Our 19^th annual MV International Film Festival continues Friday with award winning films and shorts.

The Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner SUJO will play on Friday at 4:00 pm. After his father is murdered by his own cartel, four-year-old Sujo is taken in and protected by his aunt in the isolated countryside. Now a teenager, Sujo moves to Mexico City, where he is tempted to join the local cartel and is forced to face his father’s legacy.

Friday concludes at 7:30 with the Short Film Juried Competition. From more than 250 entries, the festival selection committee has chosen nine finalists from five different countries. This program is SOLD OUT.

We will screen each short film, and our jury will select the “Best Overall” film at the end of the festival. The jury consists of Diana Barrett (founder, Fledgling Fund), Sarah Kernochan (two-time Oscar-winner for short documentary), David Helpern (producer, director, screenwriter), and Liam LoPinto 2023 Short Film Jury Prize, “The Old Young Crow.”

Happy Festival-going!

Richard

P.S. We'd like to thank our festival sponsors: Cape Air, Vineyard Wind, Mass Cultural Council, MV Cultural Council, MV Bank, Island Housing Trust, Mad Martha's, Our Market, and others.

ANNOUNCING THE 19th ANNUAL MARTHA'S VINEYARD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival, is a celebration of cinema worldwide. These films' bold imagery, creative storylines, and unique characters will wrap your in warm cinematic magic. 

The MVIFF is a culminating highlight of our island's culture-packed summer season. Each September we gather the best new films from dozens of countries, films that provide a path to bridging our cultural differences and exploring universal human experiences.

On September 8th, our closing night film will be SIDONIE IN JAPAN. After the film we will reconvene on the porch at FISH MV, 80 Main Street in downtown Vineyard Haven, for our Closing Night Party with music, food and libations!

In all we'll present 12 feature films and our annual Short Film juried program of nine shorts. Join us for all six days if you can.

Scroll down for the complete schedule -- several nighttime events are nearing a Sell-Out, so don't delay.

To download our

2024 MVIFF Program PRESS RELEASE Click Here.

To Download and Print Our Program Guide Click Here

Click LOGO image above to Play Festival Trailer

FRIDAY, SATURDAY, AND SUNDAY

SUJO

(Mexico)



Friday, September 6th @ 4:00pm

After a cartel gunman from a small Mexican town is murdered, Sujo, his beloved four-year-old son, is left an orphan and in danger. Sujo narrowly escapes death with the help of his aunt who raises him in the isolated countryside amidst hardship, poverty, and the constant peril associated with his identity. When he enters his teens a rebelliousness awakens in him, and like a rite of passage, he joins the local cartel. As a young man, Sujo attempts to make his life anew, away from the violence of his hometown. However, when his father’s legacy catches up with him, he will come face-to-face with what seems to be his destiny.

“Realism and lyricism mix together effectively in this intimate portrait of violence and generational trauma in Mexico.” – Rotten Tomatoes

2024 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner

SHORT FILMS JURIED COMPETITION

(International)



Friday, September 6th @ 7:30pm

SOLD OUT

2024 MVIFF Short Film Competition finalists:

BARDO (16:00)

Directed by Mishki Vaccaro, Canada

Bardo takes place over the three days after Steph’s mother’s death when she returns home to find a surprise visitor and wrestles with guilt over not being more present when her mother was alive.

MEAL TICKET (10:22)

Director Adrian B. Herrera, United States

A tough loving father with hoop dreams for his daughter, is hit with the harsh reality of their environment.

HOLD (13:40)

Director Josiah Junqueira Spencer, United States

An early morning phone call propels a mother and daughter on a path toward connection and the mysteries held in the act of letting go.

A THOUSAND CUTS (17:49)

Director Meredith Chin, United States

An elite college fencer grapples with an unspoken attraction to her teammate while training for her last competition. Pressured to be the best, and expected to win the team a national championship title, her emotions boil over in one vengeful final bout.

