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Hirschfield International Film Series

Extraordinary international and independent films, now in person most Saturdays from September through May. Free and open to the public.

Hirschfield International Film Series Reel Play

2021-2022 Recap

In-person screenings will take place at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. in the recently renovated Dana Auditorium. Full vaccinations with boosters (or valid medical or religious exemptions) and masks are required. See our visitor health and safety info.

New titles are being added monthly, so check back regularly and subscribe to ArtsMail to stay informed about upcoming screenings.

Some of the works in this series may be inappropriate for children; many titles are unrated or have not been rated at the time of the screening.

2021-2022 Season

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: The Rescue

    UDPATE! New location: Middlebury Marquis Theatre, 65 Main Street, Middlebury, VT

    THE RESCUE chronicles the dramatic 2018 rescue of 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach, trapped deep inside a flooded cave. Academy Award®-winning directors and producers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin reveal the perilous world of cave diving, the bravery of the rescuers, and the dedication of an entire community that made great sacrifices to save these young boys. (1 hour 54 minutes). Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Off Campus

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: 2021 New French Shorts

    Please be aware that this screening is virtual only. This annual showcase of some of the most exciting new cinematic voices from France includes the Oscar-nominated animated short Genius Loci and César Award winners And Then the Bear and So What if the Goats Die? Boasting festival favorites from Cannes, Sundance, Berlinale, and beyond, this feature-length program of delightful, funny, charming, and provocative French shorts is sure to fill you with joie de vivre.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour

    The 2021 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour is a 95-minute theatrical program of 7 short films selected from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival program, widely considered the premier showcase for short films and the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers for close to 40 years. (1 hour 25 minutes). Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Please be aware that this screening is in-person only for students, faculty, and staff approved to be on campus. See our companion virtual screening of 2021 New French Shorts.

    Axinn Center 232

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Transition and Q&A with Director Sas Carey

    27-year-old medical doctor Khongoroo grapples with what it means to remain in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar. She misses the beautiful but remote East Taiga, where two-dozen families and relatives live in a tight-knit Dukha reindeer herding community. Ulaanbaatar, a city of 1.5 million, offers her a job when the countryside does not. With work in the city, Khongoroo must decide whether to risk the health of her three-year old daughter in the polluted capital or leave her with her grandmother where the air is clean. Q&A with Director Sas Carey following each in-person screening.

    Axinn Center 232

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: The Year of the Everlasting Storm

    A love letter to cinema, shot across the US, Iran, Chile, China and Thailand, by seven of today’s most vital filmmakers. New life in the old house. A breakaway, a reunion. Surveillance and reconciliation. An unrecognizable world, in the year of the everlasting storm. (2 hours). Q&A with Producer Brad Becker-Parton ‘11 and Co-Producer Matthew Cherchio ’11 on Zoom at 5:15pm. Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. 

    Axinn Center 232

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Flee

    FLEE tells the story of Amin Nawabi as he grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon to be husband. Recounted mostly through animation to director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, he tells for the first time the story of his extraordinary journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan. In Danish, English, Dari, Russian, and Swedish with English subtitles. (1 hour 30 minutes). Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Axinn Center 232

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: The Worst Person In The World

    This film chronicles four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is. In Norwegian with English subtitles. (2 hours 1 minute). Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. 

    Programmed in partnership with the Vermont International Film Festival.

    Axinn Center 232

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Petite Maman

    Nelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods. One day she meets a girl her same age building a treehouse. In French with English subtitles. (1 hour 12 minutes). Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Programmed in partnership with the Vermont International Film Festival.

    Axinn Center 232

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: A Son

    Tunisia, summer 2011. The holiday to Southern country ends in disaster for Fares, Meriem and their 10-year old son Aziz when he is accidentally shot in an ambush. His injury will change their lives as Aziz needs a liver transplant, which leads to the discovery of a long-buried secret. Will Aziz and their relationship survive? In Arabic and French with English subtitles. (1 hour 31 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Axinn Center 232

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Passing

    Adapted from the celebrated 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, PASSING tells the story of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Academy Award nominee Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the color line during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in late 1920s New York. In English without subtitles. (1 hour 38 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Programmed in partnership with the Vermont International Film Festival.

