Combining the laidback beach style of the island of Martha’s Vineyard with the buzz and excitement of festival celebrating films from across the globe - The Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival is an amazing experience not to be missed.

Four days filled with the best feature and short films from top-notch festivals such as Sundance, Berlin and Cannes (with a few undiscovered gems thrown in!), great evening events, provocative forums and live world music - all within the ‘Walking Festival District’. And don’t forget – Martha’s Vineyard has some of the most beautiful beaches in America.

Wrapping things up for another year - the third annual film festival was a resounding success
September 29, 2008

The MV Film Society’s 3rd annual International Film Festival wrapped in mid-September, signaling a strong sense of a bright future. Of the over 2400 festival attendees, about 50% came from off-Island, and the festival’s attendance was at 85% overall capacity: It seems the festival's programming and events were very well received.

With a showcase of films from over 20 countries - the festival's central theme of "other places, other cultures" has given it a unique niche in the film festival market. Few US film festivals truly embrace the “international” the way that the Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival does.

The program featured many of the best global movies of the year: it opens with Frenchwoman Irena Salina's documentary on the global water crisis, Flow: For Love of Water, and also on the non-fiction front there is Canadian Yung Chang's superb Up the Yangtze, Brit Lucy Walker's compelling Blindsight, and Americans Tony Gerber and Randy Moss' wry portrait of an army training center's fake Iraqi village, Full Battle Rattle. On the narrative side, Norwegian Joachim Trier’s virtuosic debut Reprise, French enfant terrible Christophe Honore’s iconoclastic musical Chansons D’Amour and Israeli husband-and-wife team Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen’s poetic and moving Jellyfish entranced islanders.

The festival would not have been the success it was without our many volunteers and sponsors. With a team of over 50 volunteers putting in long hours to make things run smoothly; over 30 financial and in-kind sponsors also backed their efforts and commitment. Please show your thanks to our sponsors by visiting our sponsors’ page

We also want to recognize the continued support of local organizations, such as the MV Chamber of Commerce, the Tisbury Business Association, the MA Film Office, Film-Truth Productions, and Main Street merchants who came together to make our third festival a cultural success for the Vineyard.

We’re already at work on 2009 festival (mark your calendars for September 10–13!).

Do you want to meet great people and earn free tickets for movies and parties? Volunteer! We are an all-volunteer festival - we need your help. Click here for more information.