I’M NOT A ROBOT(20:00)

Director Victoria Warmerdam, The Netherlands

After several unsuccessful attempts to complete a Captcha, feminist Lara sets out to answer the disturbing question of whether she’s a robot, and therefore bought by her own boyfriend.

DAWN EVERY DAY (19:57)

Director Amir Youssef, Egypt

Set in 1956, 8 year old Nabil navigates through new social norms he cannot fathom that impact his next door best friend in post nationalized Egypt. Inspired by true events.

SAVIOR (3:51)

Director Ray Santisteban, United States

Featuring acclaimed Albuquerque, New Mexico poet Marcial Delgado, “Savior” is call to action, a cry for help, and ultimately a harsh indictment of U.S. Immigration policy. Part op-ed, part confrontational oratory, Delgado speaks his truth to a society that routinely vilifies immigrants.

MERMAN (14:35)

Director Madeleine Wynn, United Kingdom

Mari returns to her parents coastal home in rural England. There, through an unlikely acquaintance, she discovers the medieval legend of the Merman. The truth behind this seemingly innocent myth is darker than Mari could imagine. Are those who are ‘other’ destined to suffer as the Merman did hundreds of years ago? The message the myth bears across the centuries restores her resolve.

PIANO MAN (19:57)

Director Jay Zaretsky, United States

Having been struck with grief and loss, a legendary Jazz piano player retreats into an austere existence where he spends his days making music for his sick father and tuning the pianos of those who don’t truly appreciate the instrument. On this one day, Piano Man encounters Rosie, a saxophonist he used to play with back in the day. Convinced Piano Man was dead, Rosie persuades him to return to the stage one more time.

AGENT OF HAPPINESS

(Bhutan)



Saturday, September 7th @ 1:00pm

How can you measure happiness? The country of Bhutan invented Gross National Happiness to do just that, and Amber is one of the agents who travels door to door to meet people and measure how happy they really are. He is still living with his elderly mother at the age of 40, but is nevertheless a hopeless romantic who dreams of finding love: a happiness agent who is in search of his own happiness. We embark with Amber on a cross-country road trip meeting citizens from all walks of life, reminding us of the fragility and beauty of our own happiness. No matter where we live. The Guardian calls it a “slow-burning portrait that’s infused with warmth.”

“A complex, observant, and bittersweet look at the nature of fulfilment viewed through the infrequently glimpsed lens of Bhutanese culture.” – Rotten Tomatoes

Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, winner for Best Documentary Feature at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

THE QUIET MAID

(Spain)



Saturday, September 7th @ 4:00pm

Ana has just arrived from Colombia and is the maid of a luxurious mansion on the Costa Brava, where a family of wealthy art dealers spends their summers. The young woman works tirelessly and without a contract, under the false promise of decent conditions at the end of the summer, if she remains obedient and discreet. When, thanks to the maid of the neighboring house, she discovers her own ways of enjoying the summer, the family decides to fire her. But before leaving, Ana will summon her wit and cunning to find her victory behind the 12 words that open a crypto wallet. Screendaily says the film “combines a distinctive tone and striking visual sense with a knock-out performance from Paula Grimaldo.”



“The Quiet Maid is lesson in the power of understating and retrained cinema that can have more of an impact that the over dramatic.” – Rotten Tomatoes

“Combines a distinctive tone and striking visual sense with a knock-out performance from Grimaldo, fully inhabiting a role that deliciously defies our expectations.” – Rotten Tomatoes

GONDOLA

(Georgia)



Saturday, September 7th @ 7:30pm

Known for his unique no-dialogue style, "Tuvalu" and "The Bra" director Veit Helmer fantastically depicts the love-story between two women, set in the sky, who work on a ropeway running through the beautiful mountains of Georgia.

Says Cineurope, the film “comes together to create a highly accomplished, light-hearted, joyful, timeless ode to freedom.”

