Green Mountain Film Festival 2008

The annual Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival, held in New York City’s Museum of Natural History, features a broad spectrum of cultural documentary.  Each year the Traveling Festival brings highlights from the Mead Festival to locations across the globe.  This year’s GMFF, supported in part by the Vermont Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, presents three films from the Mead Festival: THE BIRTHDAY, CHINA BLUE, and SUPER AMIGOS.

Crankies are a low-tech form of moving picture that has thrived in pockets around Vermont. This is the first of what the organizers hope might become an annual celebration of the crankie, timed to coincide with the last day of the 11th Green Mountain Film Festival - Sunday,  March 30, 2008

T.W. Wood Gallery and Art Center, Montpelier

Admission by donation

10 am – noon         KAREN SUTHERLAND

10-10:30                       Karen’s Crankies

10:30-11:30                  Kid/family Crankie-making

11:30-12 noon              Remember, Life is Wonderful

1:30 – 2:30 pm      MODERN TIMES THEATER

3:30-4:30 pm         BREAD AND PUPPET GEEZERS

6:00 – 7:00 pm      TOM BANJO

Note: the Green Mountain Crankie Festival is presented independently of Focus on Film.

• Saturday, March 29 2:00 pm

City Hall Arts Center
Tom Hurwitz is one of our country’s most honored documentary cinematographers. Winner of two Emmy Awards and a Sundance Award for Best Cinematography, Hurwitz has photographed films that have won four Oscars and several more nominations. Some of his recent projects have been MUSIC FROM THE INSIDE OUT and WATERMARKS (both at the 2006 GMFF) and GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB. His television programs have won literally dozens of awards over the last 25 years: Emmy, Dupont, Peabody, Directors Guild and film festival awards for best documentary. In this program, he’ll talk about the many factors that make up cinematography, illustrate them with clips, and answer questions. Sponsored by Vermont Film Commission. Community Partner: Freedom/Unity: The Vermont Movie Collaborative. Approximately 90 minutes. Filmmaker website

• Sunday, March 30 12:00 pm

Hayes Room, Kellogg-Hubbard Library
Producer Christine Vachon has been one of the key figures of the American independent film scene for many years. Her production company, Killer Films, has released Far From Heaven, Boys Don’t Cry, Velvet Goldmine, and most recently,  I’m Not There. She’s also the author of Shooting to Kill and A Killer Life. She’ll be coming to town on Sunday, March 30 for a wide-ranging talk with GMFF Managing Director Donald Rae about the world of independent filmmaking.  Sponsored by National Life Group and Vermont Humanities Council. FREE ADMISSION; NO TICKETS REQUIRED.  

CHANGE OF DATE : due to changing commitments this event will take place on Sunday, March 30 and not as previously intimated.

• Saturday, March 22 10:15 am

Hayes Room, Kellogg-Hubbard Library
Kathleen Carroll was the film critic for the New York Daily News from 1962 to 1992. More recently, she has been a co-founder and artistic director of the Lake Placid Film Forum. She’ll talk with GMFF Programmer Rick Winston about her long career in film criticism and her meetings with Francois Truffaut, Michelangelo Antonioni, Clint Eastwood and others in the film world. Sponsored by Vermont State Employees Credit Union. FREE ADMISSION; NO TICKET REQUIRED.

• Saturday, March 22 10:00 am

City Hall Arts Center
Adapted from the inspiring and successful original stage musical that toured Vermont in 2005, the movie version of The Voices Project was shot this past summer in Jericho, Vermont, with 100 teenagers. Director Bess O’Brien and a number of the teen cast members will discuss their adventures in shooting the movie, the challenges of adapting the stage musical into a film and will also share a sneak preview of excerpts from the film, which will be completed this spring. Sponsored by Washington County Youth Service Bureau.

• Saturday, March 29 10:00 am

City Hall Arts Center
Featured in this varied program will be David Raizman’s and Jim Ritvo’s ONE FAMILY: AN ETHIOPIAN ADOPTION*, which follows a Middlebury family’s journey to East Africa; Bill Simmon’s DIGITAL PAMPHLETEER (winner of the 2007 Goldstone Award**), a portrait of Essex Junction political blogger Steve Benen; and THE VALENTINE BANDIT, a film about Montpelier’s February 14th phantom produced by U-32 High School students Jordan Bushey, Emily Chan, Ellen Jaworski. Sam Weedon, and Mila Woodfield. Sponsored by Vermont Film Commission. Post-film event: Filmmakers will be present. Approximately 70 minutes.

*132 Main Productions wishes to thank Jeanne Rogow of Windfall Films whose forthcoming feature-length documentary is the inspiration for this film.  Click here for more information and here for film review.   
            
**The Goldstone Award is given each year by the Vermont Film Commission in memory of James Goldstone (1931-1999) award winning film and television director and one of the Commission’s founders.