Films & Events

Afghan Star

After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, pop culture has returned to Afghanistan—and since 2005, millions are tuning in to a wildly popular TV talent show. Winner of the Directing and Audience awards in Sundance’s 2009 World Documentary competition, Havana Marking’s timely and moving film follows the dramatic stories of four young finalists—two men and two women—as they hazard everything to become the nation’s favorite performer. Afghan Star is the perfect window into a country’s tenuous, ongoing struggle for modernity; what Americans might consider frivolous entertainment is downright revolutionary in this troubled part of the world. Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: “This eye-opening film reveals that even systems as dubious as the Idol format mean dramatically different things when transferred to radically dissimilar cultures.” Sponsored by Johnson State College. Community Partner: Peace and Justice Center. 87 minutes, in Pashto and Dari with subtitles, and English. Film website

  • Tuesday, March 23 8:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Friday, March 26 7:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Among Farmers

German cinema’s growing number of films willing to address topics relating to World War II has a fine addition in Ludi Boeken’s new film, which tells of farmers in Westphalia who without hesitation sheltered Jewish friends (their former World War I comrades) from the Nazis. The farmers are used to weathering even dangerous situations somehow, guided only by their instinct and century-old code of ethics. Variety: “Working from a memoir by Marga Spiegel, director Boeken spurns melodrama in favor of understatement and a clear depiction of events while sustaining an extraordinary degree of tension throughout.” Sponsored by Casey Family Services. Community Partners: Beth Jacob Synagogue, Kellogg-Hubbard Library. 95 minutes, in German with subtitles. Film review

  • Tuesday, March 23 6:30 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Wednesday, March 24 2:15 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 28 9:30 am @ Savoy Theater

Amreeka

Stephen Holden, The New York Times: “Cherien Dabis’s AMREEKA (the Arabic word for America) stands alongside THE VISITOR as one of the most accomplished recent films about a non-European immigrant coming to the United States. While the arrivals in the other two movies were not legal immigrants, the indomitably good-natured protagonist of AMREEKA, Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour), is a divorced non-Muslim Palestinian woman with a green card, who lands with her teenage son in a midwestern suburb. The film’s upbeat tone reflects the resilience and sunny temperament of Muna, who as embodied by Ms. Faour is a warm, lovable woman.” Sponsored by Christa Lancaster. 96 minutes, in Arabic with subtitles, but mainly in English. Director interview

  • Friday, March 19 6:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Wednesday, March 24 4:15 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Thursday, March 25 8:30 pm @ Savoy Theater

Art Bell presents

Art Bell (the creative mind behind the GMFF trailer) will demonstrate the latest in digital techniques on a start-to-finish musical video and a political commercial. Approximately 90 minutes.   Filmmaker website

  • Wednesday, March 24 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Before Tomorrow

This project is the first feature from the Arnait Video Productions collective, which has been gathering and documenting stories of Inuit women since 1991. BEFORE TOMORROW is the story of a woman who demonstrates that human dignity is at the core of life from beginning to end, as she and her grandson face the ultimate challenge of survival. The film was shot in remote locations near the community of Puvirnituq, Nunavik (northern Quebec) over four separate periods in order to capture the seasons from June though December. Variety: “An Inuit boy and his beloved grandmother struggle to survive the Arctic wilderness in this profound, elemental and hauntingly beautiful period drama that makes an intimate story of endurance into a metaphor for an entire culture.” Post-film events: co-director Marie-Helene Cousineau will speak after both shows. Sponsored by Amy Miller and Quebec Government Office in Boston. Community Partner: University of the Arctic. 93 minutes, in Inuktitut with subtitles. Film website

  • Saturday, March 20 7:15 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 21 11:45 am @ Savoy Theater

