The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival continues the 2017/18 Winter Screening Series at Town Hall Theater with the five-time Academy Award nominee “Lady Bird.” Greta Gerwig’s brilliant narrative drama will screen at the Middlebury theater on Saturday, April 7, at 7 p.m.
Set in Sacramento, Calif., in 2002, this poignant coming-of-age story portrays the humor and pathos in the turbulent but loving bond between a hard working mother, Marion McPherson, and her teenage, high school senior daughter, Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson. With exceptional skill, first-time director Gerwig sharply observes the relationships and beliefs that shape and define us. Featuring Oscar-nominated performances from Saoirse Ronan (Best Actress) and Laurie Metcalf (Best Supporting Actress), “Lady Bird” rides a wave of emotional honesty, believable dialogue and strong, accessible characters from start to finish.
As A.O. Scott of the New York Times explained, “I wish I could convey to you just how thrilling this movie is. I wish I could quote all of the jokes and recount the best offbeat bits. I’m tempted to catalog the six different ways the ending can make you cry… I’ll settle for one: the bittersweet feeling of having watched someone grow in front of your eyes, into a different and in some ways improved version of herself. In life, that’s a messy, endless process, which is one reason we need movies. Or to put it another way, even though Lady Bird will never be perfect, ‘Lady Bird’ is.”
The MNFF Winter Screening Series offers one distinctive feature every month beginning in December and concluding in May. The series retains its exclusive focus on prominent work by first- and second-time filmmakers.
Coming up on Friday, May 11, the Winter Screening Series will screen its final film “The Judge” — a captivating and stirring documentary that chronicles the story of the first female Sharia judge in the history of the Middle East. Featuring the extraordinarily intelligent and charismatic Kholoud Faqih, this film reveals the nuances of Palestinian life and culture in a rarely seen way. More details on this screening will be released soon.
Trailers and additional information is available at middfilmfest.org.
Individual tickets are $12 and are available at the MNFF website, or at the Town Hall Theater Box Office, either in person (Monday-Saturday, 12-5 p.m.), by phone at (802) 382-9222 or online at townhalltheater.org.