Rosa Kehoe reported this story on assignment from the Rutland Herald. The Community News Service is a program in which students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
For the 10th year, Vermont State University Castleton held its International Film Festival in Herrick Auditorium. The festival’s second screening, “Gunfighter Paradise,” was particularly notable, as director Jethro Waters was in attendance for a Q&A following the film.
“Gunfighter Paradise” came out this year and had only been screened once before the festival.
“It was officially released just two weeks ago. We world premiered at MidWest WeirdFest in Wisconsin,” Waters said. “We go to Berlin, Germany, next.”
The film follows a hunter that returns to his old family home in North Carolina after his mother passes away. After arriving home, he finds himself stalked by divine voices and unholy visions, further complicated by the hidden riddles his mother left behind. With his mind already splintering, he goes mad.
Through “Gunfighter Paradise,” Waters said he wanted to tell “a really personal story” that’s relevant to “today’s American society and American ideology.”
“I wanted to make a puzzle box of American identity, and see what people got out of it,” Waters said.
Though Waters has worked on documentaries and films in the past, “Gunfighter Paradise” is his first feature-length fiction film.
“It was hard to make, but not as hard to make as some of my documentaries … in the fact that we knew what we were shooting every day,” Waters said. “It was so much fun to make.”
As the film played, the excitement in the room was palpable. Audience members gasped in surprise and horror; they laughed and whispered to each other as events unfolded. Waters made this film to be a dark comedy, and it was exactly that.
“I think the experience of us all sitting together watching the film in a theater really added to the overall experience,” said festival organizer and film professor Sam Davis-Boyd. “Getting to hear other’s laughter to shocked gasps, to moments of unease; we all were able to share in that experience together.”
Davis-Boyd was introduced to Waters by VTSU Dean David Kupferman and learned that Waters was in the process of setting up educational screenings as he started his festival circuit.
“I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for students to be able to not only watch a new film, but also engage with the filmmaker and hear a different perspective at the International Film Festival,” Davis-Boyd said.
“Students and community members were able to ask about Jethro’s process, how he found and worked with actors, how he came up with the idea for the film, and everything in between,” she added. “I think it really added to having a better understanding of the inner workings of how the film was made and his creative process behind it.”
VTSU Castleton student Stryder Bouchett had a free afternoon and decided to attend the screening. He described “Gunfighter Paradise” as an “absolutely amazing film.”
Bouchett said one of his takeaways from the film was the “implications of the southern culture of the United States, with a very strong spiritual connection to their beliefs,” which is contrasted with the “saddening, kind of, and unfortunate aspect of making an enemy out of your neighbor because of differences in belief.”
His other takeaway was that Waters was very fond of his film.
“The Q&A session made that very clear, but you can also see that in the art itself,” Bouchett said.
Though this was the first time “Gunfighter Paradise” was screened at a university, Waters plans to continue with educational screenings in addition to his festival run.
“I love screening at [universities], as there are so many wonderful people of all ages, and so many great questions,” Waters said. “I love being part of the academia and the community here. This was one of our main goals — us coming here was perfect.”
Additional films featured at this year’s festival, which closed on Wednesday, included: “Flee” (2021), directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen; “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (2020), directed by Céline Sciamma; and “Return to Seoul” (2023), directed by Davy Chou.