Margaret Mead Film Festival
Nestled in the Museum’s iconic halls, the Margaret Mead Film Festival serves as more than a cinematic event. It is a celebration of voices and perspectives from around the world, inviting attendees to come together to explore the rich, vibrant tapestry that is our shared human experience.
The three-day celebration taking place from Friday, May 2, to Sunday, May 4, will present storytelling and documentary films from diverse voices near and far.
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Text “American Museum of Natural History Margaret Mead Film Festival” appears over footage of Watan, subject of Make It Look Real, dragging a display case outside of a tiny storefront with a painted sign and photographs covering every inch of its doors and walls.
Close-up on Samid and Ayaz, protagonists of The Return of the Projectionist, as they work on a projector.
Close-up on Viktor, the protagonist of Viktor, wearing a head lamp in the dark. The text “Documentary Films” is superimposed on his face.
Seven children, subjects of Favoriten, sit at two different tables in a classroom, smiling and laughing.
In a brick-walled room with a television set on, a girl lifts up an even younger girl in a fancy dress up and swings her around as a little boy and three seated adults look on. They are subjects of Night of the Coyotes.
A full seated audience in LeFrak Theater look toward a speaker in front of the screen. Text “Special Events” is superimposed over the image.
A pack of dogs, from Folktales, lead a sled through a narrow, snowy path between snow-covered trees. Close-ups on the dogs faces, mouths, and ears as they run.
Wanjugu Kimathi, subject of Our Land, Our Freedom, wears an orange safety vest and stands in the front of rows of people, speaking into a microphone.
Kutoven Stevens, subject of Remaining Native, runs fast down a track. Text “We Are The Story” is superimposed over him.
Text “American Museum of Natural History Margaret Mead Film Festival May 2-4" appears over image of a hanging lightbulb and rising smoke.
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Text “American Museum of Natural History. Learn More: amnh.org/mead” appears over the same image of the lightbulb.
Festival Information
- Opening night film and reception tickets are $20 ($15 for Members and students).
- All other screenings and programs are $12 ($10 for Members and students).
- Weekend passes are available for $75 ($50 for Members) and include the opening night film and reception, and all other screenings.
Friday, May 2
- 7 pm–Seeds (LeFrak Theater)
Saturday, May 3
- 12 pm–Favoriten (Kaufmann Theater)
- 12 pm–The Return of the Projectionist (Linder Theater)
- 1 pm–Remaining Native (LeFrak Theater)
- 2:30 pm–Night of the Coyotes (Linder Theater)
- 3 pm–Mira Nair presents Our Land, Our Freedom (Kaufmann Theater)
- 4 pm–The Shepherd and the Bear (LeFrak Theater)
- 5 pm–Brink of Dreams (Linder Theater)
- 5 pm–The Remaining Native Run (The Museum steps at 79th Street and Central Park West)
- 6 pm–Land with No Rider (Kaufmann Theater)
- All Day–Our Friends, The Animals (Milstein Hall of Ocean Life)
Sunday, May 4
- 11 am–Emerging Visual Anthropologist Showcase (Linder Theater)
- 1 pm–Bright Future (Kaufmann Theater)
- 2 pm–Make It Look Real (Linder Theater)
- 2 pm–How Deep is Your Love (LeFrak Theater)
- 3:30 pm–River of Grass (Kaufmann Theater)
- 4:30 pm–Partition (Linder Theater)
- 4:30 pm–Darren Aronofsky presents Viktor (LeFrak Theater)
- 6 pm–Humans and Nature in the Arctic: Indigenous Perspectives (Kaufmann Theater)
- 7 pm–FOLKTALES (LeFrak Theater)
- All Day–Our Friends, The Animals (Milstein Hall of Ocean Life)
Entrance for all Margaret Mead Film Festival programs is on 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Tickets must be shown (in print or on a mobile device) at the entrance.
If you have questions about accessibility at the Mead, or would like to request an accommodation, please contact us at [email protected] or 212-769-5305
Museum cafes are open throughout the festival during regular hours. Cafe on One, located near the Futter Gallery, will be open for extended hours. No food is allowed in the theaters, but drinks in cups with lids are permitted. Theater compliant reusable Mead cups are available for sale in the Futter Gallery. No outside food or beverages will be allowed in the theaters.
A space in the Kenneth Griffin Exploration Atrium, opposite the Museum shop on the first floor of the Richard Gilder Center for Education, Science and Innovation, will serve as a dynamic gathering space where festival attendees can extend their film discussions beyond the theater, fostering deeper dialogue and connections. Designed as an informal forum, this gathering space invites guests to exchange insights, reflect on themes, and engage in spontaneous conversations inspired by the festival’s screenings.
Saturday, May 3
Sunday, May 4
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Awards
The Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award recognizes documentary filmmakers who embody the spirit, energy, and innovation demonstrated by anthropologist Margaret Mead in her research, fieldwork, films, and writings.
The award is selected by a jury and given to a filmmaker whose feature-length documentary displays artistic excellence and originality in storytelling technique while offering a new perspective on cultures and communities. Filmmakers with works making their New York premieres at the festival are eligible.