    Axinn Center 232

    Closed to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Beans

    Twelve-year-old Beans is on the edge: torn between innocent childhood and delinquent adolescence; forced to grow up fast to become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Indigenous uprising known as The Oka Crisis, which tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in the summer of 1990. In English, French, and Mohawk with English subtitles. (1 hour 32 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Axinn Center 232

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Hive

    Sundance triple award winner HIVE is a searing drama based on the true story of Fahrije, who has battled grief and financial struggle since her husband went missing during the war in Kosovo. In hope of providing for her family, she launches a business selling hot pepper preserves, a controversial act of independence that scandalizes her patriarchal village. In Albanian with English subtitles. (1 hour 23 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Axinn Center 232

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: White on White

    UPDATE: This is virtual only - all are welcome to stream online. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Pedro arrives in Tierra del Fuego, a violent and hostile territory, to immortalize the marriage of a powerful landowner. Fascinated with the bride-to-be’s beauty, he betrays the rules and is left to face a land crawling with violence and marked by the genocide of its indigenous inhabitants. In Spanish with English subtitles. (1 hour 40 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public
  • Image of a ship in a calm body of water

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Witness

    WITNESS, the latest project from Arlekin’s Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab, is a new documentary theater piece about Jewish immigration in the face of antisemitism. The piece is inspired by the journey of the MS St. Louis, which left Hamburg in 1939 with over 900 Jewish people on board and headed to Cuba only to be turned away, leaving the passengers stranded with nowhere to go and no escape. WITNESS shares stories of Jewish immigrants from around the globe through an interactive virtual theater experience at the nexus of film, theater and video games.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public
  • Woman driving a car with a man in the backseat, looking out of the window

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Drive My Car

    Two years after his wife’s unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There, he meets Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), a taciturn young woman assigned by the festival to chauffeur him in his beloved red Saab 900. Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is a haunting road movie traveling a path of love, loss, acceptance, and peace.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public
  • Two children on a playground

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Playground

    In this debut feature by writer-director Laura Wandel, the everyday reality of grade school is seen from a child’s-eye-view as an obstacle course of degradation and abuse. Transposing the gritty realism of such filmmakers as Jacques Audiard and the Dardennes Brothers to the inner world of kids, Wandel crafts an empathetic and visceral portrait of the cruelty of children, and the failure of adults to protect them. Shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Film. In French with English subtitles. (1 hour 12 minutes.) Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public
  • Movie poster

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Everything Everywhere All At Once

    Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes. In English, Mandarin, and Cantonese with English subtitles. (2 hours 12 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public
  • Three children lying on a sofa

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Stop-Zemlia

    Navigating the emotional turmoil of waiting for life to begin while hanging around with classmates – a radical, authentic, and sensitive insight into the unsettling feeling of being young and an inside perspective on Ukrainian youth. In Ukrainian, English, Italian, and Russian with English subtitles. (2 hours 2 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. The most up-to-date information can be found on our website.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public
  • Woman looking across a body of water at sunset

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Lingui, The Sacred Bonds

    Celebrated Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (A Screaming Man) makes a remarkable return to his home country with Lingui, The Sacred Bonds. Honest and poignant, this official submission to the 2022 Academy Awards is a stunning vision of female solidarity. In French with English subtitles. (1 hour 27 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. The most up-to-date information can be found on our website.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public
  • Image of a child with their arms stretched out yelling

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Hit The Road

    Hit the Road tells the story of a family that takes a road trip across the rugged landscape of Iran to drop their older son off at the border in order to leave the country. Despite the ebullient presence of their younger son, unspoken tensions arise and risks involving the elder son’s flight become increasingly evident as the family approaches its destination. In Persian and English with English subtitles. (1 hour 33 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public
  • A man and a woman standing by a body of water

    Hirschfield International Film Series: The Tale of King Crab

    Luciano is a wandering outcast in a remote, late 19th-century Italian village. His life becomes undone by alcohol, forbidden love, and a bitter conflict with the prince of the region over the right of passage through an ancient gateway. In Italian and Spanish with English subtitles. (1 hour 45 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. The most up-to-date information can be found on our website.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public
  • Two people embracing

