When Circuit Arts executive director Brian Ditchfield thinks about the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival’s 25th anniversary this month, one word immediately comes to mind.
“Community,” he says. “There are other communities that want to disperse but our community wants to gather, and I think [the festival is] a reflection of that.”
This year’s festival takes place on March 26 to 30, featuring 15 films, numerous panel discussions, food experiences, music and a gathering place for film lovers of all ages.
The main hub will be at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury, with additional screenings taking place at the Capwawock Theatre in Vineyard Haven and the Performing Arts Center.
Planning for this year’s festival has been its own form of celebration, said programming director Minah Oh.
“Brian’s championed this egg that’s turned into a chick, and now the community is showing up for its birthday party,” she said.
Ms. Oh intentionally chose films that were uplifting and hopeful, in contrast with the instability of the world.
“We’re going to find the golden thread of being in a weird place, and people are wanting to share that weird scariness, but let’s also have some hope,” she said. “That’s the gift that art and the festival have always been able to provide.”
The festival includes documentary films as well as features, with programming for kids too. And as per tradition, filmmakers will journey to the Vineyard to talk about their movies and the process of creating them.
Documentaries once again anchor the festival, with 10 films digging into true stories.
Directors Jesse Short Bull and David France will accompany their film on Leonard Peltier, who at the time of the filmmaking was still incarcerated but was recently allowed to leave jail for a home confinement due to an act of clemency by President Joe Biden.
Vineyarder Kenneth Cole is the subject of the film A Man With Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole, which looks at how he has put activism center stage during his succesful 40-year career.
Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Right Honorable Dame Jacinda Arden, will also journey to the Vineyard to talk about her role in the documentary Prime Minister, which will be screened at the Peforming Arts Center on Friday, March 28.
“Prime Minister gave me a sense of just seeing someone . . . being a good human in that way that you can be a woman, and you can be firm but kind. There’s no pandering to one or the other. You can just be an amazing human,” Ms. Oh said.
Feature length films include The Friend, starring Bill Murray and Naomi Watts, On Swift Horses, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter, and The Legend of Ochi, to name a few.
Vineyarder filmmaker Dawn Porter, who was honored with the Circuit Arts' Film Icon Award last summer, returns this year with her docuseries The Sing Sing Chronicles, which explores several true stories of seeking justice for wrongful murder convictions.
“It’s going to be a special and inspiring experience,” Mr. Ditchfield said.
While Circuit Arts now programs movies year-round on the Vineyard, including the popular drive-in series at the YMCA campus, its roots are planted in the off-season.
“The programming year-round is an extension of this beautiful idea to provide not just for the summer times, but really our community,” Ms. Oh said.
Mr. Ditchfield recalled when film festivals were extremely popular in the early 2000s, but that many have fizzled out over the years.
“It’s a reflection of our community that it has sustained the festival so well, because without those folks who are so interested in art and in new film and in discussion, then this wouldn’t happen,” he said. The original founder of the festival,
Thomas Bena, said he is grateful that the event is still running.
“It’s a gift that Brian is shepherding into this whole new life and expanding from what we started,” he said.
Bringing the community together to talk about film has been the focus since the beginning, Mr. Ditchfield said.
“That’s such an important aspect of the experience, [which] is that opportunity to gather and discuss afterwards,” he said. “You certainly are going to get the Q&A with the director, but then you’re going to want to go downstairs, grab a cup of coffee, grab a bite to eat, chat about it with friends and keep coming to other films.”
Circuit Arts will schedule additional events throughout the year to celebrate the festival’s 25th anniversary, including repeat screenings of the movies shown next weekend and educational programs for students
“I’m really excited about the leap we’re taking forward as an organization, and that we’re following the thread of being accessible to everyone,” Mr. Ditchfield said.
For tickets and full schedule, visit tmvff.org.
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