The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival is all about numbers. Not box office numbers, but rather the number of films participating directors have under their belts. Run by producer Lloyd Komesar and artistic director and Vermont filmmaker Jay Craven, the fest has honored first- and second-time auteurs since its inception in 2015. Beyond curating its largest and most diverse slate of films yet, Komesar and Craven have brought in some major industry icons for its 10th year.
Legendary moviemaker Oliver Stone, a three-time Academy Award winner and director of acclaimed films such as The Doors (1991), JFK (1991) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989), is one headliner of the fest, which runs from Wednesday, August 21, through Sunday, August 25. He is joined by a group of speakers that includes prolific playwright John Patrick Shanley, screenwriter and director of Doubt (2008); and Tony Award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell, known for his work on Hamilton (2020) and West Side Story (2021).
"Filmmakers like Oliver took a hard stand to make movies about things that are really meaningful," Craven said, adding that Stone and other guest speakers will impart industry advice to the fest's up-and-coming filmmakers. "He was probing cultural and political currents at the time, and that time has sort of shifted. So we're gonna talk about where we are now and the impacts of those films."
Stone will screen his films Platoon (1986) and Wall Street (1987), along with Episode 2 of his docuseries "The Untold History of the United States" (2012). He will also join Craven for a conversation on Saturday, August 24, at Town Hall Theater. Despite the presence of Hollywood royalty, the festival's emphasis remains on emerging filmmakers.
"I don't think we've ever been at this level," Komesar said, noting that the five-day festival will screen 131 films and draw about 90 filmmakers. That's roughly double the number of films from the fest's first year. Additionally, the festival will screen its first films from several countries, including Uruguay, Montenegro and Poland.
The common threads weaving together many of this year's new films are endurance and persistence. From the opening-night presentation of Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story to smaller, personal documentaries such as Mediha, a story about a teenage girl's return from ISIS captivity, there's no shortage of triumphant tales. (See sidebar.)
There's a reason endurance has been on the festival organizers' minds. When this year's celebrations conclude, Komesar will hand the reins to Caitlin Boyle. The Mount Holly resident and former director of filmmaker development for DOC NYC, the country's leading documentary festival, will shepherd the New Filmmakers Fest moving forward as its executive director.
"Lloyd established this festival as a true Vermont destination," Boyle said. "That's been part of their mission, and I can't wait to further that and think about the kinds of programming, events and curation for the future."
Komesar will remain on the festival's board, and he and Craven have faith that Boyle will continue building up the festival as a premier event for new filmmakers. "Lloyd's departure is a spotlight on him and his contributions, and Caitlin is a strong leader who will be up to the challenge," Craven said.
For now, though, all eyes are on 2024's groundbreaking slate.
"This year will be momentous," Craven said. "There's a real sense of excitement."
No small part of that is due to the presence of Stone. Seven Days recently spoke with the acclaimed director about his career, the state of the film industry and what it was like having Martin Scorsese as a teacher.
You've had your work screened at the Cannes Film Festival and other international circuits. What brings you to this festival oriented around new filmmakers?
Well, I don't distinguish. Film is a free medium, and anyone can join. In this day and age, with technology and a new culture, you can do anything. Some people make movies with an iPhone, so the standards are not the same. It's really a whole new world of filmmaking.
You had to work your way through the politics of '70s and '80s Hollywood. What battles within the industry have either changed or stayed the same for new filmmakers?
You can certainly make whatever you want now, but whether that's commercial or if people want to see it is another issue. There are so many films that don't get distributed. It used to be much more difficult to just make the film. Now you can make the movie, but your problem is going to be distribution. That's where it can get blocked up. Most won't get seen except by a very small group of people, right? Maybe a filmmaker's friends and family, and then some people at a festival.
If you really want to make a commercial film, then you need to pay attention to some of these rules of drama to make it interesting to a lot of people.
You took Martin Scorsese's "Sight and Sound" course as a film student at New York University. What was that like?
Marty was a great teacher. He was very sentient about film. We were coming in fresh, and he taught us that there's an art, history and tradition behind film. I think we had more respect for the medium with him as our teacher.
Nowadays there does seem to be a breakdown in the rules. That's OK, too. Who am I to say these are the rules for this or that, right? I don't know what Marty thinks now.
He's been very open about his feelings on the state of the industry. He had that infamous quote equating Marvel films to theme-park rides. Did you see that?
Yeah, and I mean, the new Deadpool film — I don't even go to those kind of things unless it's some story point that attracts me. But with home-screen advantages we have now, it's just unbelievable. We have so much choice now between old films and new films.
I'm anxious to see Twisters, though, and I will go see it. So I do keep up, but it's impossible to stay on top of all of it.
