Nantucket Film Festival: Women Behind the Words and The Screenwriters Tribute

When people ask me what makes the Nantucket Film Festival one of the greatest in the circuit, I always try to emphasize that it’s the incredible passion the fest has for screenwriters. There are so many programs at Nantucket that highlight and celebrate the importance of good writing. Amidst the current writers’ strike, the messages and conversations this year have never felt more timely.

I started the day with one of these storied programs: Women Behind the Words, an intelligent discussion about gender diversity in the entertainment business. This year’s panel was presented by J. Crew as a part of their 40th anniversary celebration, and included Screenwriters Tribute honoree Nicole Holofcener, actress Michaela Watkins (You Hurt My Feelings), and actress Allison Williams (Get Out, M3GAN). Hosted by the hilarious Ophira Eisenbger, the panel talked through what made them get into the industry, their passion for what they do, the challenges they face in a male dominated business, and the importance of having woman representation in director and writer roles to avoid the single minded view of the male gaze. The central, shared feeling was that these artists are first judged as a woman, then as a writer/director/actress.

“I’m grateful to be here,” Holofcener acknowledged, “and I’m proud to be a woman. But we need to stop having panels like this. We are ghettoized. You wouldn’t say Jews Behind the Words,” she joked. “I’m a little rebellious in this area, but at the same time, I’m grateful.” Her point was insightful and on the nose.

I was able to catch a pair of films before heading over to the main event of the festival – the Screenwriters Tribute. First up was Alice Troughton’s The Lesson, starring Richard E. Grant, Julie Delpy, and Daryl McCormack. Liam (McCormack) is an aspiring writer who takes on a tutoring position at the estate of one of his heroes, the coarse author, J.M. Sinclair (Grant). He soon discovers the tangled web of lies and dark secrets of the Sinclair estate, held by J.M. and his enticing wife, Hélène (Delpy). Alex MacKeith’s meticulously crafted script expertly brings his characters to life, building tension as the pot slowly simmers in Troughton’s mesmerizing thriller. Julie Delpy is a perfect femme fatale, while Richard E. Grant has never been better.

The second film I took in was writer/director Julio Torres’ Problemista, starring Torres and the incomparable Tilda Swinton. Torres’ debut film is unconventional and bizarre as it follows a young man from El Salvador (Torres) pursuing his dream of a visa and a career as a toy inventor. He meets one of the wackiest art critic outcasts (Swinton) and the pair form an unlikely duo who need each other to achieve their goals. A little too frivolous in its approach, Problemista suffers from biting off more than it can chew. It struggles to balance its ridiculous style with a message of deeper purpose. While some of the humor failed to land with me, the crowd at Nantucket admittedly seemed to embrace it. The ending was heartfelt and made me wish I enjoyed the journey as much as I did the final destination.

The Screenwriters Tribute was hosted by legendary NBC News anchorman, Brian Williams. While known for his honest, intelligent, and no-nonsense approach to delivering the news for over 40 years, the Brian Williams who hosted the ceremony was like nothing you could imagine. Hilarious is a gross understatement. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long, long time. Williams showed he could have had a career as a standup comedian had he chosen that path, and emceed the event majestically.

The tribute presented honors to three individuals. For Special Achievement in Documentary Storytelling, the award went to Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. The pair have collaborated on many wonderful, award-winning programs about American life over the past several decades, including Jazz, Prohibition, The U.S. and the Holocaust, Hemingway, and my personal favorite, Baseball. Their honor was presented by Dyjuan Tatro, a former inmate and alumnus of the Bard Prison Initiative, who co-led a successful campaign to lift a 26-year ban on tuition assistance to incarcerated New Yorkers, and was one of the subjects of Novick’s solo debut, College Behind Bars.

Lola Tung, star of the series The Summer I Turned Pretty, presented the award for New Voices in Television to her producer/writer Jenny Han. Han’s upcoming project, XO Kitty, is a spin-off of one of her other successful books-turned-film, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Michaela Watkins, star of Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said and You Hurt My Feelings, presented the final honor of the night, the Screenwriters Tribute Award. Both Watkins and Holofcener were radiant and sharp. It was the third time I heard the pair speak this weekend, and I was still hungry for more. They continue to come off as clearly genuine people in an industry often known for lacking such qualities.

Nantucket’s focus on celebrating the screenwriter remains an incredible thing to behold. The showrunners here understand that the creativity and importance of the screenwriter is what makes the films and shows we watch work. Their collaboration with directors and actors is essential to the process, and ultimately controls the flow of the entire creation. It’s a large part of what makes NFF such an enormous success.