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Great Freedom

    The exquisite latest film from writer-director Sebastian Meise, Great Freedom paints a stirring portrait of gay resistance and resilience in post-war Germany. Sensual yet arresting, Austria’s official submission to the 2022 Academy Awards turns a humanist eye towards a heartrending past. In German and English with English subtitles. (1 hour 56 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public
  • Person with a basket on their head

    Hirschfield International Film Series: Neptune Frost

    Multi-hyphenate, multidisciplinary artist Saul Williams brings his unique dynamism to this Afrofuturist vision, a sci-fi punk musical that’s a visually wondrous amalgamation of themes, ideas, and songs that Williams has explored in his work, notably his 2016 album MartyrLoserKing. In Kinyarwanda Kirundi Swahili French English with English subtitles. (1 hour 45 minutes.) Free. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. The most up-to-date information can be found on our website.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

2020-2021 Season

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Boys State

    The sensational winner of the Grand Jury Prize for documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Boys State is a wildly entertaining and continually revealing immersion into a week-long annual program in which a thousand Texas high school seniors gather for an elaborate mock exercise: building their own state government. This documentary creates a complex portrait of contemporary American masculinity, as well as a microcosm of our often dispiriting national political divisions that nevertheless manages to plant seeds of hope. An Apple Original Films and A24 release.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: 2020 Sundance Film Festival Shorts Tour

    The 2020 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour (Virtual Version) is an 80-minute theatrical program of 6 short films selected from this year’s Festival. Widely considered the premier American showcase for short films and the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers for more than 30 years, the Short Film Tour includes fiction, documentary and animation from around the world, giving new audiences a taste of what the Festival offers. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. (80 minutes). Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Song Without A Name (Canción sin nombre)

    Peru, at the height of the political crisis of the 1980’s. Georgina is a young woman from the Andes whose newborn daughter is stolen at a fake health clinic. Her desperate search for the child leads her to the headquarters of a major newspaper, where she meets Pedro Campos, a lonely journalist who takes on the investigation. Based on a true story.  A Hirschfield International Film Series event. (97 minutes). Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: John Lewis: Good Trouble

    Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Dawn Porter (TRAPPED, GIDEON’S ARMY), this film chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist and Democratic Representative from Georgia. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s primarily cinéma verité film also includes interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and other people who figure prominently in his life. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. (96 minutes). Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Ghost Tropic

    Khadija (Saadia Bentai¨eb) is a fifty-eight-year-old Maghrebi cleaning woman living in Brussels in the wake of the 2016 bombings that shook the city. After work one night, she falls asleep on the last subway train, wakes up at the end of the line and has no choice but to make her way home—all the way across the city—on foot. Along the way, she has a series of encounters: with a security guard, a convenience store clerk, a group of teenagers. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. (85 minutes). Free. 

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Night Shot

    Eight years after being raped on a beach near Santiago, a young filmmaker arms a kaleidoscope with dozens of video diaries, showing the wounds of the abuse, the re-victimizing legal proceedings and the friendship that accompanies it. In a voyage from which the question arises. What is a rape, really, and when does it end? A Hirschfield International Film Series event. (78 minutes). Free. 

    The most up-to-date information will be found on our website including the registration links to request tickets: http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/fmmc/hirschfield/2020-2021

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: State vs Natasha Banina

    In State vs Natasha Banina, a girl tells the story of her life in a small-town orphanage, and her desire to be free; break out of her world. From the inside of a “ZOOM” courtroom, she will make twists and turns through her unique appeal to audiences as the jurors, letting them into her world where she dreams about love, family, acceptance, adjusting and her future. Ultimately the two worlds collide and the audience gets to decide her fate. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free. 

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

    Suppose your country began to change. Suppose that without your noticing it became dangerous for some people to live in your country. Suppose you found that your own father was one of those people. That is what happens to Anna in 1933. Oscar®-winner Caroline Link adapted Judith Kerr’s bestseller When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, a true story about parting, family cohesion, and optimism, for the screen. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Sponsored by the Holocaust Remembrance Fund. (119 minutes). Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: We Are Little Zombies (Wî â Ritoru Zonbîzu)

    When four young orphans—Hikari, Ikuko, Ishi, and Takemura—first meet, their parents’ bodies are being turned into dust, like fine Parmesan atop a plate of spaghetti Bolognese, and yet none of them can shed a tear. They are like zombies; devoid of all emotion. Tragedy, comedy, music, social criticism, and teenage angst are all subsumed in this eccentric cinematic tsunami. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. (120 minutes). Free. 