ADIÓS BUENOS AIRES

(Argentina/Germany)



Sunday, September 8th @ 12:00pm

Followed by a zoom Q&A with director German Kral

Buenos Aires, November 2001. Argentina is embroiled in crisis, with the peso plunging deeper and deeper. Julio Färber, the charismatic bandoneon player of the “Vecinos de Pompeya,” a five-piece working-class tango band, is trying to keep his head above water, but every month he is earning less and less from their gigs as well as from the traditional shoe shop he inherited from his father. At the very moment, he takes the decision to leave his beloved Buenos Aires forever, it clearly appears that life is conspiring against him: overnight, the government freezes all bank accounts in the whole country, preventing Julio from purchasing the flight tickets and sparking violent protests throughout the town. And Mariela, a witty young woman, and feisty cab driver, bumps into his car at full speed, damaging Julio’s last possession of value before stealing his heart….A film not just about a specific historical event in Argentina but “the ache of yearning, the weight of societal failings, and the contradictory beauty that persists even amidst struggle,” says Loud and Clear Reviews.

“A fresh and hopeful perspective, in which humor frequently intrudes. “ – Los Angeles Times

Nominated for Best Film (Beijing International Film Festival) and winner of the Audience Award (Musikfilmtage Oberaudorf)

BANEL & ADAMA

(Senegal)



Sunday, September 8th @ 2:15pm

Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. The young couple lives in a remote village in northern Senegal. For them, nothing else exists except each other. But for the rest of their tight-knit village, duty dictates that Adama soon accept the role of chief. The two lovers have other plans… until something in the air changes. The rains do not come; the cattle begin to die; the men leave. A rare debut feature that premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and Senegal’s official submission to the Academy Awards®, Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Banel & Adama is a lush and lyrical fable that soars to the heights of longing and descends deep into the realm of myth, sending its protagonists’ idyllic love on a collision course with their community’s customs. Because in this world, there is no room for passion, let alone chaos. IndieWire says the film is “a striking debut that puts Sy on the map as a purveyor of deceptively gorgeous visions that show flimsy desires at the mercy of the social, and literal, weather.”

“Banel & Adama is a distressingly searing love story that moves to its own rhythms, curiosities, impulses, and havoc for a shrewd picture of the heavy balance between loyalty to one’s community and devotion to each other.” – Rotten Tomatoes

Chosen as Senegal’s 2024 Oscars submission for the best international feature. 

CLOSING NIGHT PARTY

at FISH MV & FILM: 

SIDONIE IN JAPAN

(Japan/France)

Join us to celebrate the final night of films and bring another wonderful festival to a triumphant end. Following the Closing Night Film, SIDONIE IN JAPAN (Japan/France), we will reconvene on the porch at FISH MV, 80 Main Street in Vineyard Haven, for our closing Night Party.

Your ticket includes both the closing night film and admittance to the party at FISH MV.

Enjoy wonderful food, libations and live music by the John O'Toole band.

No tickets for the film will be sold separately.

SIDONIE IN JAPAN

(Japan/France)

Sunday, September 8th @ 4:30pm

Isabelle Huppert crafts a uniquely soft and vulnerable character in Élise Girard’s low-key charmer. The eponymous Sidonie is a writer, predominantly known for an early novel that charted her grief after the deaths of family members in a car crash. Now grieving another loss, she agrees to a brief tour in Japan to celebrate a new translation of this book, accompanied by soft-spoken interpreter Kenzo (Tsuyoshi Ihara). What unfolds is a moving and gentle portrait of a woman slowly emerging from her protective carapace through probing conversations with Kenzo, a side trip to the famous art island of Naoshima, and the ghostly return of her deceased husband. Eschewing broad strokes of closure, Girard instead grabs at the heart with a beautifully nuanced look at a woman who finds a new lease on life. Variety calls it a “romantic melan-comedy, built on a tentative exchange of cultures and individual stories.”

Fish MV embraces the culture and love of the island of Martha’s Vineyard, with a dash of West Coast vibes. Here you’ll find some of the freshest seafood featured throughout our creative and vibrant menu.