Rising seas threaten the small Chesapeake Bay fishing community of Tangier Island. In her sophomore feature, Baltimore filmmaker Marnie Ellen Hertzler documents the personal, intimate world of a young girl living on an island that is sinking into the sea.

Reckless and combustible, these short dramas run on the energy of adolescence, reversing roles and flipping power dynamics inside out.

A personal search for a long-lost piece of film history evolves into a vibrant, playful ode to cinema and a testament to the importance of preserving not just the medium, but also the convening space. 

As a struggling movie theater faces closure, a lonely projectionist secretly moves into the theater. A tribute to cinemas as spaces of shelter, solidarity, and community for those society has overlooked. With live music by Frances Chang

Weaving together folklore, oral testimony, archival footage, and stunning fantasy sequences, this newly restored political fable uncovers the collective memory of Arab women throughout the twentieth century.

Metabolizing popular culture, these animations turn out something dark, obsessive, dystopic, and absolutely delightful. Screening followed by live music by Rockaway-based band Foundation.

In 2022, New York independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi decided to stage a production of James Joyce's Ulysses with barely any money and just a month to write, cast and rehearse. He documents the chaos in his distinctive, intensely confessional style.

Kermit the Frog leaves his swamp for Hollywood, gathering Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the Muppets along the way. Presented by Bonnie Erickson, legendary puppet designer and creator of Miss Piggy.

Artist and educator Carl Elsaesser explores practical effects not simply as spectacle, but as documentary method shaping how reality is perceived and disguised. Featuring Rockaway-based magician Cardone, who will give a presentation on magic, illusion, and the unstable boundary between the real and the manufactured.

In his book L’Infra-ordinaire, Georges Perec instructed the reader: “Question your tea spoons.” These films question the life and liveliness of things, hovering between the magical promise of the consumer product and the terrible ordinariness of refuse.

When his basement floods, John Wilson sets out to fix it himself and ends up deep in the world of concrete. With his signature dry humor and idiosyncratic detours, this debut feature is a surprisingly tender examination of impermanence and the unexpected forms of connection running beneath the surface of everyday life. With live music by Heems.

A free performance and workshop from one of Palestine's leading traditional dance companies.

A luminous portrait of the great Lebanese-American poet and artist Etel Adnan. Working without ego, she asks: what does it mean to be alive, to live through catastrophe, to experience time?

Charting alternate maps into unknown territories, these shorts navigate the natural world across geologies and generations.

A selection of silent 16mm films by the visionary American filmmaker who distilled the natural world into images of a rare and quiet awe. Preceded by live music by White Magic.

The one and only Bread & Puppet Circus is back to confront our upside-down situation! With stilt dancers, paper maché beasts of all sizes, and a riotous brass band, The Upside Down World Circus is an urgent spectacle of protest and celebration.

We present one of animation's great classics on its centennial with live, original musical accompaniment by Order of the Illusive.