Mar
5
MNFF Announces March Split/Screen Lineup
In collaboration with the Vermont International Film Festival [VTIFF], we are pleased to announce their March program for Split/ Screen, the online monthly movie series partnership that began in November 2020 and runs through June 2021. We're taking the wheel for March with an offering of two top notch documentaries and two engaging dramas that will run for 10 days, March 19-28. Split/Screen March will feature the following films: - The Dissident, director Bryan Fogel’s riveting documentary about the shock- ing murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. An employee of the Washing- ton Post, Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in…
Mar
5
MNFF Director Lloyd Komesar Appears on “State of the Fest Industry” Panel
MNFF was well represented in a recent "State of the Fest Industry" panel hosted by HollyShorts Film Festival. Producer Lloyd Komesar talked with other Festival leaders, including those representing Indy Shorts, Cleveland International Film Festival, and New Filmmakers LA. The panel is presented as part of HollyShorts' monthly series through bitpixtv.com. We hope you can check it out!
Feb
24
THE REEL STORY: VT Magazine takes a look at MNFF
Thank you to Vermont Magazine for a terrific write-up in their Winter magazine edition! Check it out below or find it online at the Vermont Magazine website here.
Sep
25
MNFF Franklin Film Development Fund Completes Successful First Year of Grant Making
We are very pleased to announce that the MNFF Franklin Film Development Fund has completed a successful inaugural year of grant making. Begun in August 2019, the Fund was created tostimulate the production of feature length narrative films through a script submission process. The process is open exclusively and only to MNFF alumni, now totaling 350 filmmakers. The Fund awards $10,000 grants to two MNFF alumni filmmakers each year whose narrative scripts are selected by a panel of judges comprised of industry professionals. The MNFF Franklin Film Development Fund originated with a significant and groundbreaking donation from Churchill and Janet…
Aug
30
CREATIVE CURRENTS AT MNFF6: A NOTE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
We’re halfway through the 6th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival and, even though we’re online, we’re getting a sense of the buzz on the (virtual) street. Yesterday’s New York Times considers this year’s phenomenon of the online festival: "The first casualty of any virtual festival, unavoidably, will be the collective voice of the audience: rising in laughter, shocked in silence, making its disapproval or happiness known. Festival films, more than others, need this barometer, since their charms are often untested. They’re (the films) desperate to make a connection.” What The Times says is true. Despite this, we’ve gotten messages from a…
Aug
26
MNFF6: ONLINE ANNOUNCES RECIPIENT OF INAUGURAL THADDEUS STEVENS AWARD
The Middlebury New Filmmakers is pleased to announce that Sisters Rising, a documentary feature from directors Willow O'Feral and Brad Heck, is the recipient of the inaugural Thaddeus Stevens Award for Social Engagement by a Vermont Filmmaker. The award pays tribute to the heroic Vermonter, Thaddeus Stevens, a native of the Northeast Kingdom and a U.S. Congressman, who played a decisive role in the abolition of slavery and the establishment of free public schooling in America. Congressman Stevens was played by Tommy Lee Jones in Steven Spielberg’s film, Lincoln. We are delighted to honor his monumental life and legacy. Sisters Rising is a penetrating documentary…
Aug
26
MNFF6: ONLINE ANNOUNCES THIS YEAR’S AWARD-WINNING FILMS
We are thrilled to announce the Award Winners for MNFF6: ONLINE, the 6th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival: BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Finding Yingying, directed by Jiayan "Jenny" Shi BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: Murmur, directed by Heather Young BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Teranga - Life in the Waiting Room, directed by Daisy Squires, Lou Marillier and Sophia Seymour BEST NARRATIVE SHORT: Whiteout, directed by Lance Edmands Congratulations to all these fine filmmakers on their exceptional work! Be sure to watch their films during the Festival.
Aug
10
PASSES & TICKETS ON SALE NOW
We are thrilled to announce that tickets and passes to the 6th annual MNFF are now available! Navigate to our homepage here to see the film program, peruse short film lineups, and secure your pass (and / or tickets!) today.
Jul
27
SHORT OF THE WEEK: ETERNAL HARVEST
We're thrilled to announce our Short of the Week: ETERNAL HARVEST by David Wayne Reed. You can see the film for this week only here. Using drones, dance, farm implements, heirloom quilts, and agriculture, ETERNAL HARVEST is a short film by Kansas City based writer, director, and producer David Wayne Reed about the cycle of life as depicted by the growing season on a rural Kansas farm. ETERNAL HARVEST is a recipient of a 2017 Rocket Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Charlotte Street Foundation, and Spencer Museum of Art. Director David Wayne Reed is currently working…
Jul
20
SHORT OF THE WEEK: SUMMER IN THE CITY
We're proud to present our Short of the Week: SUMMER IN THE CITY, by Mojo Lorwin! See it here on our Vimeo page for this week only. This short film offers a dream logic black comic exploration of climate change and its insidious effects on the human psyche. Convinced that civilization is on the verge of collapse, two women set out on a journey through New York City parks in search of a river that will take them to a faraway island. But does the river exist? Mojo Lorwin (Writer/Director) is a filmmaker, writer and teacher born and raised in…
Jul
20
MNFF6: ONLINE Announces Special Festival Honoree, Acclaimed Director Ken Loach
The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival is pleased to announce that legendary British filmmaker Ken Loach has been named its 2020 Honoree for Sustained Excellence in Narrative Feature Filmmaking, celebrating Mr. Loach’s courage in making films that go beyond the surface to capture complex and unguarded moments of lived experience and social engagement. As part of its program at MNFF6: ONLINE, the Festival will screen two of Mr. Loach’s films, his most recent picture, Sorry We Missed You (2019), that tells the story of a British gig economy delivery driver who faces impossible complications to his work, and The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) that…
Jul
13
SHORT OF THE WEEK: IRON HANDS
We're proud to present our Short of the Week! IRON HANDS tells the story of a 12-year-old girl as she prepares for her final test trying out for the traditionally all-boys Chinese youth Olympic weightlifting team, where she makes an unlikely connection with the gym’s reclusive groundskeeper. Johnson Cheng is an award-winning Chinese American writer/director hailing from the San Gabriel Valley of L.A. County. An alumnus of Columbia University's M.F.A. Film Directing/Screenwriting program in NYC, his short films have screened at over 100 international film festivals. Johnson’s short film, IRON HANDS, written and directed in Beijing, China, premiered at the…
