Independent Arts News Reporting 
Pictured Above: For the “Motherland” film, the actor is Emmy Award-winner Holland Taylor. The director is Evan Photo Credit: New Hope Film Festival.
On Screen: The New Hope Film Festival Brings Their 2025 Lineup of Films and Indie Filmmakers to Town
By: Chrysa Smith
In this feature, the writer outlines the ins-and-outs of the upcoming New Hope Film Festival, which has been showcasing hundreds of films by indie filmmakers since 2009
This week, dozens of indie filmmakers will make their way to New Hope. Their hope? For some, their films are being shown to the public—perhaps for the first time. Others hope their films are so well-liked, appreciated and important to the film/film-going world, they might exit the festival with a distributor. And the luckiest may have already been picked up by a distributor between the time they’ve entered their submission and the festival.
The festival officially begins on August 16th, with a filmmakers only online networking event one day prior. For eight days, film lovers can choose from a total of 72 films, represented by 16 countries, including several from Ukraine. Additionally, there are eight original scripts, which can be found as a synopsis in the program guide. And student-produced shorts. Being Bucks County, there are films from local filmmakers, including three short documentaries—historical reenactments, pioneers of the gold rush and a history of Plumstead Township. From history to romance to intrigue, I’d venture to say there’s a film for most everyone. And here’s how it works.
Pictured Above: “The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay” from Director Kim Smith. Photo Credit: New Hope Film Festival.
Films are grouped together into shows, running sequentially as listed in the official program guide. https://online.flippingbook.com/view. Each show falls into a descriptive category—i.e., on Saturday August 23rd, there is a local history show comprised of seven films. The event runs from 8:45-10:30. On the 24th, there is a Google Meet award ceremony. In between, from animal welfare documentaries to conservative to social justice films. And after the end credits of each show, there is an opportunity for Q/A with the playwright. It’s a great opportunity to learn much about a film and its creator direct from the source vs. a second-hand interview.
The films come to the Film Festival from FilmFreeway, a venue for film submission for a variety of festivals. Doug Whipple, Founder and President of the festival watches and rates every film, then assigns them to judges on a panel. According to Doug, “The selection criteria are both objective and subjective. Our judges come from diverse backgrounds, but we all work as a team and significant disagreements are quite rare.” There are no restrictions on submissions.
Pictured Above: The four founders of the New Hope Film Festival. On the left is Danny Sailor, a valued member of the jury, Doug Whipple, Founder/President, Marianne Speiser (deceased) and Thom Michael Mulligan, Director of Submissions. Photo Credit: New Hope Film Festival.
All films will be viewed at the New Hope Arts Center located at 2 Stockton Avenue. The non-profit organization seeks to offer artists of all mediums a venue to showcase their work, thus maintaining the thriving hub of New Hope/Lambertville as a center for the arts. To understand its history, you’ll need to travel back to the 1940’s, when New Hope was emerging as a conclave for playwrights, actors, directors, as well as all sorts of artisans. Weekends were busy, as New Yorkers fled the city, often making this corner of Bucks County their home-away-from-home. In the early 2000s, Doug Whipple, a long-time New Hope resident, film-lover and one-time actor came up with the idea of producing a film festival in the area. His co-founder, actor and film producer, Thomas Michael Mulligan agreed during a breakfast in Frenchtown, that New Hope might be a great place to host such an event. And in 2009, the first one was launched.
Doug Whipple had both an interest and a background in film. He says he was 10 yrs old when he starred in a film about school bus safety. It went on to win an award at the Chicago Educational Film Festival. Doug says, “I drifted away during my high school years, but became interested again while living in NYC for 10 years. One of my coworkers was an actor. When I asked how to get back into the business, I was told to take classes at school at what is now The New York Conservancy for Dramatic Arts.” And while he ultimately left Manhattan behind, he did commute to school and back for 18 months. “I wrote a few books, adapted one to a screenplay, got it into hands of Thomas Mulligan and started a collaboration,” he says. “My interest was in producing events. My mission is to help other artists.” He humbly says his only artistic output now is occasional writing and penning the festival’s blog. According to the organization, “The festival’s core mission is to discover and nurture independent filmmakers, many of whom are seeking world and US debuts, and remain often overlooked and/or unappreciated by other forums.” They have gained a reputation for presenting quality films, judged equally and fairly through the submission process.
Pictured Above: New Hope Film Festival award statue. Photo Credit: New Hope Film Festival.
Films are typically screened after 6pm—allowing people time to get over to the venue after work. But there are too many films to only do evening shows, which pushes some of the films to matinees. Typically, shorter and student films are matinees, which may begin as early as 1pm. Ticket prices begin at $12.50 for students, $15.50 for seniors and $18.50 for patrons. There are other ticket options as well: an all-festival standby pass—-$50 covers all shows. If they happen to be sold out in advance, there is some extra capacity, standing room too. Single day passes are often tied to one of films in one way or another, and cost $25 pass. These are often selected by patrons who might know the filmmaker. All of course, the filmmakers themselves get passes with a guaranteed entry. Some of their world premieres are already sold out.
Some travelers/filmmakers come from Europe, including one Doug mentioned from Barcelona. Though, being sandwiched between two major cities, the majority of viewers come from the greater New York and Philadelphia areas—Princeton too, though quite a few cinephiles find their way here from Los Angeles, making this festival on the larger side, according to Doug. In fact, according to one past Huffington Post article, it was named the Sundance East Festival—and seemingly for good reason. Expected attendance? Well over 1,000.
For a list of programs, log onto: https://online.flippingbook.com/view
For tickets, log onto: https://www.goelevent.com/NewHopeFilmFestival/e/search
The New Hope Film Festival: https://newhopefilmfestival.com/
