The Martha’s Vineyard Film Society will host its 4th Annual Documentary Week, which begins Monday, July 30th and runs through Saturday, August 4th at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven. LOVE, GILDA featuring Director Lisa D’Apolito will open Documentary Week on Monday, July 30th; the festival concludes on Saturday, August 4th with JANE FONDA IN FIVE ACTS with Director Susan Lacy and Producer Jessica Levin.
Other documentaries featured include BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY on Tuesday, July 31st with Steve Young, former writer for the Late Show with David Letterman the subject of the film, and Director Dava Whisenant. A PAINTER WHO FARMS: ALLEN WHITING on Wednesday, August 1st with Painter and Vineyard-resident Allen Whiting. Q&A with Allen Whiting and Co-directors David Fokos and Barbarella Fokos This film is a joint benefit for the MV Museum and the MV Film Society; Tickets are $20 for everyone.
SAY HER NAME on Thursday, August 2nd with Kate Davis and David Heilbroner (co directed, produced and edited by), Sandra Bland’s sisters: Shante Needham and Sharon Cooper, both national spokespeople for Sandra Bland, and Cannon Lambert, lead attorney from Chicago. The Vineyard screening will be a rare chance for folks to see the film with filmmakers and 2 of Sandra Bland sisters and their lead attorney present for the Q&A, and moderated by Charlayne Hunter-Gault.
On Friday, August 3rd the Film Society screens 306 HOLLYWOOD with Co-directors Elan and Jonathan Bogarin.
LOVE, GILDA: In her own words, comedienne Gilda Radner looks back and reflects on her life and career. Weaving together her recently discovered audiotapes, interviews with her friends (Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short), rare home movies and diaries read by modern-day comedians inspired by Gilda (Bill Hader, Melissa McCarthy, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cecily Strong). LOVE, GILDA opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story.
BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY: Steve Young, writer for the Late Show, stumbles on a hidden world of bizarre corporate entertainment and finds an unexpected connection to his fellow man. With David Letterman, Chita Rivera, Martin Short, Jello Biafra, and more.
A PAINTER WHO FARMS: ALLEN WHITING – PAINTER AND FARMER: Allen Whiting is a farmer who has been living off the land as his family has for 12 generations. Allen Whiting is also a plein-air painter, whose depictions of island landscapes can be found in the collections of the rich and famous who have been visiting his home gallery since the 70s. From his taciturn delivery to his creative expression of the beauty that surrounds him, Allen Whiting is the human embodiment of the island in which his roots run deep, and from which he derives his inspiration: Martha’s Vineyard.
SAY HER NAME: Sandra Bland was pulled over and arrested for failing to signal a lane change in Waller County, Texas, in 2015. Three days later, she was dead, having apparently committed suicide while in police custody. But, as the case took on nationwide notoriety and sparked street protests, family and friends were left with nothing but questions: What, after all, took a bright, energetic Black Lives Matter activist from the promise of a new job to a mysterious jail cell death in just three days? Academy Award®-nominated nominated filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner accompanied Bland’s family on their search for answers during the two years following her death.
306 HOLLYWOOD: a magical realist documentary of two siblings who undertake an archaeological excavation of their late grandmother’s house. They embark on a journey from her home in New Jersey to ancient Rome, from fashion to physics, in search of what life remains in the objects we leave behind.
JANE FONDA IN FIVE ACTS: Girl next door, sex kitten, activist, fitness tycoon: Oscar-winner Jane Fonda has lived a life marked by controversy, tragedy and transformation, and she’s done it all in the public eye. Directed and produced by award-winning documentarian Susan Lacy.
Jane Fonda has been vilified as “Hanoi Jane,” lusted after as “Barbarella” and heralded as a beacon of the women’s movement. This film goes to the heart of who she really is, a blend of deep vulnerability, magnetism, naiveté and bravery, revealing a life transformed over time.