ASTRO KID (TERRA WILLY)

Willy, a young space explorer, is separated from his parents on a remote planet. Following in their footsteps, he ventures into the world of the unknown, with the help of newfound friends and a robot named Buck. While waiting for rescue, Willy discovers what it means to be brave.

THE AUSTRALIAN DREAM

Adam Goodes is a sports icon, one of the greatest players in the history of the Australian Football League. Raised by his single, Aboriginal mother, he is no stranger to racism. But when he had a verbally abusive teen fan ejected from a game, the decision split society. Drawing upon his personal story, Australia's dark colonial past, and its treatment of the Aboriginal population, this film is a gripping, timely examination of race, identity, and belonging that resonates far beyond the stadium.

BEST SUMMER EVER

Discussion to follow with director Michael Parks Randa, executive producers Ila Halby and Will Halby, and cast members

The latest Zeno Mountain Farm film is an exhilarating take on the teen musical, a blend of Grease and Glee featuring original songs and an integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities. Sage and Anthony fall in love at a dance camp. At summer’s end, a twist of fate has her enrolling at his high school. The drama of cliques, an evil cheerleader, a secret about Sage's family, and Anthony’s struggle to be both football star and dancer, force the duo to reevaluate their relationship.

CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?

Discussion to follow with director Jim Cricchi and producer Susan Peters

Small-town activism. Nail-biting elections. A last-minute power grab. In Wisconsin, where extreme partisanship has become the norm, voters’ lives seem increasingly irrelevant to state legislators. Through the stories of a working-class mother of five, a laid-off environmental educator, a retired public school teacher, and a tireless voting rights activist, this film details how one-party rule has reshaped democracy in a once-progressive state.

CONSCIENCE POINT

Discussion to follow with director Treva Wurmfeld and film subject Shane Weeks

In summer 2018, at the start of the U.S. Open at the ultra-exclusive Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in the Hamptons, a long-simmering tension between moneyed Americans and the Shinnecock Indian Nation came to a head. Fans and golfers had no idea that the course was carved out of a tribal burial site. This film contrasts the values of those for whom beautiful places are a commodity, and those for whom they signify community, heritage, belonging, home.

SHORT FILMS: COURAGEOUS VOICES

Courage comes in many forms. In these documentary shorts people stand up to injustice, conquer their fears, and overcome trauma. Witness Native tribes coming together to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline. Take a plunge with someone trying to be the first to skydive from space and break the sound barrier. Enter the experience of a survivor of lynching who transcends that violence by making art. These positive voices remind us just how capable we are.

DISCLOSURE

Hollywood both reflects and manufactures our anxieties about gender. Confronting assumptions and reframing familiar scenes and iconic characters through a new lens, transgender director Sam Feder—and creatives such as Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, and Chaz Bono—offer an eye-opening look at depictions in film and television, tracing a history that is dehumanizing yet also evolving, complex, and at times humorous. Disclosure changes how we perceive transgender people—and media itself.

DREAM HORSE

This is the true story of one woman’s extraordinary ambition to breed and raise a champion racehorse in her sleepy Welsh village. Jan Vokes (Toni Collette) wants more from life than waiting tables at the local pub. So she rallies her fellow villagers to invest in her crazy scheme. They name their new foal “Dream Alliance.” He proves to be more than a match for the expensive racehorses he competes against. More than that, he begins to unite the community and alter the lives of everyone within it.

END OF SENTENCE

Frank Fogle (Oscar nominee John Hawkes) sets out to honor his late wife’s last wish: that he and their son Sean spread her ashes in a remote lake in her native Ireland. Just out of prison, Sean wants a fresh start in California, not a road trip with his estranged father. But he agrees to go, on two conditions. Between a disconcerting Irish wake, chance encounters, and plenty of unresolved issues, the journey becomes much more than either man expects.

SHORT FILMS: EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!

