The 29th Nantucket Film Festival (NFF) which will run from June 19 – 24, 2024, unveiled its lineup, honorees, and Signature Programs.
NFF will open on June 19th with Magnolia Pictures’ Thelma, written and directed by Josh Margolin, which follows 93-year-old Thelma Post as she sets out on a quest for justice after being scammed out of $10,000, starring Academy Award nominee June Squibb, Richard Roundtree, Clark Gregg, Fred Hechinger, and Parker Posey.
On June 24th, the Festival will present Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story as its Closing Night film. Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, the film tells of Reeve’s astonishing rise from unknown actor to iconic movie star, including his definitive portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman, before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down, but catalyzed his activism for disability rights.
Screening as NFF’s Centerpiece selection is Netflix’s Skywalkers: A Love Story. Director Jeff Zimbalist chronicles the visually stunning documentary which tells the nail-biting story of a daredevil couple journeying across the globe to clandestinely film themselves climbing the world’s last super skyscraper.
For the thirteenth year, NFF will host a screening of a Disney and Pixar film on the Festival’s Opening Day. Inside Out 2, directed by Kelsey Mann with a screenplay by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein, follows Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust who have been running a successful operation by all accounts for 13 years; however, when Anxiety shows up, they aren’t sure how to feel—and Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment soon follow.
More than 60 features and short films will screen as part of NFF’s 2024 film lineup.
Narrative features include Sony Pictures Classics’ Between the Temples, directed by Nathan Silver and co-written with C. Mason Wells; Focus Features’ DÌDI (弟弟), written and directed by Academy-Award-nominee Sean Wang; IFC Films’ Ghostlight, written and directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and co-directed with Alex Thompson; Juno Films’ Girls Will Be Girls, written and directed by Shuchi Talati; Metrograph Pictures’ Good One, written and directed by India Donaldson; In the Summers, written and directed by Alessandra Lacorazza; Sony Pictures Classics’ Kneecap, written and directed by Rich Peppiatt; Los Frikis, written and directed by Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson; Vertical Entertainment’s Widow Clicquot, written by Erin Dignam and directed by Thomas Napper; and Winner, written and directed by Susanna Fogel and co-written by Kerry Howley.
Documentary features include Netflix’s Daughters, directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae; Devo, directed by Chris Smith, with special guest Gerald V. Casale from the band Devo in attendance; Hulu’s Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton; HBO Documentary Films’ Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes, directed by Nanette Burstein; Eno, directed by Gary Hustwit; Every Little Thing, directed by Sally Aitken; Love Machina, directed by Peter Sillen; Luther: Never Too Much, directed by Dawn Porter; Greenwich Entertainment’s Never Look Away, directed by Lucy Lawless; Porcelain War, directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev; Netflix’s The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, directed by Benjamin Ree; and National Geographic Documentary Films’ Sugarcane, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie.
NFF will honor Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated writer and producer Kerry Ehrin with the Excellence in Television Writing Award, recognizing her work on the critically acclaimed series The Morning Show, Bates Motel, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, and others. Past recipients of the award have included Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, and Beau Willimon.
Oscar®, Emmy, and Peabody award-winning director, producer, and writer Roger Ross Williams will be honored with the Career Achievement in Filmmaking Award. Williams was the first African American director to win an Academy Award® with his short film Music by Prudence. In his latest documentary feature, Netflix’s Stamped From the Beginning, based on the bestselling book of the same name by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Williams uses innovative animation and expert insights to explore the history of racist
ideas in America. Stamped From the Beginning will also screen at the Festival. Previous recipients include: Ken Burns and Lynn Novak, Ramin Bahrani, Davis Guggenheim, Rory Kennedy, Morgan Neville, and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, among others.
The Festival will honor Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Meredith Scardino with the New Voices in Television Writing Award. Scardino is the creator and showrunner of the Emmy-nominated Netflix original comedy series Girls5eva, starring Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Busy Philipps, and Paula Pell. Scardino also wrote on all four seasons of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, as well as its interactive finale, Kimmy vs. The Reverend; and was a part of the Emmy Award-winning writing team on The Colbert Report. The award will be presented by Emmy Award-winning writer and Girls5evacast member Paula Pell. Previous recipients of the award include: Jenny Han, Cooper Raiff, Siân Heder, Mike Cahill, Leslye
Headland, and Lake Bell, among others.
New to the Festival this year is the NextGen program, a selection of compelling films with a special appeal for Millennial and Gen Z audiences, brought together to cultivate the next generation of NFF film lovers. Featured films include India Donaldson’s Good One, Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers, Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap, Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson’s Los Frikis, and Jeff Zimbalist’s Skywalkers: A Love Story.
NFF Green Carpet Cinema program returns for a third year, demonstrating the Festival’s commitment to actively lead conversations about climate change by highlighting environment-focused films. Selections this year include Stephanie Johnes’ Maya and the Wave, which displays the delicate balance between nature and humanity, following one woman’s struggles and triumphs in surfing the infamously huge waves in Nazaré, Portugal; Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi’s The Battle for Laikipia, which explores the generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven; Every Little Thing, following a woman’s transformative journey as she nurtures wounded hummingbirds; and Shorts Program The Water Connection, which includes Jeff Orlowski-Yang and Sarah Keo’s Chasing Time, following acclaimed photographer James Balog as he brings compelling visual evidence of climate change to the global stage by depicting the rapid melting of glaciers around the world; and Dean Leslie’s Shaped by Water, an exploration of the bond between athletes and their intimate relationships with water.
This year, NFF will also host a series of Deep Dive Screening + Talk Presentations. Featured events include Stamped From the Beginning, followed by a conversation with director Roger Ross Williams and author Dr. Ibram X. Kendi; War Game, directed by Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber, followed by a conversation with select participants from the timely documentary; and The Water Connection shorts program, followed by a conversation with Chasing Time subject James Balog.
The 2024 Nantucket Film Festival will return with pillar Signature Programs, including the previously mentioned Green Carpet Cinema program; The Screenwriters Tribute, honoring Kerry Ehrin, Roger Ross Williams, and Meredith Scardino, and hosted by comedian and writer Ophira Eisenberg; a live podcast taping of How Did This Get Made?, featuring hosts Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas; In Their Shoes® with Ken Burns, an in-depth and revealing conversation about the work of Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated documentarian Ken Burns, who will attend the Festival in-person to preview clips and discuss his latest project, PBS’ Leonardo da Vinci; a Garden Conversation, with Kerry Ehrin, Meredith Scardino, and Paula Pell, moderated by Ophira Eisenberg, giving a behind the scenes look at The Morning Show and Girls5evafrom script to screen; and Morning Coffee With…®, where Festival audiences begin their day alongside some of the most talented writers, actors, directors, and producers in the film industry.