The Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival celebrates its 20th year with an exciting selection of 19 films from Sept. 2 through 7.
Accompanying the opening party is a special screening of “Dreams,” part of a trilogy by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud. The film indeed begins dreamily, with a brief image of an endless, steep staircase surrounded by foliage cloaked in mist. Then, we see a bright azure sky, as a teenage girl’s voice speaks contemplatively to us: “My life is a cloud. Well, not all of it. My body isn’t … and it feels so strange that body and soul are separated … I worry that there’s nothing there to keep things in place, and that everything I am will fall down into the street and get washed away by the rain.”
This introspective soul is 17-year-old Johanne (Ella Øverbye), who tells a story about falling deeply in love with her enigmatic teacher Johanna (Selome Emnetu). Johanne longs for connection as her infatuation grows. It is “as if I could feel her presence throughout my body,” she tells us. Waking up from a sexual dream about her, Johanne says, “It felt terrible and wonderful at the same time. It felt inconceivable because she’s an adult.” As the relationship develops, its exact nature remains unclear. When it ends, Johanne writes a remarkable story about the transformative experience, and complications arise when her mother and grandmother read it. As Johanne navigates the gap between her romantic fantasy and reality, all three women face their different views on love, sexuality, and self-discovery.
Accompanying the closing night party is “Four Mothers,” co-written and directed by Darren Thornton. The comedy is both immensely amusing and grandly touching. Edward (James John McArdle), an Irish author, has just published his debut YA novel about a gay relationship between two young men. Penning notes for his upcoming publicity tour, he says, “I wanted to write about first love … that young readers could connect with, that was familiar, and raw, and heartfelt, that would validate their feelings — and postcolonial conflict in Ireland and the legacy of the Catholic Church and the growth of a queer culture within a regressive society.” His publicist advises him to focus on the love story alone, as it is selling well in Ireland and should be his primary focus during the U.S. tour.
All should be coming up roses for Edward, except he’s overwhelmed with caring for his ornery mother, Alma (Fionnghuala Manon [“Fionnula”] Flanagan), who, having lost her voice and mobility after a stroke, communicates her irritating (and hilariously funny) comments through a handheld computer. “If you go any slower,” her typing announces while Edward is driving, “we would go back in time.” His plans to place Alma in a residence for the two-week tour go awry when three “dear” friends unexpectedly drop off their mothers, whom they’ve been caring for, so they can party at a Pride celebration in Maspalomas. Poignant moments blend with laughter over a chaotic weekend as Edward tries to juggle his burgeoning career with the care of four eccentric, combative, and wildly different women of a certain age.
A brief look at some other films includes “Grand Tour” by Miguel Gomes, which combines striking black-and-white period visuals with modern documentary footage. The film tells a globetrotting tale of unrequited love. It blends melodrama and screwball comedy in a cat-and-mouse chase between lovers. In 1917 colonial Burma, Edward (Gonçalo Waddington), a civil servant for the British Empire, jilts his lovestruck fiancée, Molly (Crista Alfaiate), the day she arrives to get married. As he embarks on an unexpected journey across Asia, she quickly follows, amused by his moves.
“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” by Zambian-Welsh writer-director Rungano Nyoni, opens with a surrealist twist. Shula (Susan Chardy), dressed in an outrageous, inflated, black space suit–like outfit, is driving home late at night when she comes across a dead man on a deserted road. Getting out, Shula discovers it is her Uncle Fred (Roy Chisha). But unshaken, she returns to the car to call what turns out to be her deadbeat dad. His response: Lock yourself in the car until I come, he tells her, and, oh, can you pay for the taxi as well as my overdue rent? As Shula waits, her crazy, drunk cousin arrives, one of many over-the-top characters in this engrossing film. But as the elaborate funeral rituals drag on for days, Shula and her cousins uncover hidden secrets of their middle-class Zambian family, and the emotional cost of conspiring to keep secrets hidden to save face.
Violet Du Feng’s documentary “The Dating Game” follows three perpetual bachelors seeking the wisdom of Hao, a widely sought-after dating coach in China, where the One Child Policy has left 30 million more men than women. We meet the socially awkward pupils first during the “make-over,” where Hao arms them with a new wardrobe and hairstyles. But nothing can mask the men’s discomfort in seeking wives. Hao admonishes his students to employ techniques and approaches they feel are inauthentic to themselves. Hao says, “By the end of the seven-day camp, I want them to see themselves completely differently.” When Hao’s wife, Wen, a dating coach for women, comes into the picture, things take an interesting turn.
Embeth Davidtz’s “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight” is a compelling adaptation of Alexandra Fuller’s acclaimed memoir of the same title, set on the eve of the 1980 election that will lead to Zimbabwe’s independence. From the first moment, the film immerses us in the world of 8-year-old Bobo (Lexi Venter), where chaos at home is inextricably tied to the violent political unrest and racial tensions surrounding her British family’s Rhodesian farm. Told entirely from wild, scrappy Bobo’s perspective, we experience her family’s racism and bigotry, along with their desperate effort to cling to what they believe is theirs as the colonial empire crumbles around them.
The M.V. International Film Festival 2025 takes place from Sept. 2 through. 7 At the M.V. Film Center. For information and tickets, visit mvfilmsociety.com/festivals/marthas-vineyard-international-film-festival.