This program includes performances by DanceTheYard

These short dance films will inspire you to see movement throughout the world around us, from the streets of Paris to construction sites, from under water to the birds above. Everyone and everything can tell a story through dance.

HEALING FROM HATE: BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF A NATION

Discussion to follow with director Peter Hutchison and film subject Tony McAleer

Charlottesville, Parkland, Pittsburgh, El Paso. The tragedies in these cities are evidence that hate is on the rise in America. This film seeks to shine a light on the roots of hatred, and the courageous work of those who have made their way back from violent extremism. With an eye trained on what’s needed to return meaning, identity, and tolerance to a generation of disenfranchised white men, it follows the crusade to de-radicalize White Nationalists and heal communities torn apart by racism. 

HEARTS AND BONES

Discussion to follow (via Skype) with director and writer Ben Lawrence

An Australian photojournalist, Dan Fisher (Hugo Weaving), and a South Sudanese refugee, Sebastian Ahmed (Andrew Luri), find themselves forging futures out of a past they don’t know they share. But fate again connects them when Dan’s war photography is exhibited in Sydney. Sebastian’s destroyed village is in some images. He begs Dan not to display them, but why? This film asks thorny questions about surviving catastrophe, bearing witness, and reckoning with the ever-changing concept of self.

HE DREAMS OF GIANTS

Remember Lost in La Mancha, the film about Terry Gilliam's quest to adapt Cervantes? Seventeen years later, the same filmmakers returned to document the director’s second attempt at making The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Would different stars and other realignments—Adam Driver, no Johnny Depp—lead to success? Or would Gilliam, like Quixote, find himself tilting at windmills yet again? With footage from the production in Spain, and Gilliam’s entire career, this film explores the obsessions and value of art.

THE INFILTRATORS

A group of fierce young people not only dare to walk the streets, carrying signs—UNDOCUMENTED. UNAFRAID.—they get themselves locked in border detention centers. Working from the inside, they free other undocumented immigrants. These activist Dreamers are infiltrating the system. Based on actual events, and melding the suspense of scripted narrative with documentary style, this film won audience and innovative filmmaking awards at Sundance 2019.

MIRETTE

Mirette lives in a 19th-century Paris boarding house frequented by circus and other performers. One tenant, “the Great Bellini,” enchants her with his skill for walking the high wire. Determined to follow in his footsteps, Mirette begins to practice. Listen to a reading of Emily Arnold McCully’s Mirette on the High Wire and then see the story come to life on the screen. Afterwards, we will compare and contrast the book and film, discussing the similarities and differences.

NEVER GIVE UP!

Be inspired to strive for your goals, whether those are helping friends reach the finish line of a race, learning how to fly, or figuring out how to keep the lights on. These films remind us to think creatively and never give up.

OLIVER SACKS: HIS OWN LIFE

Discussion to follow with film subject Bill Hayes

One of the world's most famous neurologists, Oliver Sacks was nevertheless a very private man whose personal life was largely unknown. His remarkable insights about the human brain were revealed only in his numerous books and articles. But he was so much more than the character portrayed by Robin Williams in Awakenings, and the author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. In 2015, he agreed to sit for filmmaker Ric Burns, whose moving tribute also includes interviews with many notable others.

THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON

Discussion to follow with actor Zack Gottsagen

In this delightful, funny, Mark Twain-style fable, two fugitives go on the adventure of a lifetime. Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a young man with Down syndrome, dreams of becoming a wrestler. Running away to attend the school of his idol, the Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church), he meets a crab fisherman (Shia LaBeouf). The unlikely pair take to the delta to evade capture. Will they make it to the school? Dakota Johnson and John Hawkes co-star.

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD

In this gloriously frenetic adaptation of one of Charles Dickens’ most beloved novels, Oscar nominee Dev Patel stars as the hero careening through 19th-century England on his zigzag way to destiny. Born six months after the death of his father, David (Patel) is raised by his loving mother. But when she remarries, he is sent away. Wherever he goes, he writes pithy impressions of all he encounters. Laced with the classic wit of Iannucci’s prior work, the film also stars Hugh Laurie and Tilda Swinton.

