WE are the filmmakers' film festival. Our objective is to present thought-provoking, high-caliber, and entertaining documentary films to the vibrant cultural communities. By curating the best of documentary films, we encourage meaningful interaction with our community about social issues, current and historic events, and sometimes the sheer delight of life on planet Earth.

MANY OF OUR FILM SCREENINGS are enhanced by intimate discussions with relevant experts and, whenever possible, the filmmakers themselves, providing our audiences with a unique immersive experience.

To continue with our objective your donation is needed to support the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival. Your donation is a tax-deductible contribution.

THE WATCH CLUB December ‘22

This month in The WATCH CLUB‍

Since launching our WATCH CLUB filmmaker interviews at the beginning of this year, we’ve been describing the series as “a book club, but for documentaries.” This month we’re flipping the script. Ian Haydn Smith is a veteran film journalist who has just published his latest book, WELL DOCUMENTED, a deep dive into the greatest and most influential documentaries of all time. We’ll discuss how the author decided which films to include in his book, the ones he had to leave on the cutting room floor, and why non-fiction stories are, as his subtitle suggests, “More Fascinating Than Fiction.”
Link to the book here
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Join us on YouTube at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 14 for a live Q&A with author Ian Haydn Smith.
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Our 2022 Festival Films

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Watch Club Archives here

Check out more Filmmaker Interviews here.

Riveted: The History of Jeans

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This program is supported in part by grants from the local cultural councils of Amesbury, Georgetown, Groveland, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, and Salisbury, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.