The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival invites all filmmakers finishing their first feature documentary or narrative film to apply to its inaugural mentorship program: THE MNFF CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION MENTORSHIP.
Accepted filmmakers will become part of an intimate cohort of emerging documentary and feature filmmakers who will receive personalized, one-on-one professional guidance, expert feedback and peer support as they explore traditional and nontraditional avenues for their film’s public distribution and exhibition.
In a film distribution landscape characterized by scarcity, competition, gatekeeping and market volatility, independent filmmakers often find themselves lost in a maze of choices–uncertain how to navigate their film’s release and public life in a rapidly changing and high-stakes distribution environment.
The MNFF Creative Distribution Mentorship seeks to offer emerging filmmakers a respite from this storm. Over 12 weeks, selected mentees will receive informed, authentic peer support from a personal mentor, as well as expert guidance from distributors, publicists, sales agents and impact producers who meet with the cohort in small groups.
Through these one-on-one mentor/mentee meetings, as well as participation in the curated suite of expert sessions, mentees will receive clear-eyed and honest consultation regarding their own film’s opportunities for traditional and commercial film distribution. At the same time, they will emerge from the mentorship with an expansive, boundary-pushing view of what a robust, sustainable, ethical and regenerative exhibition and distribution strategy can look like for their film–both outside of and alongside conventional approaches.
Built primarily around a 12-week calendar launching in October 2025 and continuing through January 2026, the MNFF Creative Distribution Mentorship will:
+++ Showcase mentee works-in-progress at 11th annual edition of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. Screenings of mentee work will take place during the main festival but will not be in competition nor eligible for awards and prizes.
+++ Pair each mentee with a veteran filmmaker whose past feature film work (narrative or documentary) has found robust distribution on both traditional/commercial and non-traditional distribution channels, and whose recent experiences with distribution, exhibition, audience engagement, publicity, marketing and social impact work will inform the mentor-mentee relationship.
+++ Facilitate 1:1 mentor-mentee meetings–estimated at a total of 6-10 mentorship hours over 12 weeks– which will be tailored to the specific needs of each mentee and the mentor’s areas of expertise. Meetings will be arranged at the convenience and discretion of each mentor/mentee pair, but will take place within the October - January timeframe.
+++ Offer bi-weekly opportunities for learning, professional development and authentic engagement with experts in the field of distribution, via six, 90-minute workshops on diverse distribution topics, to be held virtually over the 12-week mentorship calendar. Specific workshops will be curated to meet the needs of selected mentees, but may include sessions on: distribution via public media; navigating sales agencies and festival marketplaces; creating a sustainable distribution roadmap; planning for a social impact campaign; creating grassroots and alternative distribution efforts; seeking educational and campus distribution; preparing creators and film protagonists for press and publicity; considering distribution ethics; and safeguarding mental health through the distribution process.
+++ Gather mentees and mentors together in August 2025 for an in-person kick-off gathering at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival in Middlebury, Vermont. Mentees and mentors will also receive complimentary, all-access festival passes and a stipend for travel to the festival.