You mention Twisters, and it seems like with new technology there are more ways to make these films more enticing for audiences. They have 4DX now, where the seats shake; they have water spraying the audience...
They had that in the '50s, too. They had vomit bags; seats would shake when there'd be an earthquake. It's certainly better now, and it's far more comfortable. You can practically have dinner in a movie theater — not that I want to. But it's ultra comfortable, made for the consumer.
I'm not sure that's the idea of catharsis, of Greek theater, that I was brought up to believe this could be. I was reading movies like drama.
What sort of challenges do veterans such as yourself continue to experience that audiences might assume aren't a problem?
Well, I've never been able to buck the distribution struggles. Even when you have so-called "final cut," which I've had all these years, they find a way to pressure you, right? Your best interests are to cooperate with the authoritarian within the system and try to make them partners in your adventure so they understand what you're doing. I was never antagonistic because I didn't want those kind of relationships, but it certainly made things much more difficult.
You've worked with young filmmakers before — Anthony Drazan on Zebrahead and Stephen Milburn Anderson on South Central. What did you take away from your time producing?
We did good work, and it wasn't just those two. I helped set up a number of films— Reversal of Fortune with Barbet Schroeder and The Joy Luck Club with Wayne Wang — but I gave up after a while. I produced a few other films, but it cost me because it takes away from your credibility when [studios] count every dollar.
What prompted your shift from mainly features to documentaries?
I didn't give up on features entirely — every one I made, I invested body and soul. Mainly, the documentaries were less time-consuming, with the exception of "Untold History." I'm most proud of that one. It's the most complicated, difficult and most researched effort I've done.
Speaking of that, you're screening Platoon, Wall Street and Episode 2 of "Untold History" at the festival. What do you hope younger audiences and filmmakers will take away from them as the historical events and people grow further away?
That there's always an entire contemporary, timeless history going on — explanations for the way things are today. If you look at all my work, you'll see I have very strong feelings about that, all the way through Jack Kennedy, Nixon, George W. Bush and Edward Snowden.
Do you ever look back at your films and think there could have been other ways to endear them to audiences?
No, because the brutality of those events and figures impose their will on America. We're not educated enough on that history.
Do you have a "white whale" of historical moments or figures you haven't gotten to?
I wanted to do the My Lai massacre, and I came very close. I was two, maybe three weeks away from shooting it in Thailand, and they pulled the plug.
How important is diversification of talent in young filmmakers?
Young filmmakers, as I once was, are limited by their own experiences, right? You grow as a filmmaker as you get older and gain more experience. It's very, very important to increase that depth and wisdom.
Do you think there's optimism for new filmmakers despite the ominous problems within the industry?
I do see optimism. If somebody's making their early films and Mom, Dad, a few friends show up, that's really something. I was happy when Seizure, my first horror film, came out. My mom brought 20 of her friends down, and it was great to sit there and hear everyone's reactions.
It's wonderfully reaffirming, and these film festivals can do that on a really big scale now. It's a necessary stage to go through to get encouragement. And it's the same way Marty Scorsese once encouraged me.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity and length.
The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival has no shortage of riveting documentaries and narrative films, so we've previewed a few that reflect the theme of endurance.
From Vermont documentarians telling stories close to home to poignant tales from the other side of the globe, film fans will find a diverse collection of films from the next big names in the industry.
Kicking off the festival is the premiere of Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui's documentary on the famed actor Christopher Reeve. His rise to stardom was kick-started by his iconic role as Superman in the 1978 film (he played the Kryptonian three more times in the '80, '83 and '87 sequels), but a horseback-riding accident in 1995 left him paralyzed from the neck down. The film features interviews with Reeve's family and chronicles their heartbreak and triumph.
A true story about the Yazidi genocide in Iraq and its aftermath, Hasan Oswald's second full-length film is shown through the eyes of Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad, a teenager who was captured by ISIS and recently freed. This moving documentary follows her as she faces her past while moving forward, fighting for justice against her kidnappers and providing a voice for the suffering of her people.
A sprawling documentary following a community of female long-haul truckers, Nesa Azimi's directorial debut is centered on their efforts to overcome routine sexual violence and multibillion-dollar companies conspiring to make them disposable. In a male-dominated industry, driver Desiree Wood and a group of female drivers fight for their lives and careers on the road.
Second-time filmmaker Karen Akins' bleak yet quirky documentary explores the widespread issue of noise pollution in Vermont. What starts as a local quest to find the source of the hubbub turns into a national hunt for answers. Starting with policies set during the Reagan administrati on and highlighting issues from Milton, Stowe, Montpelier and Winooski, Akins' documentary is a deep dive into a rabbit hole that extends far beyond Vermont.