Bliss

When 17-year-old Meryem is found disheveled and unconscious in the Turkish countryside, her family believes the worst – that her chastity has been lost. They turn to the ancient principle of “tore,” a strict moral code that condemns Meryem to death. When she refuses to take her own life, the duty of upholding the family’s honor is given to a distant cousin, Cemal, who has just completed a brutal tour in the military. Cemal reluctantly agrees to take Meryem away – and kill her. Based on the internationally acclaimed novel and set against the backdrop of Turkey’s natural wonders, BLISS is an unconventional road movie that pits tradition against modernity, urban against rural and East against West, all the while refusing to settle for easy answers. Stephen Holden, The New York Times: “This consistently gripping, visually intoxicating film stands as a landmark of contemporary Turkish cinema.” 105 minutes, in Turkish with subtitles. Film review

  • Wednesday, March 24 12:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Thursday, March 25 6:30 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Friday, March 26 4:00 pm @ Savoy Theater

Bombay Summer

Joseph Mathew’s film subtly mirrors the turmoil within tradition-bound Indian society as it copes with change and rapid modernization. At the center of the story is Geeta, a young woman who leads a full life and a busy career. She is in the middle of an affair with Jaidev, a struggling writer who is slowly coming to grips with his own life. Their lives take a dramatic turn when they befriend Madan, a young migrant to the city who ekes out a living at various illegal enterprises. Post-film event: Filmmaker Joseph Mathew and journalist Aseem Chhabra will discuss the film. Sponsored by Sarducci’s. Community Partner: Friends of Indian Music and Dance. 110 minutes, in Hindi with subtitles. Film website

  • Saturday, March 20 9:30 pm @ Savoy Theater

Bonnie and Clyde

Arthur Penn’s 1967 film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the outlaw duo was not only a watershed film for its audacious style, but its reception also marked a crucial turning point for American film criticism. Post-film event: Boston Phoenix film critic Gerald Peary will discuss the controversy. Sponsored by Burlington College. 112 minutes. Film review

  • Sunday, March 28 1:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

The Bothersome Man

Forty-year-old Andreas arrives in a strange city with no memory of how he got there. He is presented with a job, an apartment , even a wife. But before long, Andreas notices that something is wrong. Andreas makes an attempt to escape the city, but he discovers there’s no way out. Andreas meets Hugo, who has found a crack in a wall in his cellar. Beautiful music streams out from the crack. Maybe it leads to “the other side”? A new plan for escape is hatched, but will they be able to escape from this strange world before they are found out by the city’s authorities? Variety: “Delightfully droll. [Its] use of sound and impossible space recalls the eerie worlds of David Lynch.” Sponsored by Christa Lancaster. 105 minutes, in Norwegian with subtitles. Film review

  • Tuesday, March 23 8:30 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Saturday, March 27 10:30 pm @ Savoy Theater

Burma VJ

Armed with small video cameras, undercover video journalists in Burma keep up the flow of news from their closed country. Their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media. The whole world has witnessed clips made by the “VJs,” but for the very first time, their individual images have been carefully put together, and at once, they tell a much bigger story. The film, nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar this year, offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started their protests. Time Out, New York: “It’s a flawlessly constructed piece of work, as relentlessly gripping as it is educational, a righteous and even uplifting paean to the continued importance of collective protest.” Post-film events: two of the monks featured in the film (including the one in this photo) will speak at the Sunday and Monday shows; Htun Sein of  the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program and a native of Burma, will speak after the Thursday show. Sponsored by ORCA Media. Community Partner: Peace and Justice Center, Vermont Council on World Affairs. 84 minutes, in Burmese with subtitles. Film review

  • Sunday, March 21 6:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Monday, March 22 11:45 am @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Thursday, March 25 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Charulata

