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2025 Festival
September 26-28
Our 21st year
Newburyport
Documentary
Film
Festival
NBPT DOCU FEST
We are the Filmmakers' Film Festival
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: BOMBSHELL
Eighty years after the devastating atomic bombings that ushered in the nuclear age, BOMBSHELL explores how the U.S. government manipulated the narrative about the attacks on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through propaganda, censorship, and the co-opting of the press, the government presented a benevolent picture of atomic power, minimizing the horrific human toll. The latest film from PBS’s American Experience sheds light on the efforts of a group of intrepid reporters to let the world know the truth.
Boston-based filmmaker Ben Loeterman is a longtime contributor to Frontline and American Experience. He is the director of 1913: SEEDS OF CONFLICT (2014), about the modern-day origins of the age-old antagonism in Palestine.
Watch BOMBSHELL, now streaming on PBS American Experience. Then make plans to join us in THE WATCH CLUB for a live Q&A with director Ben Loeterman at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday, January 28. Watch the interview anytime afterward 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
