Documentary Shorts Block 1

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From folk traditions and remarkable personal histories to environmental change and rediscovered archival footage, these documentaries offer intimate portraits of people, places, and communities. Together, they explore the ways we preserve memory, carry stories forward, and find meaning in the landscapes and traditions around us.

A Life Aloft by Clayton Simoncic

A portrait of Paul Stumpf, hot air balloon pilot and New England’s last balloon repairman, reflecting on a life lived aloft within a close-knit community of balloon builders and pilots.

Director Biography - Clayton Simoncic

Clayton Simoncic is a cinematographer based in the Northeast United States. Born and raised on a small organic farm in Southern Maine, Clay’s work is shaped by a deep connection to the outdoors and a passion for telling honest, character-driven stories.

The Photo Returner by Garret Harkawik

Erin Bohannon has devoted the latter part of her life to a singular pursuit: collecting lost portraits from decades past and tracking down the descendants of those featured in the photos. To date she has returned hundreds of photos thought to have been lost. While this work brings her immense joy, it sometimes comes at a high cost to her personal life.

Director Biography - Garret Harkawik

Garret Harkawik is a documentary filmmaker and composer based in southern Vermont. He has been making short documentaries since 2010, his most recent being This Temporal World, about a Muslim teen who was catfished by the FBI. His previous films have screened at DOC NYC, Rooftop Films and been selected as Vimeo Staff Picks three times.

Finger in the Spring by Andie Madsen

In the lush greenery of the Cotswolds in the United Kingdom, a small group of women Morris Dancers begin a community ritual to celebrate the return of Spring with a naughty joke.

Director Biography - Andie Madsen

Andie Madsen is a documentary filmmaker and artist based in Bozeman, Montana. She graduated from the MFA program in Science & Natural History Filmmaking at Montana State University in 2025, and now works independently as a director, producer, and editor. Her film work focuses on folk practices and fascinating sub-cultures around the globe.

Messages from the Marsh, parts 4-6 by Amy Kaczur

"Messages from the Marsh" is a work in progress for an immersive experience featuring video projections, sound art, and mapping. The project showcases marsh locations along the US East Coast that are projected to be underwater by 2050 due to sea level rise, tides, and storm surges. Videos highlight the unique otherworldly beauty of these locations, both above and below the waterline, with environmental elements playing a significant role in co-producing the videos.

Director Biography - Amy Kaczur

Video artist Amy Kaczur has exhibited her work globally, focusing on environmental issues and community. She has lived and worked extensively in Boston, Cambridge, Long Beach, and Los Angeles. She has participated in residency programs in California, Colorado, and New York and is a member of Kingston Gallery, Boston.

Kaczur's current projects focus on urgent water issues, particularly the impact of rising sea levels on coastal flood zones in the United States and the threats they pose to coastal marshes and ecosystems. Her dedication to environmental advocacy is deeply rooted in her upbringing near the industrial hub of Cleveland, Ohio, where her family has a rich history in farming, the food industry, mills, and coal mining in rural Southern Ohio, near the Appalachian region. These formative experiences have fueled her passion for addressing critical environmental challenges, including pollution, climate change, and the complex balance between land use and conservation. Her sixteen years in Southern California also gave her valuable insights into land use and water scarcity, inspiring her to contribute to these important discussions and solutions.

Along with her art practice, Kaczur works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a group administrator for three research labs focusing on air and water pollution, climate change modeling, and clean energy development and storage. She continuously develops her art practice, supported by relentless research, discovery by experiment, and the pleasure of inquisitive searching.

Kaczur holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine, and a BFA from Tufts University.

Ball Lightning by Catriona Trina Baker

Ball Lightning is the true story of a refugee who fled the personal and social effects of Soviet run East Germany after the end of WWII and immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. The story is told through the eyes of the surrogate daughter that she raised after she was forced to give away her own infant daughter as the iron curtain rose. Gusta serves as an example of survival, kindness and the fortitude of human resilience. The film is dedicated to her lost daughter, Esther, a reminder that the children separated from families because of war are never forgotten by those who love them.

Director Biography - Catriona Trina Baker

Catriona Baker is an Associate Professor of Animation & VFX at Lesley University’s College of Art and Design. She is an animator, book artist, and painter. Her work predominantly discusses themes of social justice, specifically: sexual assault and domestic violence awareness, female empowerment, and immigration. Her animations explore the visual juxtapositions between traditional mediums and digital processes. She holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, a B.F.A. from Maine College of Art, and an M.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania where she studied both animation and painting. She has been awarded several grants, and her work has been shown nationally in galleries, and in both private and corporate collections. Her animations have received national and international accolades, including an International Platinum Pixie award and two International CINDY (Cinema in Industry) awards.

The Last Syllabus by Corey Walker Hendrickson

A retired professor reframes aging as a “honeymoon period,” translating a lifetime with literature and the Vermont landscape into analog rituals—music and reading aloud—that explore love, limits, and what we owe each other while we still can.

Director Biography - Corey Walker Hendrickson

Corey Hendrickson is an award winning filmmaker and photographer with 15 years of experience and whose clients include American Express, Apple, Facebook, Food & Wine, HBO, NBC, Johnson & Johnson, New Yorker, Patagonia, Phish, Smithsonian Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Vanity Fair, and Wall Street Journal. He currently serves as the Director of Photography and editor of Weekends with Yankee, a nationally broadcast adventure travel show for PBS, and has also filmed for several forthcoming independent documentaries as well as for PBS's American Masters. His films have been screened at festivals such as the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, Green Mountain Film Festival, Activists Without Borders Film Festival, International Social Change Film Festival, and the Lulea International Film Festival. His photography has been exhibited in solo shows by the Griffin Museum of Photography in Boston and at the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier, VT. He was recognized in the American Photography publication and Photo District News. He has an MFA in Photography from the Academy of Art University and lives with his family in Middlebury, VT.

Motorcycle Moment by Les Blank

In 1964 Les Blank filmed 45 minutes of motorcycles for a documentary film that was never completed. Before his death in 2013, he asked his son Harrod Blank to cut the footage to the music of The 13th Floor Elevators. Edited by Ben Abrams, this film captures the vastness of the American West at a time when the motorcycle was the ultimate in highway adventure.

Les Blank attended Tulane University in 1959 where he met Captain Bill Robertson. The two collegiate rebels were both on the Tulane football team. During the summers they travelled to Key West Florida and camped under a bridge where they dreamed up what they wanted to do with their lives. After college, both men would move to Los Angeles, California. Les began working on industrial films and Bill was integral in growing the Church of Scientology with Ron L Hubbard.

Bill invited Les along to film a motorcycle road trip in 1964. Les was going to make a film using the footage, but it got put on the back burner. Before his death he asked his son Harrod to make a film and cut it to The 13th Floor Elevators. This vintage footage was edited by Ben Abrams into a moment that captures the vastness of the American West at a time when the motorcycle was the ultimate in highway adventure.

Director - Les Blank

Salvation Mountain: Leonard Knight by Harrod Blank

A portrait of Leonard Knight and his visionary monument, Salvation Mountain. Painted with 18 coats of donated latex paint, Salvation Mountain was created over many years, and shows how one man's determination and faith can make for quite a majestic achievement.

Director - Harrod Blank

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