Satyajit Ray’s rarely seen 1964 film is set in Calcutta at the height of the “Bengal Renaissance” of the 1880s and based on a Rabindranath Tagore novel. Charulata is the lovely, childless, intelligent, and neglected wife of a newspaper editor and political activist. Sight and Sound: “The interplay of sophistication and simplicity is extraordinary.” Post-film event: journalist Aseem Chhabra will discuss the film. Sponsored by Jane and Ed Pincus. Community Partner: Friends of Indian Music and Dance. 114 minutes, in Bengali with subtitles. CHARULATA was restored by the Satyajit Ray Preservation Project at the Academy Film Archive. Restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation.  Print courtesy of the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center Collection at the Academy Film Archive. Film review

  • Sunday, March 21 2:00 pm @ Savoy Theater

Champlain: The Lake Between

Champlain: The Lake Between explores the founding of America and Canada through a rare lens. History is told through the daily lives of all men and women, not just powerbrokers. Based on extensive research with Abenaki, Mohawk, Seneca, and French-Canadian culture bearers as well as academic historians, filmmaker Caro Thompson reveals complex relationships among people of Native and European nations. Jay Craven, Burlington Free Press: “The Lake Between is beautifully filmed and painstakingly re-creates an authentic panorama of the Champlain Valley during the 17th and 18th centuries.” Thompson is primary videographer/editor, as well as writer, and received the 2009 Emmy Award for cultural/historical film in the Boston/New England region. Champlain: The Lake Between received the 2009 Richard O. Hathaway Award for an outstanding contribution to Vermont History.

Q & A with Caro Thompson after the screening. Listen to an interview with Caro Thompson on VPR or read an article in the Press Republican.

Note: Champlain: The Lake Between will be shown together with Life in Washington County and Four Friends. Total length of program 105 minutes.

Community Partner: Vermont Historical Society.

  • Monday, March 22 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Circus in Cinema: A Presentation by Rob Mermin

The Excitement and Drama! The Romance! The Myth!

Circus In Cinema: Hollywood Under the Big Top depicts how the movies represent the world in and out of the circus ring! Clips from 25 feature films on the theme of circus are presented with live commentary by Rob Mermin, founder of Circus Smirkus. Rob ran off to join the European circus at age 19 and has lived the life and perpetrated the myths. The films represent many genres: Hollywood Epic, Family, Drama, and Cult Classics. Stars featured include Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, John Wayne, Betty Hutton, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, Peter Lorre, Humphrey Bogart, Frederic March, Pat Boone, Doris Day, Danny Kaye, and more!
Sponsored by Lost Nation Theater Company.
Approximately 90 minutes.

  • Saturday, March 20 4:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Collapse

What happens when the oil is gone? Michael Ruppert has more than a perception — he has a welter of facts, a restless and skeptical intelligence, a grasp of history that is professional in the best sense, and an ability to slice and dice the platitudes of mainstream media. Director Chris Smith, working in the spirit of Errol Morris, has done a marvelous job of editing Ruppert’s words into a cohesive and and dramatic cautionary monologue, and also of standing in for the audience by asking tough and challenging questions, evincing a healthy skepticism of his own. Based on Confronting Collapse by Michael C. Ruppert. Running time 82 minutes. Post-film discussion.

  • Saturday, March 27 8:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Conversations with My Gardener

In this poignant 2007 film, never released in the United States, a Parisian artist (Daniel Auteuil) taking refuge in the countryside forms a powerful friendship with the gardener (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) he knew as a child. The two men are not reduced to mere city sophisticate and rural innocent stereotypes; they are both complex individuals, given real depth by the excellent actors. The gardener makes a case for working-class values that we rarely see in cinema, and by the end the painter is looking at the tacky decorations in his modest flat with a new understanding of their worth. Time Out, London: “Its simple framework of stories and observations persistently provides entertainment and a warm good humor full of gentle comedy. To put it simply, one rarely sees a film this well crafted.” Sponsored by Northfield Savings Bank. Community Partners: Chronique Francophone, Kellogg-Hubbard Library. 109 minutes, in French with subtitles. With short FORMING GAME (7 minutes). Film review

  • Friday, March 19 4:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 21 8:45 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Monday, March 22 2:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Friday, March 26 6:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

