The Director Series provides movie lovers the opportunity to view impactful documentary films highlighting heroic adventures, sustainable agriculture, marine ecology, social justice, the environmental crisis, and human-interest stories.

Friday Harbor Film Festival presents films on-demand 24/7 for 10-14 days each month through September, leading up to our annual festival in October. Each on-demand documentary film will include a scheduled livestream, interactive Q&A with the filmmaker and expert panelists discussing the issues raised by the film. Q&A sessions will be recorded and available on-demand free of charge through September 30, 2021.

FEBRUARY

February 18 - 28:  Just for animal lovers!

The Friday Harbor Film Festival presents the online premiere of Magnolia Pictures’ Stray, a captivating, award-winning film about a trio of canine outcasts who roam the streets of Istanbul.

Through the eyes of three stray dogs wandering the streets of Istanbul, STRAY explores what it means to live as a being without status or security. As they search for food and shelter, Zeytin, Nazar and Kartal embark on inconspicuous journeys through Turkish society that allow us an unvarnished portrait of human life — and their own canine culture. 

A limited quantity of tickets are available for this special on-demand streaming period.

MARCH

March 1 - 15:  Adventure & Discovery

Four young Cowboys hatch a plot to adopt, train, and ride a string of wild mustangs 3,000 miles from Mexico to Canada through the wildest terrain of the American West.

The trip became an epic journey of self-discovery, tested friendships, and iconic landscapes that included runaway horses, a sassy donkey, perilous mountain passes, rodeos, sickness, injury, and death.

Five friends travel from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico along the Rio Grande via bicycle, horseback, and canoe, exploring the relationship between the river and the proposed wall along America's border with Mexico.

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They set out to document the borderlands and explore the potential impacts of a wall on the natural environment, but as the wilderness gives way to the more populated and heavily trafficked Lower Rio Grande Valley, they come face-to-face with the human side of the immigration debate and enter uncharted emotional waters.

March 16 - 31:  Hope for Environmental Justice

RETURN OF THE RIVER tells the story of the largest dam removal in history, currently unfolding on the Elwha River in Washington State. The film explores an extraordinary community effort to set the river free, and shows an unlikely victory for environmental justice.

Told by an ensemble cast of characters, RETURN OF THE RIVER offers hope amid grim environmental news, chronicling a dramatic success story that has drawn international attention to the Olympic Peninsula.

Watching as the wild salmon he loved began steadily disappearing, retired mill worker-turned-conservationist Dick Goin decided to dedicate his life to restoring Washington's Elwha River by battling for the biggest dam-removal project in U.S. history.

FILMMAKER Q&A AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Join us each month as we present FREE livestream Q&A's with filmmaker and expert panelists.  Browse our previously recorded livestream filmmaker Q&A's below.