A phone call from her daughter thrust filmmaker and seasonal resident Susanna Styron into her new documentary, Out of My Head.

For documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson, his latest project, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, has been a long time in the making.

Three men, two guns, one wall. These are the bare bones of Doug Liman’s newest film, The Wall.

One Big Home, director Thomas Bena’s first feature-length film, which took more than a decade to shoot and edit, makes its Island debut Wednesday as part of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival summer series.

In 2004 director Shola Lynch’s first film premiered at Sundance. The documentary told the story of Shirley Chis-holm, the first black woman to run for president, and her 1972 campaign. Ms. Lynch was only three years old at the time of the campaign, yet as she grew up she found herself consistently drawn to the time period. The film won a Peabody award.

For Doug Liman, directing is like navigating a class five river rapid. As you see the rapid in the distance, you have 15 seconds to figure out the best course of action. There’s no time to stop and think about it; you must act on impulse. He has the same experience showing up on the set of one of his film or television shows.