The Damned United

Set in 1960s and 1970s England, THE DAMNED UNITED tells the darkly humorous story of Brian Clough’s doomed 44-day tenure as manager of the reigning champions of English football–Leeds United. The New York Times: “THE DAMNED UNITED is the rare sports movie that deals with—indeed positively relishes—humiliation and disappointment. Its real-life protagonist, the soccer coach Brian Clough was, over his long career, a winner with an extraordinary record of accomplishment. But the film, directed by Tom Hooper from Peter Morgan’s script, is much more interested in the dramatic flameout that disrupted and almost ended his rise to football glory. You’ve probably seen a dozen movies in which a tough coach takes a squad of misfits and underachievers and turns them into champions. Clough (Michael Sheen), perhaps uniquely in the annals of sporting cinema, reverses the process. The movie to its credit does not really bother with what happens on the field. That’s a mere diversion from the real drama, which involves power, money and men in suits.” With Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, and Jim Broadbent. Sponsored by Onion River Sports, Onion River Kids, and The Shoe Horn. 98 minutes. Film review

  • Friday, March 19 4:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 21 9:45 am @ Savoy Theater
  • Monday, March 22 6:30 pm @ Savoy Theater

La Danse

A. O. Scott, The New York Times: “Frederick Wiseman, in his 36th film in 40 years, takes his camera into the stately and elegant Palais Garnier in Paris, observing rehearsals, staff meetings and, finally, performances of seven dances, including classics like “The Nutcracker” and spiky new work by younger choreographers. To say that the film, sumptuous in its length and graceful in its rhythm, is a feast for ballet lovers is to state the obvious and also to sell Mr. Wiseman’s achievement a bit short. Yes, this is one of the finest dance films ever made, but there’s more to it than that. Its greater virtue, and the substance of Mr. Wiseman’s particular genius, is the way it transfixes you with the inner workings of an institution you may not otherwise care about.” Sponsored by Northfield Savings Bank. Community Partner: Contemporary Dance and Fitness Studio. 159 minutes, in French with subtitles. Film website

  • Wednesday, March 24 11:30 am @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Thursday, March 25 6:45 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Friday, March 26 4:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Deer Tick: To the City of Sin

The young Providence, Rhode Island-based band makes its mark on the music scene in this documentary by Burlington College alum Cory Lovell, which was the co-winner of this year’s Goldstone Award at the Vermont International Film Festival. Post-film event: director Cory Lovell will discuss the film. Sponsored by Burlington College. 77 minutes. Band website

  • Sunday, March 21 7:30 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Departures

The surprise winner of last year’s Foreign Film Oscar follows Daigo Kobayashi, a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and who is suddenly left without a job. Daigo moves back to his hometown with his wife to look for work and answers a classified ad entitled “Departures” thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency,only to discover that the job is actually for a nokanshi, a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of nokanshi, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. Empire Magazine: “Heart-warming, funny, wise and profound.” Sponsored by Patricia Fontaine. Community Partner: Japan Society of Vermont.131 minutes, in Japanese with subtitles. Film review

  • Saturday, March 20 9:30 am @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 21 8:45 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Monday, March 22 11:30 am @ Savoy Theater

Don’t Know We’ll See

Lucy Phenix’s film studies the life and work of the legendary potter Karen Karnes, a resident of Morgan, Vermont. A film exploration of the poetry, rhythm and mystery of the creative process reflected in the life of a master clay artist who has worked with unbroken focus and dedication for over 60 years. Post-film events: Lucy Phenix will discuss the film after the Friday show; Karen Karnes will speak after the Sunday show. Sponsored by Helen Jean Reindel. Community Partners: Craft Emergency Relief Fund, Studio Place Arts, Vermont Commission on Women. 60 minutes. Film website

  • Friday, March 26 2:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 28 4:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Earth Days

