MIDDLEBURY — In addition to Jane Fonda and Anaïs Mitchell (no relation to Andy Mitchell), Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival 12 will host many impressive honorees and special guests.

The list includes:

• Three-time Emmy nominee John Wilson, for a screening of his new comedic and insightful documentary “The History of Concrete” on Sunday, Aug. 30, at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall Theater.

Best known as the creator, director, cinematographer and narrator of HBO’s acclaimed “How To with John Wilson,” the filmmaker “transforms the seemingly ordinary moments of everyday life into deeply funny, surprising, and profoundly human observations,” according to a narrative provided by festival organizers. “Blending street photography, personal essay and documentary storytelling, Wilson’s work reveals unexpected connections between strangers, cities and modern life.

• Renowned, multi-award winning journalist Amy Goodman, creator of the influential “Democracy Now!” daily global independent news hour. At MNFF12, she’ll present her new feature documentary, “Steal This Story, Please!”

Directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, the film evokes journalism’s power — and peril — in an era of increasingly consolidated corporate control and sustained political attacks on the press. Tracing Goodman’s life from her family’s history fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe to building a daily news hour that refuses corporate advertising, underwriting, or government money, the documentary boldly highlights how independent media acts as a vital oxygen supply for a functioning democracy. “Steal This Story, Please” will screen at Dana Auditorium on Friday, Aug. 28, at 7:15 p.m. Journalist Jasper Craven will moderate a Q&A with Amy Goodman and the directors Deal and Lessin following the screening.

• Ross McElwee, a celebrated documentary filmmaker whose works include the quirky “Sherman’s March,” described as a “A meditation on the possibility of romantic love in the South during an era of nuclear weapons proliferation.”

McElwee’s most recent film is “Remake,” which uses footage from multiple of his earlier films to tell an autobiographical story that includes the loss of his son (to an accidental heroin overdose in 2016, at the age of 27) and his reflections on movie making.

This year’s festival will screen “Sherman’s March” and “Remake,” followed by a Q&A with McElwee after “Sherman’s March.”

• Celebrated composer Mason Daring, who has written scores for more than 70 films — including for 17 of director John Sayles’s films. He also composed music for TV programs “Frontline” and “Nova.”

In addition to taking a bow for his musical credits, Daring will be at MNFF12 for the screening of a film in which he appears. It’s called “Marblehead Morning: Daring & Stahl, 50 years in Harmony.” Mason Daring and Jeanie Stahl spent 50 years as both a New England Folk duo and as independent artists.

MNFF12 will also screen the 1994 John Sales film “The Secret of Roan Inish,” for which Daring wrote the score. And Daring has agreed to conduct a film scoring master class during MNFF12, according to festival Co-founder and Interim Producer Lloyd Komesar.

• Hollywood Producer Allyn Stewart whose film “Sully,” starring Tom Hanks, will be screened. “Sully” is about US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s 2009 emergency landing in the Hudson River.

• Oscar Nominee and two-time Emmy Award Winner Beth Levison will be back with two 2026 films she’s produced: “threeASFOUR: FULL CIRCLE,” a feature documentary directed by Sean Ono Lennon, and “Kiloran Bay,” a short directed by Michael Bruce.

• Vermont Poet Laureate Bianca Stone returns to the festival to host a screening of “Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World,” a documentary feature celebrating the life and work of the heralded poetry icon and Pulitzer Prize winner.

• Film director Mohammed Naqvi, with his new film “Hanging by a Wire.” Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema at Sundance 2026, the film is a feature documentary thriller shot in Pakistan that captures the fate of eight people trapped high above a valley in a malfunctioning cable car.

For more information on MNFF12 — including the film/event schedules and for purchasing tickets — go to middfilmfest.org.

Also, check out the Independent’s other stories on MNFF12 that included capsules of some of the organizers’ favorite film entries.