Story perspectives

Provincetown Film Fest Opens Sold-Out, Showcases Oliver, Packard Docs

6/21/2026

Summary

Story summary

The 28th Provincetown Film Festival opened in Provincetown, Massachusetts with sold-out Town Hall screenings.
The Mary Oliver documentary, directed by director Sasha Waters, featured poet Mary Oliver and comedian Stephen Colbert reading.
The Anne Packard documentary profiled painter Anne Packard, the 90-year-old artist, her amputated-leg stump, and her East Side gallery.
The lineup also included filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s Cannes-premiered “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” and the undergraduate drama “Sparks.”

History

Historical Context

The Provincetown International Film Festival launched in 1999 on Cape Cod, showing independent narrative, documentary and short films over five days each June. Run Lola Run opened its first night, and the Provincetown Film Society—operator of the Waters Edge Cinema—has turned the event into a cultural hub. In 2022 it became an Academy Awards-qualifying festival.

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Story summary

The 28th Provincetown Film Festival opened in Provincetown, Massachusetts with sold-out Town Hall screenings.
The Mary Oliver documentary, directed by director Sasha Waters, featured poet Mary Oliver and comedian Stephen Colbert reading.
The Anne Packard documentary profiled painter Anne Packard, the 90-year-old artist, her amputated-leg stump, and her East Side gallery.
The lineup also included filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun’s Cannes-premiered “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” and the undergraduate drama “Sparks.”

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