EARTH DAYS’ secret weapon is a one-two punch of personal testimony and rare archival media. The extraordinary stories of the era’s pioneers—among them Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, biologist/Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich, Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand, Apollo Nine astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and renewable energy pioneer Hunter Lovins—are beautifully illustrated with an incredible array of footage. Directed by acclaimed documentarian Robert Stone, EARTH DAYS is both a poetic meditation on humanity’s complex relationship with nature and an engaging history of the revolutionary achievements—and missed opportunities—of groundbreaking eco-activism. Post-film events: Robert Stone will discuss the film at the Friday, March 19 show; local environmental activists will speak at the Tuesday, March 23, show. Sponsored by Hunger Mountain Co-op. Community Partner: Vermont Natural Resources Council. 100 minutes. Film website

  • Friday, March 19 8:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Tuesday, March 23 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium
  • Friday, March 26 12:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Four Friends

In interviews with artisanal bread bakers Jules and Helen Rabin, and with Peter and Elka Schumann of the world famous Bread and Puppet Theater, director Susan Bettmann’s short film touches on topics related to Vermont’s history of independent thinking. From their intellectual and aesthetic perspective these artists/political activists discuss the values of progressive education, grassroots politics, and the influence of Vermont’s landscape on their artistry.

Four Friends explores the longstanding friendship between these two couples, beginning in their Greenwich Village peace activist days in the 1960s. This commitment to peace activism is evident in the Rabins’ continuing weekly anti-war vigils in front of the Montpelier Post Office, just as the Bread and Puppet Theater demonstrates outspoken leftist political positions in their giant puppet shows and pageants.


  • Monday, March 22 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

For the Love of Movies

At a time when newspapers are folding and the “equality of the Internet” implies that everyone’s opinion is equal, The Boston Phoenix’s own movie critic, Gerald Peary, has struck back with a wonderful movie about film critics. Taking the historical long view, Peary’s essential documentary chronicles one hundred years of passionate, movie-mad writers scribbling away in the dark. From the early days of Otis Ferguson and Manny Farber through that heated, legendary 1960s war of words between Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael, all the way up to the democratizing dawn of the Internet critic, FOR THE LOVE OF MOVIES lobbies for your friendly neighborhood film reviewer—a reader’s last line of defense against the Hollywood marketing machine. Post-film event: Gerald Peary will discuss the film with GMFF Programmer Rick Winston. Sponsored by Sarducci’s. 80 minutes. Film website

  • Saturday, March 27 12:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Ghost Bird

The true story of an extinct giant woodpecker, a small town in Arkansas hoping to reverse its misfortunes, and the tireless odyssey of bird watchers and scientists searching for the holy grail of birds, the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker. Although considered extinct 60 years ago, bird watchers refused to accept its passing. Then, scientists from Cornell University announced that it had been found…but had it? Scott Crocker’s new documentary was hailed in its recent world premiere at Hot Docs as “comic, mesmerizing and deeply poignant. This investigative doc is reminiscent of the work of Errol Morris in the way it casts a spell while telling a story and building a case.” Post-film events: Local naturalists will speak after both shows. Sponsored by Bill Kaplan and Catherine Buni. Community Partner: North Branch Nature Center. 85 minutes. Film website

  • Tuesday, March 23 6:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Saturday, March 27 9:30 am @ City Hall Arts Center

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The international best-selling novel by Steig Larsson has been turned into a gripping film thriller, starring Noomi Rapace as the punk-fashioned, computer-hacking misfit who teams up with a discredited journalist to investigate a decades-old crime. Cinema Signals: “It’s evident from the film that director Niels Arden Oplev had the respect for Larsson’s work which, with the equal respect from screenwriters Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel, captures all the dramatic, character and descriptive essentials of a sweeping and complex novel that fascinates more with every page.” Sponsored by Cranbury International.152 minutes, in Swedish with subtitles.

