Screening times:
Sunday, August 9, 5:30 PM
Saturday, August 22, 6:00 PM

Sasha Waters | United States | 2026 | 91m

If poetry had a pop icon, Mary Oliver would be it. Celebrated best-selling poet, Pulitzer Prize-winner, lover of dogs and long walks in the woods, openly queer but intensely private, Oliver was America’s unlikely contemporary mystic, stalking the ponds and forests of Cape Cod for nearly fifty years in order to open herself – and her readers – to the known and unknowable world.

From a lonely childhood to literary fame, Oliver’s life was shaped by devotion to nature, paying attention, and the long journey toward learning to love and to be loved. Her poems speak directly to contemporary anxieties about attention, presence, and the human relationship with the natural world – issues that feel especially pressing in an era of climate crisis, digital distraction, and social fragmentation.

Featuring interviews with her close friends, including John Waters, never-before-seen personal photos, notebooks, and correspondence from her archive, and recitations of her work by Stephen Colbert, Lucy Dacus and Steve Buscemi, Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World captures the uniqueness of her world and the natural beauty that inspired her.

“Waters’ realizes that Oliver’s story cannot be truly articulated until the poetry inherent in Oliver’s perspective is brought to life on the screen.” - Nidhil Vohra, POV Magazine

“A gentle, attentive and moving work of art about an artist.“ - Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

Tickets $12 ($11.40 at the door if available)