Join Us For The Newburyport Documentary Film Festival 2024!

Schedule of Events:

Yes (Young Emerging-Filmmakers Showcase)
Friday, September 20, 2024
3:00pm
Free Event
The Screening Room

Nbpt Docu Fest Launched The Yes Award (Young Emerging-Filmmakers Showcase) In 2021, With The Sponsorship Support Of Dietz and Lynch Capital, Creating A Platform Celebrating New And Emerging Filmmakers. The Program Features Films Showcasing The Work Of Current And Recent Graduates From Over 45 Leading Colleges And Universities With Film And Media Studies Majors Nationwide. It Is, Perhaps, Their First Opportunity To Present Their Work To The General Public. The Yes Award Is A Juried Competition—With A $1,000 First Prize Presented Within The Festival's In-Person Forum.

Year: 2024
Runtime: Tbd
Language: English
Country: United States
Sponsor: Dietz and Lynch Capital

In The Whale
Friday, September 20, 2024
7:30pm (Reception Begins At 6:30pm)
Firehouse Center For The Arts

In The Shark-Filled Waters Off Cape Cod, Michael Packard Has Long Tempted Fate. For Several Months A Year, Packard Buckles On His Scuba Tank And Plunges Into The Cold Waters Off Provincetown To Hunt On The Seafloor. As The Region's Last-Remaining Commercial Lobster Diver, The Aging Father Has Had His Share Of Harrowing Experiences, Including Near-Drownings And Close Encounters With Great Whites. But What Happened To Him On A Routine Dive One June Morning Was Something He Never Imagined Possible, And Many Around The World Refused To Believe. In An Experience Of Biblical Proportions, Packard Was Engulfed By A Humpback Whale.

Year: 2023
Runtime: 81 Minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Sponsor:
Director: David Abel

A Photographic Memory
Saturday, September 21, 2024 10:00am
The Screening Room

An Intimate, Genre-Bending Portrait Of A Daughter's Attempt To Piece Together A Portrait Of Her Mother, An Avant-Garde Journalist And A Woman She Never Knew. Uncovering The Vast Archive Sheila Turner-Seed Produced, Including Lost Interviews With Iconic Photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, Cecil Beaton, Lisette Model, And Others, The Film Explores Memory, Legacy, And Stories Left Untold.


Year: 2024
Runtime: 87 Minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Sponsor:
Director: Rachel Elizabeth Seed
First Time Filmmaker

Driver
Saturday, September 21, 2024 10:00am
Firehouse Center For The Arts

A Compelling Examination Of An Unseen World, Driver Follows Long-Haul Truck Driver Desiree Wood And A Dynamic Community Of Women Truckers. Taking On Routine Sexual Violence And An Industry In Which Multibillion-Dollar Megacarriers Conspire To Make Individual Drivers Anonymous And Disposable, Desiree Brings Together An Unlikely Group Of Truckers To Find Strength, Solidarity, And Self-Determination On The Road.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 91 Minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Premiere: Massachusetts
Sponsor:
Director: Nesa Azimi

Filmmaker QandA

The Outside World Shorts Block
Saturday, September 21, 2024 11:45am
The Screening Room

Igualuda
Saturday, September 21, 2024 11:45am
Firehouse Center For The Arts

Black Colombian Activist Francia Márquez Transforms A Derogatory Term, “Igualada,” Into A Symbol Of Rights Defiance. Her Presidential Campaign Inspires A Nation To Dream Of A More Equitable Future, Challenging Societal Norms.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 78 Minutes
Language: Spanish
Country: United States, Colombia, Mexico
Premiere: New England
Sponsor:
Director: Juan Meija Botero

From God To Man
Filmmaker QandA


Piblokto
Filmmaker QandA

Far Out: Life On and After The Commune
Saturday, September 21, 2024 1:30pm
The Screening Room

This Film Traces 50 Years In The Lives Of A Group Of New England Writers, Activists And Artists. It Conveys How The 1960s Counterculture, Embodied In Two Rural Communes, Transformed America. The Story Begins When A Group Of Radical Journalists (Including Ray Mungo, Brother Of The Longtime Screening Room Operator Andrew Mungo ) Leaves New York For A New Life In The Country. Follow Along As They Evolve From The Back-To-The-Land Movement To A New Discovery Of Political Commitment.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 85 Minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Premiere: Massachusetts
Sponsor:
Director: Charles John Light

Film Is Dead: Long Live Film!
Saturday, September 21, 2024 1:30pm
Firehouse Center For The Arts

Come Explore The Vanishing World Of Private Film Collecting — An Obsessive, Secretive, Often Illicit World Of Basement Film Vaults, Inhabited By Passionate Cinephiles Devoted To The Rescue And Preservation Of Photochemical Film. Condemned As Pirates And Hounded By The Fbi, Many Film Collectors Have Long Lurked In The Shadows. Yet Their Efforts Have Resulted In The Survival Of Countless Films That Would Otherwise Have Been Lost To History. As Analog Film Fades From Memory, The Basement-Dwellers And Bootleggers Of Old Are Finally Being Given Their Due.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 103 Minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Sponsor:
Director: Peter Flynn

Our Turn To Talk
Saturday, September 21, 2024 3:30pm
The Screening Room

This Important Film Focuses On The Teenagers Who Say They're The Generation To Put An End To Mental Health Stigma. To Do It, They're Telling Their Own Stories – Raw And Unfiltered. From Skyrocketing Rates Of Anxiety And Depression To The Impacts Of Racial And Intergenerational Trauma, These Teens Share Their Struggles And Triumphs And Carry A Powerful Message: Storytelling Saves Lives.