THE REASON I JUMP

Discussion to follow with film subjects Donna Budway, Emma Budway, Ben McGann, and Bertra McGann

Not being able to speak does not mean there is nothing to say. That is the core message of a book written by Naoki Higashida when he was just 13. Based on that work, this Sundance award-winning film follows a Japanese boy on a journey through an epic landscape. As he discovers what his autism means and why he acts the way he does—the reason he jumps—Higashida’s insights are sensually fused with portraits of five other non-speaking autistic young people across the world.

REWIND

Discussion to follow (via Skype) with director Sasha Joseph Neulinger

You think you know your family, but everyone has secrets and some are devastating. In this searing directorial debut, decades of home videos reveal the joy and pain of generations. Birthday parties, cajoling in the backyard, on the back porch. Then darkness, stolen childhood. Few have the nerve to revisit the trauma of the past, but if you can steel yourself and make it through this powerful, engrossing film, you will witness inspiring bravery. You won't be able to look away.

RUNNER

Discussion to follow with director Bill Gallagher and film subject Guor Marial

Have you ever met someone who has literally ran for their life, not once but twice? Guor Marial is that person. As a refugee from war-torn South Sudan, he struggles to adjust to life as a student at a high school in New Hampshire. But things change forever when he meets track coach Rusty Cofrin, and his Olympic dreams become a future he could never have imagined. Guor’s difficult and triumphant journey exemplifies what it means to survive and thrive.

SAUDI RUNAWAY

English and Arabic, with English subtitles

Muna is a fearless Saudi Arabian woman, tired of being controlled by the state and the harsh restrictions she and other Saudi women must endure. Her arranged marriage is imminent. To save herself, she plans her escape, using her cell phone for documentation and often secretly filming through her hijab. This edge-of-your-seat thriller was made entirely with Muna’s own footage, and it also gives us access to her innermost thoughts as the phone becomes her lifeline. Will she succeed in escaping?

SAVE YOURSELVES!

Discussion to follow with writer-directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson

Jack (John Reynolds) and Su (Sunita Mani) are a hip Brooklyn couple unable to put down their cell phones. Attempting to reconnect with each other and a more authentic, grounded life, they head upstate to a small cabin in the woods—vowing to unplug for one whole week. There, they miss the news that aliens have taken over. A satire of our modern self-obsessed society, this witty film takes a millennial’s worst-case scenario and lights it on fire.

SHELTER

Five snowboarders spend two months traveling from backcountry hut to hut in search of the opportunity to ride some of the most beautiful peaks in the world. As the friends—Leo Taillefer, Thomas Delfino, Jeremy Jones, Mat Shaer, and Levi Luggen—go ever higher in the Swiss and French Alps, they witness the effects of climate change and speak about their individual efforts to mitigate their impacts and minimize their carbon footprint while still pursuing their passion.

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

Discussion to follow with director Jeff Orlowski

From the dark underbelly of Silicon Valley comes an exposé that seems like a combination of An Inconvenient Truth and The Matrix. Emmy-winning director Jeff Orlowski (Chasing Coral, Chasing Ice) turns his attention from environmental issues to the newest threat that could destroy our society—social media. With the help of tech whistleblowers like Tristan Harris, he shines a light on the algorithms behind our addiction to the devices we’ve come to rely on so heavily.

SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE (DEUX MOI)

French, with English subtitles

Rémy and Mélanie are two thirty-year-olds searching for love. While he works in an unskilled job, she is a scientist. Their parallel lives, in the same Paris neighborhood, are filled with not-so-comfortable patterns—coping mechanisms, really—that they’ve devised to keep themselves safe. Without knowing it, their paths start to lead them in the same direction. They’d be perfect together, if only they could overcome their hangups. Will they be able to find each other?

