Film & Media Culture

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. Free.

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.

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.

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.

The faculty and staff of the Film & Media Culture Department are proud of our majors & minors and want to celebrate. We are hosting an official Zoom session to say congratulations to our graduating seniors on Friday, May 21 from 4:30 – 5:30pm ET. Graduating seniors, please drop by to say hello to faculty, staff, and fellow seniors, and raise a glass in your honor – BYOB!

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.

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).

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).

A Hirschfield International Film Series event. Free.

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.

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.