
August 24-28, 2022 | Middlebury, Vermont
5 Days | 6 Screens | 140+ Films | Panels, Parties & Special Guests
The 8th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival Has Concluded! MNFF9 Coming August 23-27, 2023!
MNFF8 has wrapped! Our largest Festival yet successfully finished its five day run with a joyous Closing Night Ceremony on Sunday, August 28, with the giving of our acclaimed VTeddy Awards to our selected filmmakers and visiting Honorees and a screening of our terrific Closing Night Film, The Real Charlie Chaplin. We look forward to seeing everyone for the 9th Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, August 23-27, 2023! Mark your calendars and don’t miss it!
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The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival has a sole focus – to showcase the feature films and short films of talented first- and second-time filmmakers from around the world. Our Festival takes place in scenic Middlebury, Vermont in late August each year. Our 8th Annual event will take place in person and on the ground in beautiful Middlebury, Vermont this August 24-28, 2022.
COVID Health and Safety Protocol
MNFF8 will require that all attendees be vaccinated and show proof of their COVID vaccination when they first pick up their passes at the Town Hall Theater box office or come to the Opening Night screening or first show up at a film with an advance purchase ticket or buy a walk-up ticket at the door for the first time. At that point, upon showing proof of vaccination, attendees will be given a customized MNFF8 wristband that can be worn throughout the Festival, and subsequently avoid any further need to display vaccination proof. Just show the wristband. Vaccination proof will at a minimum be evidence of two prior vaccine shots.
All MNFF venues have announced a Mask Optional policy at this time, but MNFF encourages the wearing of masks to promote a safer environment.
Festival Passes and Day Passes
Festival Passes for MNFF8 are $110 and available online and at Town Hall Theater box office Mon-Fri, 12-5pm or by calling (802) 382-9222. Fest Pass sales will close on August 26.
MNFF8 Day Passes will be available for each day of the Festival for $45, and are now available through the Town Hall Theater box office.
Student Passes
MNFF8 Student Fest Passes can be purchased in person at Town Hall Theater for $50 with the presentation of a valid student ID. MNFF8 Student Day Passes can be purchased for $25 with the presentation of a valid student ID.
Opening Night Tickets
Tickets to the MNFF8 Opening Night Film and AfterParty [at Swift House Inn] are $60 but only available at this point on a Wait List basis. Call the Town Hall Theater box office [802-382-9222] and add your name to the Opening Night Waitlist from which several tickets typically shake free for last minute purchase.
Individual Advance Tickets
Individual advance tickets [$17 each] will be available beginning August 10 at 12n EDT ONLY on the MNFF website. When you arrive on the ticket buying platform, hosted by FilmFreeway, all the MNFF8 feature films [listed alphabetically] will have tickets available for purchase, with the exception of our Opening Night film, The Automat. The number of tickets available for each feature film depends on the size of the venue the film is screening at and the remaining number of tickets is visible to you on the platform. A maximum of 4 tickets can be purchased with each transaction.
Walk Up Tickets
Individual tickets can be purchased on a “walk up” basis at each MNFF venue for any block of films playing at that venue for $13.00. There is no priority seating for walk up ticket holders. Should the venue sell out its seating for that block of films before walk up ticket holders are admitted, the ticket may be used at any other venue to see any other block of films.
MNFF8 Films and Screening Schedule
All the MNFF8 films are available for perusal on a handy Films A-Z page that can be sorted by Feature, Short, Documentary and Narrative. Trailers, when provided by filmmakers, are there as well, accompanying each film’s individual page.
The entire Festival schedule is easy to navigate. Just click on the arrows next to each day’s various time blocks and see what films are being screened at what venue or what special events and parties are going on. Feel free to click all the arrows to allow the entire schedule to stay open while you scroll up and down.
Screening Venues
We will be showing more than 140 films on 6 screens at MNFF8, a diverse array of features and shorts across all genres, as selected by MNFF Artistic Director Jay Craven, with screenings at Town Hall Theater, the Marquis Theatre, the beautifully refurbished Dana Auditorium and Twilight Hall [both on the campus of Middlebury College]. Additionally, MNFF8 will offer nightly screenings outdoors under the tent at Swift House Inn, a well received innovation that was introduced last summer.
Town Hall Theater Marquis Theatre Twilight Hall Dana Auditorium Swift House Inn Tent
MNFF8: Honorees & Special Guests

Outstanding Achievement on Both Sides of the Camera
Maggie Gyllenhaal

Sustained Excellence in Independent Filmmaking
Marc Levin

Sustained Excellence in Film Producing
Tyler Davidson

Sustained Excellence in Independent Filmmaking
Nora Jacobson

Pioneer in Pursuing Film as Journalism
Lindsay Crouse

Sustained Excellence in Film Scoring
Judy Hyman & Jeff Claus

Special Guests
Katie McCullough & Ian Bignell

Returning Honoree
Karen Allen
The MNFF-VSO Special Event
The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra (VSO) are joining hands to present an extraordinary film/concert event at 4pm on Friday, August 26 at MNFF8. An Afternoon at the Movies features a live, 22-piece VSO chamber orchestra accompanying the simultaneous screening of each of seven documentary and animated films, all with Vermont ties. Assembled and produced by the VSO’s Matt LaRocca, the event will combine live performances/screenings of five of the previous collaborations between MNFF filmmakers and the Orchestra with new arrangements/screenings of two additional films. And to conclude the proceedings, the 2022 winners of MNFF’s prized VSO Award for Best Integration of Music into Film will be announced. This must-see/must-hear event takes place at Mahaney Arts Center’s Robison Hall on the campus of Middlebury College. For Festival Pass and Friday Day Pass holders, there is no charge for admission. General public tickets are $13 and are now available through the VSO website. Walk-up tickets at the door are $16.
Attending Filmmakers
We encourage our filmmakers to come to the Festival, to support each other’s work and to engage in Q&A sessions with audiences following the screening of their films. Even with the incursion of the Delta variant last August, nearly 45 filmmakers came to town and were thrilled to see their work up on the big screen. For MNFF8, we anticipate a robust turnout of over 55 creative and inspiring new filmmakers.
Awards & Prizes
The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival is a juried competition and our winning filmmakers all receive the coveted VTeddy Award in the Best Narrative Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, Audience Award-Feature and Audience Award- Short categories. MNFF also offers multiple cash Prizes and valuable in-kind awards to selected directors of both shorts and features. The VTeddy Awards Ceremony will be held at Town Hall Theater on Closing Night, August 28, and is free and open to all.
With roughly 10,000 film festivals worldwide, MNFF is proud to be consistently selected as a Top 100 Best Reviewed Festival by the principal global film submission and viewing platform, FilmFreeway. Thank you to all our visiting filmmakers from previous Festivals who have taken the time to let us know why they enjoy coming to our joyous event in beautiful Middlebury. And to all the filmmakers who will be joining us this August from close to two dozen countries, we say welcome and thank you for your spectacular work!
