New York City cop Frank Serpico spent years telling his superiors that police officers were pocketing hefty sums of payoff money from gamblers and drug dealers. He, along with Detective David Durk, took the story to the New York Times in April 1970, and in February 1971, Serpico was bleeding outside a drug dealer’s door with a bullet that’s still lodged in his brain.

Fast-forward to next Monday, July 17, when the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival will screen “Frank Serpico,” a documentary that has 81-year-old Serpico telling the story himself. The film is directed by another Italian-American, Antonino D’Ambrosio, and will begin at 7:30 pm, with dinner and music before the screening at 6:30 pm at the Chilmark Community Center. A discussion via Skype with D’Ambrosio follows the film.