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Objector, Q&A with Director Molly Stuart ‘15 following the screening

    Available to stream Nov. 9th at 6pm through Nov. 15th at 6pm.

    Please join us Nov. 14th at 8pm for a Q & A with Director Molly Stuart ‘15.

    Like all Israeli youth, Atalya is obligated to become a soldier. Unlike most, she questions the practices of her country’s military, and becomes determined to challenge this rite of passage. (75 minutes). Free.

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Part of the Light Up the Night Arts Fest. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Objector, Q&A with Director Molly Stuart ‘15 following the screening

    Available to stream Nov. 9th at 6pm through Nov. 15th at 6pm.

    Please join us Nov. 14th at 8pm for a Q & A with Director Molly Stuart ‘15.

    Like all Israeli youth, Atalya is obligated to become a soldier. Unlike most, she questions the practices of her country’s military, and becomes determined to challenge this rite of passage. (75 minutes). Free.

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Part of the Light Up the Night Arts Fest. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Another Round

    Four friends, all teachers at various stages of middle age, are stuck in a rut. Unable to share their passions either at school or at home, they embark on an audacious experiment from an obscure philosopher: to see if a constant level of alcohol in their blood will help them find greater freedom and happiness. At first they each find a new-found zest, but as the gang pushes their experiment further, issues that have been simmering for years come to a head. In Danish and Swedish with English subtitles. (1 hour 57 minutes).

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Our Right to Gaze: Black Film Identities

    In this collection of six shorts, filmmakers gaze at themselves and their world, attempting to make sense of what they see reflected back. From gripping drama to heart-warming comedy, Our Right to Gaze: Black Film Identities features timely stories from Black artists that take us outside of the ordinary. (1 hour 22 minutes).

    Following the screening, please join us on Zoom at 8pm for a Q&A with Directors Antu Yacob and Zora Bikangaga and Curator Curtis Caesar John. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Two Of Us

    Two retired women, Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), have been secretly in love for decades. Everybody, including Madeleine’s family, thinks they are simply neighbors, sharing the top floor of their building. They come and go between their two apartments, enjoying the affection and pleasures of daily life together, until an unforeseen event turns their relationship upside down and leads Madeleine’s daughter to gradually unravel the truth about them. In French with English subtitles. (1 hour 39 minutes).

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Farewell Amor

    After 17 years apart, Angolan immigrant Walter is joined in the U.S. by his wife and teen daughter. Now absolute strangers sharing a one bedroom Brooklyn apartment, they struggle to overcome the emotional distance between them. (1 hour 35 minutes). Free. Following the screening, please join us for a Q&A with Director Ekwa Msangi and Producer Josh Penn on Zoom at 8pm. 

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Marighella

    1969. Marighella, Brazil’s number one enemy, has no time for fear. On the one hand, a violent military dictatorship, with its heinous crimes of torture and infamous censorship. On the other, an intimidated people. Alongside guerrilleros 30 years younger than him and willing to fight, the revolutionary leader opts for action – all the while trying to a keep the promise of reuniting with his son, who he distanced himself from in order to protect. In Portuguese with English subtitles. (2 hours 35 minutes).

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: You Will Die at Twenty

    Sudan, province of Aljazira, nowadays - When Muzamil was born, a prophecy by the holy man of the village predicts that he will die when he is 20 years old. Muzamil’s father cannot stand the doom and travels away from home. Sakina, as a single mother, raises her son with over protection. In Arabic with English subtitles. (1 hour 43 minutes).

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Summertime

    This slam poetry musical is set in Los Angeles during a heatwave and follows the lives of 25 young Angelinos as they intersect over the course of a single day. It was developed with 27 young poets, all of whom served as co-writers. (1 hour 35 minutes).

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Identifying Features

    Official Selection for New Directors/New Films 2020. Sundance Film Festival 2020 - Winner for World Cinema Dramatic. Identifying Features tells the story of Magdalena, a mother who embarks on a journey in search of her son who disappeared en route to the US border. Traveling through the foreboding towns and landscapes of northern Mexico, she meets Miguel, a young man recently deported from the United States who is making his way home. In Spanish, North American Indian, and English with English Subtitles. (1 hour 35 minutes).

