1. MIDDLEBURY — Details for the 11th annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival are still coming together, but MNFF11 Artistic Director Jay Craven gave us a preview of some of the coming attractions for the Aug. 20-24 event.

Might there be any festival themes, based on the film entries?

Craven, who as usual has viewed scores of submission in judging and prepping for the festival, cited “people persevering against the odds” and “resistance” as recurring tropes.

For example, MNFF11 attendees can see such films as “Tatami” and “The Encampments.”

“Tatami” is about Iranian female judo athlete Leila (Arienne Mandi) and her coach Maryam (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), who in 2023 travel to the World Judo Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. But as the tournament proceeds, she faces a potential match with an Israeli athlete — something the Iranian government won’t permit. The plot thickens from there.

“It’s a very well-made film, beautifully performed,” Craven said.

“The Encampments” is a documentary film about the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University. The film features, among others, activist Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian activist who was detained by ICE earlier this year.

“What we come away with is multiple dimensions,” Craven said, noting the film also shows Jewish students taking leadership roles in the protest efforts.

One of MNFF’s special guests this year can definitely relate to overcoming odds. Rodney Evans is a blind filmmaker who also teaches filmmaking at Swarthmore College.

And there’s a film on the MNFF11 list that embodies resistance in a tragic, self-deprecating way. It’s a documentary called “André is an Idiot.” Here’s the synopsis: “André, a brilliant idiot, is dying because he didn’t get a colonoscopy. His sobering diagnosis, complete irreverence and insatiable curiosity, send him on an unexpected journey learning how to die happily and ridiculously without losing his sense of humor.”

There’s also a screening of “La Liga,” a documentary about a soccer league made up of migrant farm workers in Vermont — including many from Addison County.

The tagline: “In rural Vermont, migrant dairy farm workers endure hardships while forging solidarity through soccer.”

Craven shared a few more items on the MNFF11 itinerary, including:

• A panel discussion on “journalism and its myth making in contemporary society.” Moderated by Independent news Editor John McCright, the panel will include David Sanger, the chief White House correspondent for the New York Times, and Geeta Anand, the Pulitzer Prize-winning new editor in chief of VTDigger.

“It’s looking behind the scenes for a more nuanced perspective on what’s going on right now… beyond the headlines,” Craven said of the panel.

• A panel discussion on “comedy as a force for storytelling and social change,” to include Vermont’s own stand-up comedian Tina Friml, who attended Middlebury Union High School. Friml has gained a huge following based on her quick wit and hilarious stories; some of her jokes are about growing up in Vermont and having cerebral palsy.

The panel will also include Caty Borum, an American University professor and writer on the subject of comedy as a force for social change; Devin Delliaquanti, a senior writer for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show;” Paul Zaloom, former ringmaster at the Bread & Puppet Theater and the driving force behind the children’s science program “Beakman’s World;” and Nick Paley, also with Vermont roots, who has directed for the comedy shows “Broad City,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” and co-wrote the Academy Award-nominated feature film “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.”

Check the Independent at middfilmfest.org for festival updates.