Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont internship, for the Bridge
MONTPELIER — The Green Mountain Film Festival is returning to Montpelier for its 25th anniversary. Running from March 12–15, the festival presents over 40 full-length and short films, with a focus on “balancing movies people are going to love and movies that might stretch people in various ways,” festival programmer Sam Kann said.
The festival opens with “The Scout,” directed by Paula González-Nasser, dropping the audience in New York City as a television location scout goes through one day in her life. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this past summer and is one of the many low-budget indie films the festival hopes to highlight.
“It toes the line between sweet moments of fleeting intimate connection and mundane life; it’s very human,” Kann said.
The closing film is “Cutting Through Rocks,” directed by Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki, an Iranian documentary recently nominated for an Oscar. The film follows the first woman elected to local government in her village.
“She rides a motorcycle, wears pants, and it just feels really empowering,” according to Kann. “It’s also kind of funny and mischievous.”
These bookend films, and the many others in between, will be screened at the Savoy and Capitol theaters. A kickoff mixer will also be hosted at Three Penny Taproom on Thursday, March 12.
Kann is supported by a committee of 20 volunteers, varying in age and place of residence. The festival is committed to bringing unheard voices to Vermont, featuring films like “Dreams in Nightmares,” which follows a group of queer Black femmes on a road trip, searching for their lost friend. Written, directed and produced by Shatara Michelle Ford, the film is centered around “experiences and people that Hollywood doesn’t platform as much,” Kann said.
The film “Debut, or, Objects of the Field of Debris as Currently Catalogued,” directed by Julian Castronovo, “is going to expand people’s minds about what a movie can be,” Kann said.
The film uses footage from the Apple program Photo Booth and small objects to create an experimental fictional documentary based on Eli Sakhai, a New York gallerist “imprisoned for masterminding an elaborate art forgery scheme,” according to MoMA’s description of the film.
Along with highlighting atypical stories, Green Mountain Film Festival works to bring people who don’t usually have the opportunity or desire to see these films to the theater. The festival partners with local schools, selecting programming based on the students’ ages and creating screenings during blocks in the school day to view the films.
The festival will present two world premieres: “The Birds Tell Me All There is to Know,” a feature directed by Aidan Cronin, and “Classic Water,” a short film from Matthew Koebele. Cronin will participate in a Q&A session after his film’s screening.
Rick Winston, who helped found both the Green Mountain Film Festival and the Savoy Theater, will also be hosting a Q&A after a screening of the 1954 classic “Godzilla.”
Although the event will have a large selection of international films, for Kann and festival director Phayvanh Luekhamhan, the heart of the festival lies in the local films.
The documentary “Prickly Mountain and My Design/Build Life,” directed by native Vermonter Allie Rood, explores the unique architectural style that took root in Vermont in the 1960s and ’70s, contrasted with scenes of Rood building a house of her own. The film is rich with Vermont history and culture, and was selected for high school students to view. Rood will also be at the screening for a Q&A.
Each year, the festival presents at least one feature and a block of short films by Vermont directors. “Having Vermont filmmakers and connecting them with filmmakers from outside Vermont creates a richer film-loving and making community,” Kann said.
Luekhamhan echoed Kann’s sentiments. “One thing that I’ve learned from the last three years doing this is that Montpelier residents really support their movie theaters,” she said.
The audience is “integral to the art,” Luekhamhan said, a dynamic particularly showcased during the festival’s Q&A sessions, in which directors discuss their work and audience members are invited to share their thoughts.
“It empowers people to fully enjoy the film and think about it a bit more than just sitting and forgetting about it later,” she said.