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Night of the Kings

    African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) 2021 Award Winner - Best Foreign Film. A young man is sent to “La Maca,” a prison in the middle of the Ivorian forest ruled by its inmates. As tradition goes with the rising of the red moon, he is designated by the Boss to be the new “Roman” and must tell a story to the other prisoners. Learning what fate awaits him, he has no choice but to make his story last until dawn. In French and Dyula with English Subtitles. (1 hour 33 minutes). 

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Quo Vadis, Aida?

    2021 Academy Award Nominee for Best International Feature Film. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. In Serbo-Croatian, Bosnian, English, Dutch, and Serbian with English Subtitles. (1 hour 41 minutes).

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Sophie Jones

    Inspired by true experiences of grief, girlhood, and growing up, Jessie Barr’s directorial debut, SOPHIE JONES, provides a stirring portrait of a sixteen year old. Stunned by the untimely death of her mother and struggling with the myriad challenges of teendom, Sophie (played with striking immediacy by the director’s cousin Jessica Barr) tries everything she can to feel something again, while holding herself together, in this sensitive, acutely realized, and utterly relatable coming-of-age story. (1 hour 25 minutes).

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Best Summer Ever

    Zeno Mountain Farm champions lifelong friendship and opportunity for people
    with disabilities and other marginalized communities. “Best Summer Ever” is their first feature length movie and largest project ever. This film tells the story of Sage and Anthony who had the “Best Summer Ever” after falling in love at a dance camp in Vermont. Not expecting to see each other again until the following summer, Sage, by a twist of fate, arrives unexpectedly at the same high school as Anthony. This screening is presented with open captions. (1 hour 12 minutes).

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Minari

    2021 Golden Globe Winner - Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language. Nominated for five 2021 Academy Awards including Best Motion Picture of the Year. A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to an Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. In Korean and English with English subtitles. (1 hour 55 minutes).

    A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Virtual Middlebury

    Open to the Public

2019-2020 Season

  • Hirschfield Series: Monos

    Alejandro Landes’ awe-inspiring third feature is a breathtaking survivalist saga set on a remote mountain in Latin America. The film tracks a young group of soldiers and rebels who keep watch over an American hostage, Doctora (Julianne Nicholson). After an ambush drives the squadron into the jungle, both the mission and the intricate bonds between the group begin to disintegrate. Order descends into chaos and the strong begin to prey on the weak in this vivid, cautionary fever-dream. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. (1h 42min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield Series: 2019 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour

    The 2019 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour is a 96-minute theatrical program of 7 short films selected from this year’s Festival, widely considered the premier showcase for short films and the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers for more than 30 years. Including fiction, documentary and animation from around the world, the 2019 program offers new audiences a taste of what the Festival offers, from sharply-written comedy and drama to edgy genre and an intimate family saga. (1h 36min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield Series: American Factory

    From Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy Award®-winners Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant,” “A Lion in the House,” “Seeing Red”) comes AMERICAN FACTORY, a Netflix Original Documentary presented by Higher Ground Productions and Participant Media. The acclaimed film takes a deep dive into a post-industrial Ohio, where a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant and hires two thousand blue-collar Americans still recovering from the effects of the 2008 recession.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield Series: Tazzeka

    Growing up in the Moroccan village of Tazzeka, Elias learned the secrets of traditional Moroccan cuisine from his grandmother who raised him. Years later, meeting a top Paris chef and a young woman named Salma inspires him to leave home. In Paris, Elias faces unstable work and financial hardship as an undocumented immigrant. But he also finds friendship with Souleymane, who helps revive his passion for cooking. In French with English subtitles. Sponsored by the Department of French. (1h 35min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield Series: Parasite

    Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist to the Parks. Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. But this new ecosystem is fragile, and soon enough greed and class prejudice threaten to upend the Kims’ newfound comfort. Cannes Film Festival Winner: Palme d’Or.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Clemency

    Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard). As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill. Sundance Film Festival Winner: Dramatic Grand Jury Award. (1h 53min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Portrait of a Lady on Fire

