Films on painters Allen Whiting and Heather Neill
There is a splendid double feature by Barbarella and David Fokos on Saturday, Oct. 12, at the M.V. Film Center: “A Painter Who Farms,” centering on Allen Whiting, and “Visions of Home,” about Heather...
‘Running on Sand’ at the Grange
Heart runs through director Adar Shafran’s new film, “Running on Sand,” which was nominated for the Israeli Academy Award for Best Film.
Circuit Arts brings us this poignant comedy, which screens on Sunday, Oct. 13,...
Dark in a blink
We all know, theoretically, our world can change in the blink of an eye. But Daniel Roher and Edmund Stenson’s compelling film, “Blink,” at the M.V. Film Center brings us up close to what...
27th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival
Have you ever watched the Academy Awards and felt you would have been a better judge of what’s good and what’s not? Well, the Manhattan Short Film Festival offers the chance to let your...
‘Will & Harper’
“Will & Harper” will make you laugh, tear up, . . . and consider profound thoughts about what it means to be one’s true self and the nature of friendship. The film, playing at...
Trouble runs deep offshore in ‘Great White Summer’
Sharks and the Vineyard may seem synonymous, but Nick Budabin’s fascinating new film, “Great White Summer,” focuses on one Cape Cod community that is no make-believe Amity Island.
The documentary, playing at the M.V. Film...
‘Ghosts help us live’
Élise Girard’s “Sidonie in Japan” is playing at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center. Sidonie, played by the beautiful, vulnerable, and elusive Isabelle Huppert, is leaving France for Japan, where she has been invited for...
A nonbinary view of a ‘Sabbath Queen’
Judaism is nothing if not about tradition. Sandi DuBowski’s engrossing new documentary, “Sabbath Queen,” about Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, explores the many tensions around what it means to be a rabbi pushing against the constraints...
The 19th annual Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival
The M.V. Film Center is presenting an alluring lineup for the 19th annual Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival, which will run from Sept. 3 through 8.
“Mighty Afrin: In the Time of the Floods,” by...
Uncovering secrets
Particular images will haunt you forever. That of the torture and lynching of two Black men in 1937 in Duck Hill, Miss., surrounded by an enormous white mob, which included women and children, is...
Elizabeth Taylor in her own voice: ‘The Lost Tapes’
What comes to mind at the mention of Elizabeth Taylor? Her eight celebrity marriages, two of which were to Richard Burton? Her memorable roles in “National Velvet,” “Cleopatra,” “Suddenly Last Summer,” “Cat on a...
Union busters, scare tactics, and sheer tenacity
“United we stand, divided we fall” is the takeaway from Stephen Maing and Brett Story’s compelling film “Union.” The documentary is about a worker-activist group, JFK8, founded to legalize the Amazon Labor Union (ALU)...
A toast to a brilliant woman
Based on a true story, “Widow Clicquot,” at the MV Film Center, is a sensuous film that transports us to another century.
Set in the 1800s, the film opens in a French vineyard where husband...
Tale of two women
Christine Swanson’s luxuriously paced new film, “Albany Road,” which screened at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, hits all the right notes. It is immensely funny, touching, and consummately performed.
Although there are many...
Searching for lost love in ‘Touch’
“Those sweet memories stay with me day and night. So never, ever forget.”
These lyrics, playing in the opening scene of Baltasar Kormákur’s new film “Touch” at the M.V. Film Center, prepare us for what...
‘Screams before Silence’
On July 28, Alexi Ashe Meyers and Dr. Marcy Gringlas — both with strong ties to the Island — brought the documentary “Screams before Silence” to the M.V. Film Society. The documentary focuses on...
What kinds of kindness?
“Sweet Dreams are Made of These” plays perhaps ironically in the opening of Yorgos Lanthimos’ new and unnerving film “Kinds of Kindness,” which premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
Lanthimos, recently recognized for Oscar...
Love gone wrong at the heart of ‘l Love You Forever’
At first, this film, directed by Cazzie David and Elisa Kalani, appears to be a romantic comedy about the foibles of the love life of three 20-something friends steeped in the intrusive, all-consuming world...
10th annual M.V. Documentary Week at the Film Center
Richard Paradise, founder and executive director of the M.V. Film Society, has curated a smashing lineup for the Film Center’s 10th annual M.V. Documentary Week festival, which runs from July 29 to August 2.
“Documentary...
Circuit Arts presents its first Film Icon Award
Storytelling is a gift. Not everyone has it. But anyone who has had the good fortune to have seen one of Dawn Porter’s powerful documentary films can spot her gift right away. Her work...