Dana Auditorium

In the 19th century, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

Eephus

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

With an imminent construction project looming over their beloved small-town baseball field, a pair of New England rec-league teams face off for the last time.

Coroner to the Stars (with My Back Pages)

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Anderson Studio

As Mitch Blank prepares to donate his vast Bob Dylan memorabilia collection, he reflects on the nature of collecting and the emotions around letting it go. | A documentary on the extraordinary life of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the former Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner and “coroner to the stars” who pushed forensic science into the spotlight—even as Hollywood elites and political adversaries sought to silence him.

Open (with Cafuné)

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

An exotic dancer in an open marriage comes to realize her fear of losing her desirability while on a romantic getaway with a lover. | Can two people be totally honest with each other? Amid a culture where infidelity is almost expected, Tomas and Diana try to carve out something radically different: a relationship rooted in honesty, equality, and emotional clarity. As their relationship unravels and rebuilds, they begin to examine the emotional inheritance they carry. A quieter transformation unf...

The Librarians (with A Calling)

7:45 - 9:45 PM @ Twilight Hall

A tribute to fallen journalists who risked their lives to report their stories. | Librarians unite to combat book banning, defending intellectual freedom on democracy's frontlines amid unprecedented censorship in Texas, Florida, and beyond.

Filmmaker Party

8:30 - 11 PM @ Johnson Memorial Building

Join us at the Johnson Memorial Building to snack, sip and, most importantly, connect with other filmmakers from around the world. Visiting filmmakers only, please.

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Inside the Edit: Shaping Indie Film

9 - 10:30 AM @ Crooked Ladle

How does a film come together in the editing room? Join a panel of acclaimed documentary and narrative editors as they reflect on the invisible craft of shaping raw footage into finished films. Through conversation and clips, we'll explore how editors build structure, deepen character, and find the emotional heartbeat of a scene — and of a film. A revealing look into one of the most essential and least understood roles in independent filmmaking.

Gone Guys

9 - 10:30 AM @ Dana Auditorium

Set in rural Vermont, Gone Guys explores the current national crisis facing boys and young men, supported by data brought to life through animation.

Jack and Lou: A Gangster Love Story

11 AM - 1 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

In the 1970s, old gangster moll Lou Rolfe is confronted with her involvement in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre orchestrated in 1929 by her former husband, Al Capone's main hit-man, Jack McGurn.

Student Film Program: Narrative Shorts

11 AM - 1 PM @ Dana Auditorium

A program of six student narrative shorts, including Fallacies , New York Day Women , Into Dust, Vas Mar, Cats and Dandelion. | In a world where carrots are illegal, a young man losing his sight seeks to find a cure, leading him to see more than he could have ever wished. | When a young Brooklyn woman unexpectedly spots her mother in Manhattan during the workday, she secretly follows her — uncovering a vibrant, hidden world that reveals more about her mother, and herself, than sh...

Vision Portraits

11 AM - 1 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

An in-depth exploration of the creative paths of blind and low vision artists including a photographer, a dancer, a writer and the filmmaker.

Been Here Stay Here

11 AM - 1 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

Facing the climate crisis, locals on Tangier Island — located in the Chesapeake Bay of the eastern U.S. coast — stay connected through their faith in the face of rising sea levels and the forthcoming sinking of the island.

The Making of the Saltmarsh Sparrow

11 AM - 1 PM @ Twilight Hall

There's a war going on: birds are disappearing from our backyards, our prairies, our marshes, our wilder forests - the places we call America. This provocative series uses the intensely emotional and skillful process of making a wildlife film to help us understand why this is happening.

Shoot Like a DP; Think Like An Editor

2 - 4 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

Join us for this masterclass in documentary cinematography and editing. What goes through the mind of a cinematographer as split second choices are made while shooting a documentary? In this workshop, Daniel B. Gold, in conversation with MNFF Senior Programmer Simeon Hutner, uses clips from feature documentaries to illustrate what he calls the Golden Rules of Digital Cinematography. Gold deconstructs scenes and shares guiding principles behind the choices he made while shooting HBO's Blue Vi...

To a Land Unknown

2 - 4 PM @ Dana Auditorium

A Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of society in Athens gets ripped off by a smuggler and sets out to seek revenge.