    France, 1770. Marianne, a painter, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Héloïse is a reluctant bride to be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing. She observes her by day, to paint her secretly. Cannes Film Festival Winner: Best Screenplay, Queer Palm. In French with English subtitles. (1h 59min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles

    In a stranger-than-fiction tale befitting the master filmmaker, Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles tells the true story behind a fascinating episode in cinematic history, utilizing sensitive performances as well as excerpts from Bunuel’s filmography to present a deeply affecting and humanistic portrait of an artist hunting for his purpose. In Spanish and French with English subtitles. (1h 20min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Waves

    Set against the vibrant landscape of South Florida, and featuring an astonishing ensemble of award-winning actors and breakouts alike, Waves traces the epic emotional journey of a suburban African-American family—led by a well-intentioned but domineering father—as they navigate love, forgiveness, and coming together in the aftermath of a loss. From acclaimed director Trey Edward Shults, Waves is a heartrending story about the universal capacity for compassion and growth even in the darkest of times. (2h 15min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Midnight Traveler

    When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he is forced to flee the country with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing the family’s uncertain journey firsthand, Fazili documents their harrowing trek across numerous borders revealing the danger and uncertainty facing refugees seeking asylum juxtaposed with the unbreakable love shared amongst the family on the run. In Persian, Arabic, English, Turkish, and Bulgarian with English subtitles. (1h 30min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series:An Elephant Sitting Still

    The story links together the lives of a number of protagonists, narrating the course of one single, tension-filled day from dawn to dusk, and along the way, painting a portrait of a society marked by selfishness. Berlin International Film Festival Winner: FIPRESCI Prize, Best First Feature Award Special Mention.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: System Crasher

    On her wild quest for love, 9-year-old Benni’s untamed energy drives everyone around her to despair.  Germany’s Official Selection for the 92nd Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Varda by Agnés

    The final film from the late, beloved Agnès Varda is a characteristically playful, profound, and personal summation of the director’s own brilliant career.  This wonderfully idiosyncratic work of imaginative autobiography is a warmly human, touchingly bittersweet parting gift from one of cinema’s most luminous talents.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: And Then We Danced

    A passionate coming-of-age tale set amidst the conservative confines of modern Tbilisi, the film follows Merab, a competitive dancer who is thrown off balance by the arrival of Irakli, a fellow male dancer with a rebellious streak. Presented in the Spotlight section of Sundance 2020. (113 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Atlantics

    Along the Atlantic coast, a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea, in hope of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada’s wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. Little does Ada know that Souleiman has returned. (106 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: The Whistlers

    In The Whistlers, not everything is as it seems for Cristi, a police inspector in Bucharest
    who plays both sides of the law. Embarking with the beautiful Gilda on a high-stakes heist, both
    will have to navigate the twists and turns of corruption, treachery and deception. A trip to the
    Canary Islands to learn a secret whistling language might just be what they need to pull it off. (97 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Les Misérables

    Stéphane (Damien Bonnard, Staying Vertical), has recently joined the Anti-Crime squad in Montfermeil, a sensitive district of the Paris projects. Paired up with Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djebril Zonga), whose methods are sometimes unorthodox, he rapidly discovers the tensions between the various neighborhood groups. When the trio finds themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone begins filming every move they make. (104 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • CANCELLED: Hirschfield International Film Series: Fire Will Come

    Amador Coro has been condemned for having provoked a fire. When he gets out of prison, nobody is waiting for him. He returns to his home town, a small village hidden in the mountains of rural Galicia, to live with his mother, Benedicta, and their three cows. Life goes by, following the rhythm of nature. Until one night when a fire starts to devastate the region. (86 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free

    Cannes Film Festival 2019 Winner: Un Certain Regard Jury Prize

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • CANCELLED: Hirschfield International Film Series: Never Rarely Sometimes Always

    Written and directed by Eliza Hittman, the film is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery and compassion. (101 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free

    Berlin Film Festival 2020 Winner: Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

2018-2019 Season

  • Hirschfield Film Series: A Fantastic Woman

    Marina, a transgender woman who works as a waitress and moonlights as a nightclub singer, is bowled over by the death of her older boyfriend. The 2018 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. (104 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • 2018 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour

