Documentary Film Festival extends invite to young filmmakers

Jim Sullivan, Gloucester Daily Times, Mass.
·4 min read

Sep. 14—NEWBURYPORT — Experienced documentarians and some up-and-comers will get the chance to have their work seen when a full and in-person Newburyport Documentary Film Festival makes its return this weekend with "Jack Has a Plan" on Friday.

Joanne Morris, who has been the festival's executive director for 10 years, said the return to in-person form comes after going fully virtual in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then weathering some fits and starts in 2021.

"We were prepared to go fully in-person last year but, as we got closer to it, it became apparent that it wasn't the comfortable thing to do," she said. "So we held our three night films but we took precautions with masking and vaccinations but the rest of it was virtual."

Twenty-six documentaries will be screened over the weekend at both The Screening Room on State Street and the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Market Square with most of the filmmakers in attendance as well.

The festival has always been committed to providing opportunities for students and young adults to showcase their work and organizers took the opportunity to create the Young Emerging Filmmaker's Showcase (YES) award program in 2021, Morris said.

The award program features films that showcase the work of current and recent college graduates who compete for a juried, $500 first prize sponsored by Dietz & Lynch Capital.

Peter Carzasty, co-chairperson of the award program, said this year's edition saw documentaries from students or recent grads from 24 universities and colleges

Finalists from Vassar College, Endicott College, the Massachusetts College of Art, UMass Amherst, Wheaton College and Montserrat College of Art eventually made the cut to have their films play in competition at The Screening Room on Friday at 3 p.m.

High school students will also be given the opportunity to explore filmmaking and production with the RAW Works art therapy youth program at Newburyport Public Library on Saturday from noon to 1 p.m.

"This is a nonprofit from Lynn that has an amazing program for high schoolers to learn filmmaking," Morris said.

Visiting filmmakers are expected to join Program Director James Sullivan for a filmmaker's roundtable at The Port Tavern on Saturday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

"Jack Has a Plan," directed by Bradley Berman and Ben Flax, chronicles the three-year journey a man with a terminal brain tumor embarked upon to end his own life that culminates in a permanent going-away party. The movie will be shown at the Firehouse Center for the Arts on Friday at 7:30 p.m. with a reception at 6:30 p.m.

The film will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Berman and Flax and an after-party will be held at NU Kitchen.

"Deconstructing Karen," a documentary directed by Emmy Award winner Patty Ivins Specht, will be presented Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Firehouse Center for the Arts. The film features a group of well-meaning white women confronting their own role in upholding racism.

Amesbury filmmaker Tim O'Donnell, director of the award-winning "Not a War Story," will close out the three-day festival with his most recent film, "The House We Lived In." The film, which is about a man who survived a traumatic brain injury, will be shown at the Firehouse Center for the Arts at 6 p.m.

Tickets for daytime films are $12, $10 for seniors and $20, $18 for seniors for the Friday and Saturday evening events.

The winners of the best feature, best short film, best New England film, best first-time filmmaker, the Audience Award and the David Kleiler award will be announced Monday.

Most documentaries will be a made available for streaming after the festival's close on Sunday night and up until Sept. 25.

"Anyone can see any film at any time," Carzasty said.

The recent move to virtual showings has also given the documentary film festival a chance to reach a much wider audience, according to Carzasty.

"I got some of the demographics off of our YouTube platforms and 87% of the viewership is domestic. Of that, only 12.5% is Boston and Newburyport. The rest is nationwide," he said.

To see the entire lineup of films and purchase tickets, go to: https://www.nbptdocufest.org/.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.