Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival 2025: What to Watch

The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival seems to grow every year, cementing its place as a showcase for the work of debut and sophomore filmmakers from around the world. From Wednesday through Sunday, August 20 to 24, the 11th annual event will screen 21 narrative (fiction) features and 38 documentaries, plus a panoply of short films. Many are followed by filmmaker Q&As, while panels, parties and workshops round out the schedule.

Here’s a list of some screenings that caught our eye. Peruse them all and buy tickets ($17) and passes ($50-160) at middfilmfest.org.

Documentaries

Remaining Native (August 21, 2 p.m., Marquis Theatre): A college-bound running champion struggles with the legacy of his grandfather’s escape from a residential school in this doc that won two SXSW awards.

Traces of Time (August 21, 5 p.m., Dana Auditorium, Middlebury College): Brooklyn documentarian Simeon Hutner chronicled the final six years of his mother’s life in Ripton in this elegiac film, which also delves into her Vermont farm upbringing.

The Librarians (August 22, 7:45 p.m., Twilight Hall, Middlebury College): We’ve all heard about the upsurge in book banning around the U.S. Filmmaker Kim A. Snyder looks at the librarians fighting back.

Checkpoint Zoo (August 23, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall Theater): This doc tells the story of a team that raced to save zoo animals trapped behind enemy lines during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Seeds (August 23, 7:30 p.m., Twilight Hall, Middlebury College): Debut director Brittany Shyne profiles Black generational farmers in the South in a lyrical film that IndieWire called a “must-see.”

Narratives

Forge (August 21, 7:30 p.m., Axinn Center at Starr Library, Middlebury College): Art forgery serves as a metaphor for impostor syndrome in writer-director Jing Ai Ng’s thriller about Chinese American siblings with a talent for faking the work of old masters.

Crocodile Tears (August 22, 11 a.m., Dana Auditorium, Middlebury College): How often do you see a coming-of-age thriller set on a crocodile farm in Indonesia?

Eephus (August 22, 7:30 p.m., Marquis Theatre): Another chance to catch Carson Lund’s nostalgic drama about two baseball rec leagues playing their last game, featuring Vermont pitching legend Bill “Spaceman” Lee.

To a Land Unknown (August 23, 2 p.m., Dana Auditorium, Middlebury College): Palestinian refugees in Athens live in limbo, surviving by means of petty crime, in a drama that the Guardian called “smart, well-made.”

Tatami (August 23, 7:30 p.m., Dana Auditorium, Middlebury College): In this sports drama, which received the Brian Award at the Venice International Film Festival, a female Iranian judo champion faces political pressure at an international competition. An Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker codirected.

Under the Volcano (August 24, 11 a.m., Dana Auditorium, Middlebury College): A blended Ukrainian family vacationing in the Canary Islands learn of the invasion of their homeland in this festival awardee from Poland.