Nantucket Film Festival 2022
Photos by Bill Hoenk
The Nantucket Film Festival proved once again to be a big success. Visitors came from all over to experience the festival’s preview screenings, signature programs, and award ceremonies.
Among the more than 60 films screened during this year’s festival was the documentary feature Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm, in which director Grace Bartlett—a 2017 Nantucket High School graduate—captures the story of her family’s over 175-year-old Nantucket farm, as well as their collective struggle to reinvent their business and themselves during the COVID crisis.
For the first time ever, the festival launched a program initiative called Green Carpet Cinema that showcased several environmentally-focused films. The program kicked off with a conversation featuring Dr. Rich Blundell, a visiting scientist from Maria Mitchell Association, Sara Dosa, the filmmaker of Fire of Love, and Cecil Barron Jensen of ReMain Nantucket. Together, they wove together the themes found in their films and tackled heady subjects around climate change, sustainability, and the environment.
One of NFF’s most beloved programs, Late Night Storytelling, returned on Friday evening at the beautiful Hulbert Avenue home of Cecelia Joyce Johnson. Canadian-born stand-up comedian and writer Ophira Eisenberg, who hosts NPR’s nationally syndicated comedy trivia show Ask Me Another, hosted the event once again this year. Guests enjoyed hilarious and captivating stories under the theme “keep calm and carry on.” As NFF notes, “The world has turned upside down. It’s nuts out here and we all feel it. Stories of madness, mayhem, and meditation.”
On Saturday evening, festival-goers gathered in the atmospheric ‘Sconset Casino to watch Emmy award-winning actor, screenwriter, director, and producer John Turturro receive the Compass Rose Award for Career Achievement in honor of his over 35-year body of work. Ben Stiller, who directed and executive produced the show Severance, in which Turturro stars, presented Turturro with the award.
