[9] In 2003, actor Brian Austin Green attended the festival for a screening of Fish Without a Bicycle, his feature film directorial debut.

[2] The festival relocated to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for its 2004 edition, to expand into multiple spaces within walking distance, including The Music Hall and other downtown venues, with access to more hotels and restaurants.

[2] The shorts line-up included the world premiere of Thunder Road, narrated by television host and New Hampshire native Seth Meyers.

[10] The 2005 program included Heart of the Beholder, which won for Best Feature[11] and represented an early film role for Chloë Grace Moretz.

[17] Screenplay judges since then have included Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck,[18] Joyce Maynard,[19] David Dastmalchian,[20] and Nathan Silver.

[21] In 2008, the festival established the annual Van McLeod Award, which honors someone who makes a significant contribution to the film or television industry.

[23] Recipients of the Van McLeod Award are Chase Bailey (2008),[24] Ernest Thompson (2009),[25] Ken Burns (2010),[26] Chris Stinson (2011),[27] Mike O'Malley (2012),[28] Lisa Muskat (2013),[29] Paul Lazarus (2014),[30] Gordon Clapp (2015),[31] Joan Goshgarian/Chelsea McLeod (2016),[32] Aaron J. Wiederspahn (2017),[33] Barry Steelman (2018),[34] Matt Renner (2019),[35] Julian Higgins (2022),[36] and Marcy Carsey (2023).

[4] Also in 2008, the festival hosted artists-in-residence filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar for a discussion and screening of their documentary film A Lion in the House.

Entitled "A Conversation on Comedy in Film," it was moderated by Rae Dawn Chong and featured Dan Carey, Juston McKinney, Kris Meyer, Brandt Sersen and Jordan Vogt-Roberts.

[45] Since then, comedy panel alumni include Tommy Chong, Adam Jones, T.J. Miller, Jimmy Tingle and Jeff Tomsic (2011),[46] Precious Chong, Dale Launer and Mike O'Malley (2012),[47] Tom Bergeron and Greg Kretschmar (2013),[48] Jimmy Dunn and John Michael Higgins (2015),[49] Josh Meyers (2016),[50] Cole Escola and Peter Mackenzie (2017),[51] Tim Herlihy and John Viener (2018),[52] Hayes MacArthur (2019),[53] Robert Kelly, Aaron Lee, Laura Silverman and Gary Valentine (2022),[54] Marcy Carsey, Eliza Coupe and Jon Rineman (2023).

[67] Other spotlights included Labor Day and Grand Jury Award winner All That I Am, with star Christopher Abbott and director Carlos Puga in attendance.

[69] In 2014, Flea of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers attended the festival in support of Low Down, a film he executive produced and appears in.

[71] Other films included Men, Women & Children starring actor-comedian Adam Sandler, who hails from New Hampshire, Animals, Boyhood, Manhattan Romance, Match, and Two Step.

[79] Actor John Michael Higgins returned to the festival for an on-stage presentation discussing favorite clips from his films.

[80] Director Michelle MacLaren returned to the festival in 2017, having attended previously in 2014, along with studio executive Steve Mosko for a moderated behind-the-scenes discussion of television shows Game of Thrones, Better Call Saul, The Deuce, Westworld, The Walking Dead, The X-Files, Breaking Bad and Kevin Can Wait.

[51] In 2018, actor-comedian David Spade attended the festival for a question-and-answer session and screening of his film Father of the Year with director Tyler Spindel, who hails from New Hampshire.

The short documentary chronicles her story from paralyzed teenager to correspondent for ESPN, Dancing with the Stars contestant and award-winning Paralympian.

Other film titles included The Lost King, Aftersun, and R.M.N..[93] In 2023, producer Ted Hope attended the festival on the narrative grand jury, rounded out by actress-comedian Eliza Coupe and Julian Higgins, and participated on an industry talk.

[96] In 2024, the festival joined the nonprofit organization The Music Hall, which brings performing arts and film programming to New Hampshire year-round.