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Newburyport
Documentary
Film
Festival
NBPT DOCU FEST
We are the Filmmakers' Film Festival
September 25-27, 2026
Submissions for our 2026 Festival are now open
Submissions for our 2026 Festival are now open, and we would love for you to submit new work and remain part of our growing filmmaking community. Please feel free to share the news with your fellow filmmakers as well—we welcome their voices, too.
As we begin the New Year, we wish you happiness, good health, and continued creativity. We look forward to staying connected and to discovering the powerful, inspiring stories you’ll bring to life in the year ahead.
THE WATCH CLUB
THE WATCH CLUB: TUSKER: BROTHERHOOD OF ELEPHANTS
Cape Cod-based filmmaker Allison Argo brought her beautiful film THE LAST PIG to our festival in 2017. The story of an upstate New York farmer who decides he can no longer raise his pigs for slaughter, the film remains a festival favorite.
Allison has a long history as a nature documentarian. (Fun fact: As an actor, she once appeared on “WKRP in Cincinnati”!) Her latest film, TUSKER: BROTHERHOOD OF ELEPHANTS, follows the lives and rituals of the herds of elephants living in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. Craig, Pascal, and Esau are three of the fewer than 30 surviving “super tuskers” in the country – enormous males with tusks that each weigh over 100 pounds.
Watch TUSKER: BROTHERHOOD OF ELEPHANTS, now streaming on PBS Nature. Then make plans to join us in THE WATCH CLUB for a live Q&A with writer and producer Allison Argo at 6 p.m. ET Wednesday, February 25. Or watch the interview anytime afterward on our February 25. on our website.
What is THE WATCH CLUB?
Our 2025 Festival Winners
BEST FEATURE FILM: NIGHT FIGHT
Director: Khary Saeed Jones
BEST SHORT FILM: POPPY CRASH
Director: Andalusia K. Soloff
BEST NEW ENGLAND FEATURE FILM: UNLESS SOMETHING GOES TERRIBLY WRONG
Directors: Kaitlyn Schwalje, Alex Wolf Lewis
BEST NEW ENGLAND SHORT FILM: DUKAKIS: RECIPE FOR DEMOCRACY
Directors: Erin Trahan, Jeff Schmidt
BEST FIRST TIME FEATURE FILM: THE OPENER
Director: Jeff Toye
THE DAVID KLEILER CINEPHILE AWARD: THE PAINTED LIFE OF GREGORY GILLESPIE
Director: Evan Goodchild
AUDIENCE AWARD: CHECKPOINT ZOO
Director: Joshua Zeman
2025 YES Award winner: METTLE
Directors: Surabhi Sundaram & Chelsea Casabona
Columbia University School of Journalism’s Master’s Program
Our 2025 Program
Our Sponsors
The Newburyport Documentary Film Festival is supported in part by grants from the local cultural councils of the surrounding towns as well as our local sponsors.
If you would like to become a sponsor, please visit our Sponsors page
