NewburyportNews.com, Newburyport, MA

It's all about the choices.

Do you like fiction? Do you prefer documentaries? Do you have time this weekend? Next weekend? Or both?

The region is about to host two very different film festivals showcasing some of the best new cinematic talent. First, the ninth Telluride by the Sea takes up residence this weekend at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, N.H. Tomorrow through Sunday, the theater will host six of the films from the renown Telluride Film Festival, held over Labor Day weekend in Colorado.

"I was at Telluride, and I think we got the best movies," said Patricia Lynch, The Music Hall's executive director. "The greatest movies that are coming out in December or November - a lot of those movies are the Telluride by the Sea movies."

Next weekend, 18 documentaries unspool at the fourth Newburyport Documentary Film Festival - formerly the Northern Lights Documentary Film Festival. Organizer Michelle Fino received more than 240 submissions from around the world for the three-day festival. She chose 18 to feature, with showings at The Screening Room and the Firehouse Center for the Arts, both in downtown Newburyport.

Many of the filmmakers will be on hand in Newburyport and stick around for question-and-answer sessions with the audience following their screenings.

"It's not about celebrities, it's about getting your questions answered," Fino said. "A lot of access and no attitude is what it really is."

The Newburyport festival opens Friday, Sept. 28, with "The Times Were Never So Bad: The Life of Andre Dubus" about the late short-story author from Haverhill. Rhode Island filmmaker Edward J. Delaney, along with two of Dubus' children, Andre Dubus III of Newbury and Suzanne Dubus of East Kingston, N.H., will attend.

"Beyond Belief," which follows two women who travel from the ruins of the World Trade Center to Kabul where they find kinship with women halfway across the world, also has a local tie. It highlights Susan Rydek of Amesbury, who lost her husband on Sept. 11 and now raises money for women in Afghanistan.

Beth Murphy, the director of "Beyond Belief," will attend the screening and an after-party on Saturday, Sept. 29.

"That access to the filmmakers is unprecedented," Fino said. "It's an audience-friendly festival."

Telluride features some heavy-hitters, including Oscar contenders like the Sean Penn-directed "Into the Wild," adapted from Jon Krakauer's nonfiction best-seller about a college graduate who gives up all his possessions to hitchhike to Alaska, and "I'm Not There," a film about Bob Dylan, with the legendary musician played at various stages by Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere and Christian Bale.

"It's just a phenomenal selection of films," Lynch said. "You are seeing them months before they will be in seen in other major markets."

Telluride by the Sea

Friday, Sept. 21

7:30 p.m.: "Into the Wild" - After graduating college, top student Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave all his money to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska. Sean Penn adapts Jon Krakauer's nonfiction best-seller.

Saturday, Sept. 22

2 p.m.: "Persepolis" - Marjane Satrapi turned her family's life under Ayatollah Khomeini's rule into this film, which won the Cannes Jury Prize this year.

7:15 p.m.: "Margot at the Wedding" - "Squid and the Whale" writer-director Noah Baumbach explores the relationship between volatile and cerebral sisters Margot and Pauline, played by Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

9:30 p.m.: "I'm Not There" - Todd Haynes reveals Bob Dylan's life through six characters who embody the musician's life and work, among them Richard Gere as an aging outlaw, Cate Blanchett as the androgynous early rock star, and Christian Bale as the late-'70s born-again Dylan.

Sunday, Sept. 23

9 a.m.: "Persepolis"

2 p.m.: "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" - Jean-Dominique Bauby is blessed with money, talent, love and children when a sudden accident leaves him paralyzed. Based on Bauby's painstakingly dictated 1997 memoir, this film shows what happens to a keen mind trapped in a vegetative state.

7 p.m.: "The Band's Visit" - The Alexandrian Police Orchestra, eight slightly bewildered Egyptian policemen, lose their way and end up in a remote village in the Israeli desert. Luckily, a cafe owner finds them lodging. Writer-director Elan Kolrin displays a mastery of low-key, deadpan visual humor.

IF YOU GO

* What: Telluride by the Sea

* When: Tomorrow through Sunday, Sept. 21 through 23

* Where: The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, N.H.

* How: Individual tickets $12.50, $10.50 for Music Hall members; weekend pass $85 (preferred seating for all films, Telluride cruise and wrap party); patron pass tickets $200 (includes all films, post-show reception opening night, Telluride cruise, Sunday brunch and wrap party). Limited number of tickets for each film available in advance.

Call The Music Hall Box Office at 603-436-2400 or visit at www.themusichall.org.

Newburyport Documentary Film Festival

Friday, Sept. 28

7:30 p.m.: Opening night party featuring screening of "The Times Were Never So Bad: The Life of Andre Dubus," directed by Edward J. Delaney, tracing the personal life and writing of the late author, Firehouse Center for the Arts.

Saturday, Sept. 29

11 a.m.: Short films featuring "Ismini Melek Koydum" ("I Named Her Angel") directed by Nefin Dinc, "Keep on Steppin'" directed by Christine Nochese, and "Sylvia Hyman: Eternal Wonder" directed by Curt Hahn, Firehouse Center.

11 a.m.: "Manhattan, Kansas" directed by Tara Wray, The Screening Room.

12:45 p.m.: "Cartoneros" directed by Ernesto Livon-Grosman, Screening Room.

1:30 p.m.: Double bill featuring "Hazleton, PA" directed by Dominic DeJoseph and "Original Intent: The Battle for America" directed by Anthony Sherin, Firehouse Center.

2:30 p.m.: "The Listening Project" directed by Dominic Howes and Joel Weber, Screening Room.

3:30 p.m.: "Shadow of the House" directed by Allie Humenuk, Firehouse Center.

7:30 p.m.: "Beyond Belief" directed by Beth Murphy, Firehouse Center.

Sunday, Sept. 30

11 a.m.: "Beyond the Call" directed by Adrian Belic, Screening Room.

11 a.m.: "Indestructible" directed by Ben Byer, Firehouse Center.

12:45 p.m.: "The Clinton 12" directed by Keith McDaniel, Screening Room.

1:45 p.m. Double bill featuring "No Bigger Than A Minute" directed by Steven Delano and "Smile Boston Project" directed by: David Tames, Firehouse Center.

2:45 p.m. "Uganda Rising" directed by Jesse James Miller and Pete McCormack, Screening Room.

3:45 p.m. "Bill's Big Pumpkins" directed by Ryan Foss, Firehouse Center.

IF YOU GO

* What: Newburyport Documentary Film Festival

* When: Friday, Sept. 28, through Sunday, Sept. 30

* Where: Firehouse Center for the Arts in Market Square and the Screening Room at 82 State St., downtown Newburyport

* How: Passes range from $15 (for an all-day pass for Saturday or Sunday) to $60 (for an all-access pass). Available online at www.newburyportfilmfestival.org. A limited number of tickets for each screening will be available at the door for $7.