SOMEWHERE WITH NO BRIDGES

Discussion to follow with director Charles Frank and the family and friends of Richie Madeiras

It was an October afternoon. A man was seen falling overboard, some several hundred yards off East Chop. That man was Oak Bluffs native and beloved shellfish constable Richie Madeiras, just 44 years old. Twenty years later, a distant cousin locates Richie’s kind, indelible spirit in the stories of family, friends, and the sweeping sea which has defined their lives. This lyrical film takes us into the heart of a New England fishing community.

SORRY WE MISSED YOU

In Newcastle, a man begins a job as a delivery driver, but he and his caregiver wife can hardly make ends meet. That deceptively simple plot is brought to life by two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake, MVFF 2018). Now in his sixth decade of filmmaking, Loach continues to make films about working-class Brits caught in the gears of systemic exploitation. Sorry We Missed You delivers a biting, heart-rending comment on the price of labor in today’s cell phone-reliant gig economy.

SPACESHIP EARTH

Discussion to follow with film subject Kathelin Gray

In 1991, eight people were sealed into Biosphere 2, an airtight terrarium in the Arizona desert. Their mission: to maintain an isolated, sustainable environment for two years. Funded by a Texas oil tycoon hoping to acquire licensable technologies for space colonization, the experiment turned into a dystopian simulation of ecological crisis. But if Spaceship Earth is a cautionary tale about the forces that threaten our planet, it is also a testament to what a small creative group can achieve.

STEVENSON LOST AND FOUND

Discussion to follow with director Sally Jean Williams and film subject Josie Merck

As one of the New Yorker magazine’s most prolific cartoonists, James Stevenson created 1,988 drawings and 79 covers. His career spanned five decades. Opening as he celebrates his 85th birthday, this film is a bittersweet romp, an odyssey of discovery and loss that unearths a dazzling body of work. Featuring delightful animated interludes and interviews with colleagues, editors, and his nine children, it also attests to observing the world from a truly original perspective.

THE TRADE

Discussion to follow with director Matthew Heineman

Oscar nominee Matthew Heineman is known for fearlessly tackling difficult subjects in his films (Cartel Land, Escape Fire, A Private War). In this Showtime series he examines migrant communities seeking a safer existence. This is a visceral look into the lives of those on perilous journeys north to the U.S., the people paid outrageous sums to smuggle them, and the law enforcement agents at the border. We are presenting two episodes from season two.

TREAD

Discussion to follow with producer Doug Liman

In June 2004, a 63-ton bulldozer, fortified with steel and concrete, systematically destroyed businesses and homes in the mountain town of Granby, Colorado. The rampage lasted over two hours and resulted in more than $8 million in damage. The police were incapable of even slowing the machine, and no one but the driver was killed. Tread explores the polarized perspectives on this man, his motives, and what pushed him to the breaking point.

VINEYARD SHORTS

Discussion to follow with the directors and writers

View Edgartown’s pagoda tree through a new lens. Cross the country’s political divide, with Vineyard students. Disappear down the rabbit hole with Lewis Carroll, and book passage for hilarity on the Island Queen. Be encouraged by another year of Island Housing Trust endeavors. Let your heart be warmed by the awkwardness of high school romance.

SHORT FILMS: WOMEN IN ACTION

English and Tamil, with English subtitles

Celebrate women and girls pushing limits where it is often hardest—in their own communities. Many indigenous women are missing or murdered in the U.S., but the Blackfeet Boxing Club is training its young ones to fight for respect and rights. Kamali, seven, is the only girl daring to skateboard in her Indian village. Two poets—one from the Marshall Islands, the other from Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)—connect through their environmental realities.

ZOG

Practice makes perfect in this family-friendly story about Zog, a dragon in training. As he strives to earn a Gold Star through many trials and errors, an unexpected friend becomes the key to his success. Listen to a reading of Julia Donaldson’s Zog and then see it come to life on the screen. Afterwards, we will compare and contrast the book and film, discussing what we’ve heard and seen, and how it makes us feel.