The Audience Award, voted on by Margaret Mead Film Festival attendees, celebrates the power of community engagement and the diverse perspectives that enrich the cinematic experience, fostering a vibrant dialogue between filmmakers and their audience. Films making their New York premiere at the festival are eligible.
- Bright Future, Directed by Andra MacMasters
- Brink of Dreams, Directed by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir
- Favoriten, Directed by Ruth Beckermann
- FOLKTALES, Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
- How Deep is Your Love, Directed by Eleanor Mortimer
- Land with No Rider, Directed by Tamar Lando
- Make It Look Real, Directed by Daniel Shah
- Night of the Coyotes, Directed by Clara Trischler
- Our Land, Our Freedom, Directed by Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu
- Partition, Directed by Diana Allan
- River of Grass, Directed by Sasha Wortzel
- Remaining Native, Directed by Paige Bethmann
- The Return of The Projectionist, Directed by Orkhan Aghazadeh
- Seeds, Directed by Brittany Shyne
- The Shepherd and The Bear, Directed by Max Keegan
- Viktor, Directed by Olivier Sarbil
Dominic Davis
Dominic Davis returned to the Sundance Institute in 2022 as Manager of the Documentary Fund. In 2011, Dominic worked in the Artist Relations Office of the Sundance Film Festival. He went on to program for the American Museum of Natural History, Tribeca Film Festival and Rooftop Films. He has reviewed applications for Catapult Film Fund and Creative Capital and managed the Rooftop Films Filmmakers Fund. Dominic was born in Germany and grew up on military bases but adopted Kentucky and Florida as his home states. He has a degree in mass media studies and political science from the University of Kentucky. When not watching movies, he goes for very long runs.
Milisuthando Bongela-Davis
Milisuthando Bongela-Davis is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, cultural worker, and artist. Her career began in the fashion industry, but the last 16 years have seen her traverse the worlds of music, art, media, and film – continually turning towards Indigenous knowledge systems.
Recently moved to New York from Johannesburg, she was arts editor for the Friday section of the South African newspaper The Mail & Guardian and host and co-producer of the podcast “Umoya: On African Spirituality” with Athambile Masola. Her first film, a personal essay documentary titled Milisuthando, had its in-competition world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was selected for Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors / New Films 2023 before opening the 2023 Encounters Documentary Film Festival. It was nominated and won awards for its groundbreaking form, subject matter, and approach to personal filmmaking.
She is an inaugural fellow of the 2020 Adobe Women at Sundance Fellowship and is currently working on her second film, an experimental silent film commissioned by Neo Muyanga and William Kentridge’s The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg.
Natasha Raheja
Natasha Raheja is an assistant professor of anthropology and performing and media arts at Cornell University. She received her doctorate in anthropology from New York University and her B.S. degree in biology and M.A. degree in Asian languages and literature with a focus on Urdu from The University of Texas at Austin. Her projects explore questions of migration, belonging, and majority-minority politics in South Asia. Raheja is the director of the documentary Cast in India, an observational portrait of the Bengali metal workers who manufacture New York City manhole covers, and A Gregarious Species, an experimental found-footage film featuring cross-border locust swarms in the Thar Desert region. She is the author of the forthcoming book A Selective Welcome: Pakistani Hindus in India.
Julian Brave NoiseCat
Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, and student of Salish art and history. His first documentary, Sugarcane, directed alongside Emily Kassie, follows an investigation into abuse and missing children at the Indian residential school where NoiseCat’s family was sent near Williams Lake, British Columbia. Sugarcane premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where NoiseCat and Kassie won the Directing Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition. The film has been recognized with dozens of awards, including Best Documentary from the National Board of Review and the Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award for NoiseCat and Kassie, and was nominated for a 2025 Academy Award. A proud member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq'escen and descendant of the Lil'Wat Nation of Mount Currie, NoiseCat is the author of We Survived the Night, which will be published by Alfred A. Knopf on October 21, 2025.
Ryan Krivoshey
Ryan Krivoshey is a veteran of the independent film scene and the founder of Grasshopper Film, a leading distribution company established in 2015. Grasshopper’s acclaimed releases include Last Men in Aleppo, Pacifiction, Vitalina Varela, Leviathan, and Days. With a library of more than 500 films, the company champions both emerging and established filmmakers. Previously, Krivoshey served as director of distribution at Cinema Guild, expanding its theatrical slate and presence. He has also worked at Icarus Films and Film Forum, building a career dedicated to supporting independent cinema.
Irene Sosa
Irene Sosa is a Venezuelan-born documentarian and professor in the Department of Television Radio and Emerging Media and the Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at CUNY Brooklyn College. Sosa has dedicated her career to exploring the intersection of media, culture, and social justice. Her films, including Sexual Exiles, Vertical Slum and Shopping to Belong, explore the culture of marginalization and the evolving dynamics of identity and space. In 2004, she was commissioned by the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea to show her documentaries about the feminist artist Nancy Spero, which have since been featured in the MoMA PS1 and the Rufino Tamayo Museum. As a Fulbright Scholar and artist, she continues to challenge conventional narratives, using her craft to amplify voices often overlooked in mainstream media.
Generous support for the Margaret Mead Film Festival has been provided by The Mead Trust.
A portion of the Margaret Mead Film Festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
The Margaret Mead Film Festival is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.