    Seven short films selected from the Sundance Film Festival including fiction, documentary and animation from around the world. The 2018 program offers new audiences a taste of what the Festival offers, from laugh-out-loud comedy to contemplative reflections of the world we live in. (91 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • BPM (Beats Per Minute) original title (120 battements par minute)

    In Paris in the early 1990s, a group of activists goes to battle for those stricken with HIV/AIDS, taking on sluggish government agencies and major pharmaceutical companies in bold, invasive actions. Sponsored by the Department of French. (143 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Lemonade Followed by Q&A with Special Guests Ioana Uricaru and Mãlina Manovici

    While working in the US on a temporary visa as a caretaker, Mara, a 30 year-old single mother from Romania, marries Daniel, an American. After the arrival of her son Dragos, everything seems to have fallen perfectly into place. When the process of getting a green card veers unexpectedly off course, however, Mara is faced with abuses of power on every level and forced to answer a dark question about herself – how far would you go to get what you want? (88 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: I Am Not A Witch

    DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT [excerpt]: “I Am Not A Witch came about because of a huge spate of witch accusations that took place over a particularly dry summer in Zambia. What drew me in particular was that these accusations of witchcraft were almost always aimed at Women… Eventually my research took me to Ghana. For over a month I stayed in one of the oldest Witch Camps in the world (over 200 years old) – the first foreigner to sleep there apparently. It’s my stay at the ‘witch camp’ that informed the script…”

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Border

    Customs officer Tina is known for her extraordinary sense of smell. It’s almost as if she can sniff out the guilt on anyone hiding something. But when Vore, a suspicious-looking man, walks past her, her abilities are challenged for the first time ever. Tina can sense Vore is hiding something she can’t identify. Even worse, she feels a strange attraction to him. As Tina develops a special bond with Vore and discovers his true identity, she also realizes the truth about herself.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Woman At War

    Halla is a fifty-year-old independent woman. But behind the scenes of a quiet routine, she leads a double life as a passionate environmental activist. Known to others only by her alias “The Woman of the Mountain,” Halla secretly wages a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry. As Halla’s actions grow bolder, from petty vandalism to outright industrial sabotage, she succeeds in pausing the negotiations between the Icelandic government and the corporation building a new aluminium smelter in the mountains.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: The Dark

    On the outskirts of a small town lies Devil’s Den, a mysterious tract of woods where many have entered but no one has ever left. The local rumor is that the spirit of a young girl who was horrifically murdered there haunts and hunts in this dense forest, brutally slaying anyone who dares to step into her terrain. When a man with a dark past crosses her path, a series of events are set in motion that may lead to a peculiar kind of redemption for two tragically tortured souls. (95 minutes).

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Shoplifters

    After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them…

    Winner of the Palme d’Or at 2018 Cannes Film Festival. (2h 01min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Sorry to Bother You

    In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success - which propels him into a macabre universe. (111 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free

    Captions:
    Tessa Thompson as Detroit

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Children of Men

    Q&A with Screenwriter Hawk Ostby following each screening.
    No children. No future. No hope. In the year 2027, eighteen years since the last baby was born, disillusioned Theo (Clive Owen) becomes an unlikely champion of the human race when he is asked by his former lover (Julianne Moore) to escort a young pregnant woman out of the country as quickly as possible. In a thrilling race against time, Theo will risk everything to deliver the miracle the whole world has been waiting for. (109 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Burning

    An introverted young man, Jongsu, finds romantic interest in a young woman from his past, Haemi. One day she returns from a trip with Ben, a wealthy and sophisticated young man. When Haemi disappears, Jongsu becomes suspicious of Ben and his mysterious hobby. Winner of the FIPRESCI prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. In Korean and English with English subtitles. (148 minutes). A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Hale County This Morning, This Evening

    An inspired and intimate portrait of a place and its people, Hale County This Morning, This Evening looks at the lives of Daniel Collins and Quincy Bryant, two young African American men from rural Hale County, Alabama, over the course of five years. Collins attends college in search of opportunity while Bryant becomes a father to an energetic son in an open-ended, poetic form that privileges the patiently observed interstices of their lives. The audience is invited to experience the mundane and monumental, birth and death, the quotidian and the sublime. (76 minutes). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Cold War