Year: 2023
Runtime: 70 Minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Sponsor:
Director: Beth Murphy and Patrice Howard

Legacies Shorts Block
Saturday, September 21, 2024 3:30pm
Firehouse Center For The Arts

The Elephant In The Room

Kismet

Fore and Aft

Filmmakers' Roundtable
Free Event
Saturday, September 21, 2024
5:30-6:30pm
Port Vida, A Mexican Cantina
10 Center Street

The Road To Ruane
Saturday, September 21, 2024
7:30pm (Reception Begins At 6:30pm)
Firehouse Center For The Arts

A Filmmaker's Journey To Capture The Storied Life Of Billy Ruane, A Troubled, Legendary Figure On Boston's Celebrated Live Music Scene, Becomes An Examination Of The Human Condition.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 102 Minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Sponsor: Dyno Records
Director: Scott Evans and Michael Gill
Out There: A National Parks Story
Sunday, September 22, 2024 10:00am
Firehouse Center For The Arts

A Young Filmmaker And His Childhood Best Friend Set Out On A 10,000-Mile Exploration Of Our Magnificent National Parks During The Centennial Year Of The Formation Of The National Park Service. Along The Road, They Record The Stories Of The Vast Diversity Of Visitors For Whom The Parks System Was Created.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 73 Minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Sponsor:
Director: Brendan Hall

Hollywoodgate
Sunday, September 22, 2024 11:30am
Firehouse Center For The Arts

When The United States Withdrew From Its 20-Year “Forever War” In Afghanistan, The Taliban Regained Control Of The Ravaged Country And Immediately Found An American Base Loaded With Weaponry. Unprecedented And Audacious, Director Ibrahim Nash'at's Immersive Documentary Spends A Year Inside Afghanistan Following The Taliban As They Take Possession Of The Cache America Left Behind — And Transform From A Fundamentalist Militia Into A Heavily-Armed Military Regime.

Year: 2023
Runtime: 89 Minutes
Language: Pashto (Pushto)
Country: Egypt
Premiere: Massachusetts
Sponsor:
Director: Ibrahim Nash'at

Creative Act Shorts Block
Sunday, September 22, 2024 1:30pm
The Screening Room

Silver's Uprising
Sunday, September 22, 2024 1:30pm
Firehouse Center For The Arts

In A Country Ravaged By Ptsd, Amos Dov Silver Swore He Would Never Let Anyone Suffer The Way He Did. But When The Mobile App He Creates Becomes The Largest Marketplace For Marijuana In Israel, He Becomes A Guru To Thousands, And A Persecuted Enemy Of The State.

Year: 2022
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Language: Hebrew
Country: Israel
Premiere: Massachusetts
Sponsor:
Director: Don Shadur

April In France
Sunday, September 22, 2024 3:30pm
The Screening Room

A Rare Portrait Of The Magic Of Early Childhood. April, A 5-Year-Old English Girl, Moves To Paris Just Before The Lockdown. She Feels Miserable, Isolated In Her Parisian Flat And Desperately Wanting To Return To London. When The Restrictions Ease, Her Father Drives Her To A Small Medieval Village In The Southwest Of France, Where Her Great-Grandfather Bequeathed Them His House. At First April Is Not Much Happier In The Deserted Village, But She Slowly Discovers It. Eventually She Meets Some Of Her Great-Grandfather's Surviving Friends, With Whom She Will Open To The World.

Year: 2023
Runtime: 76 Minutes
Language: French, English
Country: France
Premiere: East Coast
Sponsor:
Director: David Boaretto
First Time Filmmaker

Pink Belt
Sunday, September 22, 2024 3:30pm
Firehouse Center For The Arts

Aparna Rajawat, India's 16-Time Champion In Martial Arts, Attempts To Break The Guinness World Record For Most Women Trained In A Self-Defense Lesson. As A Girl, Aparna's Father Prevented Her From Taking Karate Lessons Because He Thought It Was A Boys' Sport And Believed Her Participation Would Shame The Family. Her Cousin, A Men's National Champion, Convinced Her Father To Let Him Train Her. Aparna Passed As A Boy At The Karate School, And She Won Several Competitions. Years Later She Started Pink Belt To Teach Girls Their Legal Rights, Self-Defense, And Self-Determination.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 79 Minutes
Language: English, Hindi
Country: United States
Premiere: North America
Sponsor:
Director: John Mccrite

Porcelain War
Sunday, September 22, 2024 5:30pm
Firehouse Center For The Arts

Under Missile Strikes And Roaring Fighter Jets, Ukrainian Artists Slava, Anya, And Andrey Choose To Stay Behind And Fight, Contending With The Soldiers They Have Become. Defiantly Finding Beauty Amid Destruction, They Show That Although It's Easy To Make People Afraid, It's Hard To Destroy Their Passion For Living.

Year: 2024
Runtime: 87 Minutes
Language: Russian, Ukranian
Country: United States
Sponsor:
Director: Brendan Bellamo and Slava Leontyev
First Time Filmmaker

Date: September 20 - 22, 2024

Location: Firehouse Center For The Arts, 1 Market Square Newburyport, MA 01950

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