The Encampments

2 - 4 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

Students flood Columbia University's lawn to create the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in order to pressure their university to divest from the US and Israeli weapons companies.

Poetry & Story: Why It Matters

2 - 3:30 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Anderson Studio

Join Vermont Poet Laureate Bianca Stone and Vermont-based author and filmmaker Melanie Finn as they discuss the intersection of poetry, cinema and story. This event is made possible with the generous support of Vermont Book Shop.

Student Film Program: Narrative Shorts

2 - 4 PM @ Twilight Hall

A program of four student narrative shorts, including The Custodian , Sunshine City , Kosher Test and My Father's Wedding. | With his Abuela’s life on the line, Pablo, a desperate custodian at a corrupt boxing gym must risk his morals and his life in a fight to win it all. | Siblings Stellar and Max are living out of their car and trying to get back on their feet. When Max puts their livelihood on the line, Stellar finds herself questioning how much longer she can support him. |...

Fresh Currents in Film Criticism

4 - 5 PM @ Middlebury Inn - Courtyard

Join us for an intimate conversation with Alissa Wilkinson, movie critic at The New York Times, as she reflects on current trends in film criticism at the Times and beyond.

How Deep Is Your Love

5 - 7 PM @ Dana Auditorium

In the last unknown territory on Earth, time is running out for biologists to study undersea wildlife as deep sea mining threatens fragile ecosystems.

Saturday Happy Hour

5 - 6:30 PM @ Jean's Place at Town Hall Theater

Come and enjoy some wine from Lincoln Peak Vineyards and light bites at Jean's Place in Town Hall Theater.

Gaucho Gaucho (with Camille A. Brown: Giant Steps)

5 - 7 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

Follow the 5-time Tony-nominated director and choreographer Camille A. Brown (Gypsy, Hell’s Kitchen) as she elevates the possible with bold explorations of everyday movement and African Diasporic dance. | A celebration of a community of Argentine cowboys and cowgirls, known as Gauchos, living beyond the boundaries of the modern world.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin

5 - 7 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

As Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, primary schools across Russia’s hinterlands are transformed into recruitment stages for the war. Facing the ethical dilemma of working in a system defined by propaganda and violence, a brave teacher goes undercover to film what’s really happening in his own school.

Predators

5 - 7 PM @ Twilight Hall

“To Catch a Predator” was a popular television show designed to hunt down child predators and lure them to a film set, where they would be interviewed and eventually arrested. Predators is an exploration of the scintillating rise and staggering fall of the show and the world it helped create.

Music in the Courtyard

5:30 - 7 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Maloney Performing Arts Plaza

Come to Maloney Plaza and enjoy a live performance from the Allman Brothers tribute band Soulshine Revival, presented by Town Hall Theater's Summer Sounds.

Black Snow

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

In a remote Russian mining town, black snow falls due to the extreme pollution. A Siberian eco-activist and mother, dubbed the "Erin Brockovich of Russia", steps up as a citizen journalist and fights for her community.

Tatami

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Dana Auditorium

Iranian judoka Leila and her coach attend the World Judo Championships, aiming for Iran's first gold medal. During the event, they face an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic government.

The Player

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected. Certain that the anonymous threats he's been receiving are the work of David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio), producer Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) tries to fix things over cocktails. Instead, Griffin ends up murdering the screenwriter and courting the dead man's girlfriend (Greta Scacchi). As police investigate, Griffin concentrates on a prestigious film that might reinvigorate his career. But he soon learns...

Checkpoint Zoo

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Anderson Studio

A heroic team of zookeepers and volunteers risk their lives to save thousands of animals trapped in a zoo behind enemy lines during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Speak.

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

Five top-ranked high school oratory students spend a year crafting spellbinding spoken word performances with the dream of winning one of the world's largest and most intense public speaking competitions.

Seeds

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Twilight Hall

An exploration of Black generational farmers in the American South reveals the fragility of legacy and the significance of owning land.

Festival Afterparty

8:30 - 11 PM @ Crooked Ladle

Join us for a blowout party at Crooked Ladle, featuring food trucks, custom cocktails and the amazing DJ Serena Kim. Pass holders only, please.

