As conservatives take over the leadership of New College of Florida, a group of students join hands with their professor to resist and reclaim their alma mater. ⍟ World Premiere
Director: Patrick Xavier Bresnan
Runtime: 105
Fest Year: 2026
New College of Florida was founded in the 1960s as a bastion of public liberal arts education. Once a model of academic inquiry and acceptance, it has now become a blueprint for how conservative ideologues, under Gov. Ron DeSantis’s leadership, can transform an institution: eradicate “woke” areas of study and “recapture the university.” Director Patrick Xavier Bresnan (The Rabbit Hunt, T/F 2017) closely follows students and professors, capturing tense board meetings and a graduation ceremony that feels like a funeral. “Don’t dream it, be it,” sing students at a small Rocky Horror Picture Show screening, but we fear they are doing the Time Warp on the deck of the Titanic. New College has withstood hurricanes, but none like the culture wars now seeking to take over higher education. (LK)