Four-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone will be honored for “Impact, Imagination and Excellence” at the 10th Anniversary edition of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival that will take place August 21-25. Mr. Stone will screen and discuss three of his films: Platoon, Wall Street and The Untold History of the United States, “Chapter 2: Roosevelt, Truman and Wallace”. He will also participate in our Afternoon Conversation on Saturday, August 24 at the Middlebury Inn with MNFF artistic director, Jay Craven.
Oliver Stone’s films are known for their visceral power and muscular engagement with history, politics and the leading issues of our times. His film Salvador opened a window on U.S. involvement in Central America; Wall Street took on corruption and insider trading; JFK forced a reconsideration of America’s still unsettled “crime of the century;” Snowden dug into Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing on U.S. government mass surveillance and Platoon rendered Vietnam in an essential new light that grew out of Stone’s own combat experience.
Platoon, which will be screened at MNFF10 on Thursday night, August 22 at Wilson Hall on the Middlebury College campus, allowed an entire generation of veterans to finally see a validation of their own painful experiences of that devastating war. In 2019, the picture was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”
Oliver Stone started his filmmaking career as a screenwriter for pictures such Scarface and Midnight Express, for which he won an Oscar. He has also produced a wide range of films including Milos Forman’s The People vs Larry Flynt, Barbet Schroeder’s Reversal of Fortune and Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club. His increasing number of documentaries include Lula, about Brazilian president Lula da Silva, and Nuclear Now, which makes a substantial and fully researched case for an American re-engagement with nuclear power to address the growing threat of climate change.
Stone tackles quintessentially American themes and character in his work – delving deeply and passionately into his subjects. His restless curiosity leads audiences into new ways of thinking and can spark heated dialogues that alter conventional discourse.
Oliver Stone was born in New York City and attended Yale University and New York University where his teachers included director and fellow NYU alumnus, Martin Scorcese. For his Vietnam combat service, Mr. Stone received multiple honors including the Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart.
We are delighted to welcome Oliver Stone to our 10th Anniversary Festival and look forward to what promises to be both an energetic four days with him at the Fest and one of the true highlights of MNFF’s first decade.