    Cold War is a passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in 1950s Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, it’s the tale of a couple separated by politics, character flaws and unfortunate twists of fate — an impossible love story in impossible times. In Polish, French, German, Russian, Italian, and Croatian with English subtitles. (1h 28min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: The 20th Annual Animation Show of Shows

    Thought-provoking, poignant, and very funny animated shorts from around the world. In a year when the best and worst of human nature has been on constant display, the works in this year’s show remind us of both the universality of shared ideals, as well as the diverse challenges we face. The show has a running time of 98 minutes and includes 15 films, four of which have qualified for Academy Award® consideration. Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Memoir of War

    In Emmanuel Finkiel’s haunting adaptation of Marguerite Duras’s semi-autobiographical novel, The War: A Memoir, the famed author (Mélanie Thierry) recounts an emotionally complex story of love, loss, and perseverance against a backdrop of wartime intrigue in 1944 Nazi-occupied France. Using subtly expressionistic imagery and voiceover passages of Duras’s writing, Finkiel evokes the inner world of one of the 20th century’s most revolutionary writers. In French with English subtitles. (2h 07min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Transit

    As fascism spreads, German refugee Georg (Franz Rogowksi) flees to Marseille and assumes the identity of the dead writer whose transit papers he is carrying. Living among refugees from around the world, Georg falls for Marie (Paula Beer), a mysterious woman searching for her husband-the man whose identity he has stolen. Adapted from Anna Segher’s 1944 novel, Transit shifts the original story to the present, blurring periods to create a timeless exploration of the plight of the displaced people. In German, French, and French Sign Language with English subtitles.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Zama

    Zama, an officer of the Spanish Crown born in South America, waits for a letter from the King granting him a transfer from the town in which he is stagnating, to a better place. His situation is delicate. He is forced to accept submissively every task entrusted to him by successive Governors who come and go as he stays behind. The years go by and the letter from the King never arrives. When Zama notices everything is lost, he joins a party of soldiers that go after a dangerous bandit. In Spanish with English subtitles. (1h 55min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Apollo 11

    Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 65mm footage, and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, Apollo 11 takes us straight to the heart of NASA’s most celebrated mission—the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into household names. Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control, and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future. (1h 33min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Ash Is Purest White

    Qiao is in love with Bin, a local mobster. During a fight between rival gangs, she fires a gun to protect him. Qiao gets five years in prison for this act of loyalty. Upon her release, she goes looking for Bin to pick up where they left off. In Chinese and Mandarin with English subtitles. (2h 17min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Dogman

    In a seaside village on the outskirts of an Italian city, where the only law seems to be survival of the fittest, Marcello is a slight, mild-mannered man who divides his days between working at his modest dog grooming salon, caring for his daughter Alida, and being coerced into the petty criminal schemes of the local bully Simoncino, an ex-boxer who terrorizes the neighborhood. When Simoncino’s abuse finally brings Marcello to a breaking point, he decides to stand up for his own dignity through an act of vengeance, with unintended consequences. In Italian with English subtitles.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series: Too Late To Die Young

    During the summer of 1990 in Chile, a small group of families lives in an isolated community below the Andes, building a new world away from urban excesses, with the emerging freedom that followed the recent end of the dictatorship. In this time of change and reckoning, 16-year-old Sofía and Lucas, and 10-year-old Clara, neighbours in this dry land, struggle with parents, first loves, and fears, as they prepare a big party for New Year’s Eve. They may live far from the dangers of the city, but not from those of nature. In Spanish with English subtitles. (1h 50min). Free.

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

  • Hirschfield International Film Series - The Farewell

    In this funny, uplifting tale based on an actual lie, Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi (Awkwafina) reluctantly returns to Changchun to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch Nai-Nai (grandma) has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai Nai herself. A Hirschfield International Film Series event. (98 minutes) Free

    Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

    Open to the Public

Department of Film and Media Culture

Axinn Center at Starr Library
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT 05753

Sheerya Berg, Coordinator

Axinn Center at Starr Library 210

(802) 443-3190

shberg@middlebury.edu

Louisa Stein, Chair

Axinn Center at Starr Library 206

(802) 443-5943

louisas@middlebury.edu