Sunday, August 24, 2025

Filmmaker Breakfast

8:30 - 10:30 AM @ Shiretown Marketplace

Come together with fellow filmmakers at Shiretown Marketplace for a cozy breakfast. Visiting filmmakers only, please.

Discovering the Avant-Garde

9 - 10:30 AM @ Axinn Center at Starr Library

MNFF11 Honoree and Hamilton College Professor of Cinema and Media Studies Scott McDonald curates a selection of experimental films from the archive, guiding us through a history of avant-garde work.

Under the Volcano

11 AM - 1 PM @ Dana Auditorium

A blended Ukrainian family spends the last day of their vacation in Tenerife, Spain. When Russia's invasion of Ukraine strands them on the island, they must contend with isolation, duty, fear - and each other.

Dead Man

11 AM - 1:30 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre - Second Floor

William Blake, an accountant turned fugitive, is on the run. During his travels, he meets a Native American man called Nobody, who guides him on a journey to the spiritual world.

The New Yorker Theater: A Talbot Legacy

11 AM - 1 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Anderson Studio

In 1960, Dan and Toby Talbot opened the New Yorker Theater on the then-dangerous Upper West Side of New York. With no money or experience, the Talbots transformed this 900-seat living room into one of America's most influential repertory and arthouse cinemas, launching a remarkable six-decade career in film exhibition and distribution.

Shorts Program: Narrative Shorts

11 AM - 1 PM @ Twilight Hall

A program of four narrative shorts, including Madrina , Free Chair , Chasers and Holy Heaviness. | A young woman stirs up bitter resentment in an attempt to reconnect with her estranged family at Christmas. Realizing she may never “go home” again, she forges a kinship with migrants seeking refuge in her city. | Two suburban families struggle to maintain friendships when they find the perfect free chair left to languish on the side of the road. | At a house party in LA, a young dr...

Dead Ringer

2 - 4 PM @ Dana Auditorium

Made to promote rocker Meat Loaf’s follow-up to the highly successful 1977 release Bat Out of Hell, Allan Nicholls' Dead Ringer was much-hyped... and then mysteriously disappeared, surfacing only years later. Never commercially released, the film weaves documentary concert footage with a fictional story of two brothers--one a Meat Loaf doppelganger--who are striving to meet their rock-star idol.

Video Essays: Experiments in Sound & Image

2 - 4 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Anderson Studio

In 2015, Christian Keathley and Jason Mittell, both Professors of Film & Media at Middlebury College, received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to launch a summer workshop called Scholarship in Sound & Image. It brought 15 faculty from across North America and Europe to Middlebury for two weeks in June to learn the emerging form of “videographic criticism,” or creating video essays to convey critical insights about film and media to a wide-ranging audience. It has become an annual...

Braiding A New Life (with La Liga)

2 - 4 PM @ Twilight Hall

In rural Vermont, immigrant dairy farmworkers endure hardship and persecution while forging community through soccer. | A Ghanaian asylum seeker navigates life in Southern Vermont with her team of close friends and allies.

Mulholland Drive

2:15 - 5:15 PM @ Middlebury Marquis Theatre

After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

Closing Night Awards Ceremony

6 - 7 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

Prior to our closing night film, we present our juried awards and prizes. Join us for a celebration of our prize-winning filmmakers and the festival supporters who make these prizes possible.

The Ballad of Wallis Island

7:30 - 9:30 PM @ Town Hall Theater - Main

An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favorite musicians to perform at his home.

Buy Tickets

Date: August 20-24, 2025

Locations 

Town Hall Theater - Main - 72-76 Merchants Row, Middlebury, VT 05753

Crooked Ladle - 51 Main Street, Middlebury, VT 05753

Dana Auditorium - Sunderland Language Center, 356 College St, Middlebury VT

Twilight Hall - 50 Franklin St, Middlebury VT, 05753

Axinn Center at Starr Library - Axinn 232, Axinn Center at Starr Library, Middlebury, VT 05753

Middlebury Marquis Theatre - 65 Main St, Middlebury VT

Town of Middlebury Offices - 77 Main St, Middlebury, VT 05753

The Sheldon Museum - 1 Park Street, Middlebury VT 05753

American Flatbread - 137 Maple Street, Middlebury, VT 05753

Edgewater Gallery - 6 Merchants Row, Middlebury, VT 05753

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