  • Friday, March 19 8:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Saturday, March 20 4:30 pm @ Savoy Theater

The Good Soldier

Variety: “Skillfully interweaving the stories of five different servicemen from four different conflicts (World War II, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and Iraq), THE GOOD SOLDIER is a surprisingly non-doctrinaire documentary about anti-war veterans that marches to its own drummer. Filmmakers Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys explore a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and attitudes, while a veritable sea of archival footage, spanning 60 years, underlines the inescapable sameness of a soldier’s singular objective: to kill other human beings.” Post-film events: filmmakers Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys will discuss the film after both screenings. Community Partners: Peace and Justice Center, Vermont Action for Peace. 80 minutes. Review

  • Saturday, March 20 8:45 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 21 9:30 am @ City Hall Arts Center

Herb and Dorothy

The New York Times: “Once upon a time, a postal clerk with an enthusiasm for art history married an open-minded librarian. From the outside, little distinguished Herb and Dorothy Vogel from any other middle-class couple in mid-century New York. But by the early 1960s, if you were to squeeze inside their modest Manhattan apartment, you would bump into the most astonishing company: the work of Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, Richard Tuttle, Robert Mangold, Lynda Benglis and dozens of other artists who would come to represent the crème de la crème of Minimalist and Conceptual art. The story of how this collection—a large portion of which now resides at the National Gallery of Art in Washington—came to be is the subject of Megumi Sasaki’s modest, touching documentary.” Sponsored by Capital Kitchen. Community Partner: Studio Place Arts. 89 minutes. Film website

  • Thursday, March 25 12:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Saturday, March 27 12:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

The Heretics

Joan Braderman, director and narrator, followed her dream of becoming a filmmaker to New York City in 1971. By chance, she joined a feminist art collective at the epicenter of the 1970’s art world in lower Manhattan. Her first-person account now charts the history of this influential group from the inside out. The Heresies Collective published HERESIES: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics from 1977 to 1992. All the women interviewed in the film (now ages 54-84) are still doing the work they fought for the right to do when they founded HERESIES. Post-film event: a panel of local artists will discuss the film at the Saturday, March 20, show; Director Joan Braderman will discuss the film at the Saturday, March 27 show. Sponsored by Vermont Women’s Fund and by Jane and Ed Pincus. Community Partners: Studio Place Arts, Vermont Commission on Women. 95 minutes. Film review

  • Saturday, March 20 2:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Saturday, March 27 4:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Honor

Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder  (PTSD) is the subject of both Dorothy Tod’s 1981 documentary WARRIORS’ WOMEN about Vietnam veterans and their spouses (28 min.) and Tyrone Pinkham’s recent drama about a returning Iraq War vet, HONOR (18 min.) Post-film event: Discussion with filmmakers and local therapists dealing with PTSD. Community Partner: Vermont Action for Peace.

  • Sunday, March 21 12:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

The Horse Boy

When 2-year-old Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert Isaacson, a writer and former horse trainer, and his wife, Kristin Neff, a psychology professor, sought the best possible medical care for their son, but traditional therapies had little effect. Then they discovered that Rowan has a profound affinity for animals—particularly horses—and the family set off on a quest for a possible cure. An intensely personal yet an epic spiritual journey, THE HORSE BOY follows the family as they trek on horseback through Outer Mongolia in a desperate attempt to treat his condition with shamanic healing. Post-film events: Sas Carey, holistic healer and frequent traveler to Mongolia, will speak after the Tuesday show; Sarah Seidman, who works locally with horses and autistic children, will speak after the Wednesday and Thursday shows. Sponsored by Amy Miller. 93 minutes. Film website

  • Tuesday, March 23 2:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Wednesday, March 24 6:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Thursday, March 25 4:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

The Investigator

This quirky 2007 thriller, never released in the United States, features an unlikely hero, a gruff pathologist who reluctantly takes on the role of a contract killer to pay for his elderly mother’s cancer treatments. He carries out the assignment only to discover he’s been the patsy of unknown forces – and must save his own skin before the police close in. It brings to mind the complex morality of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley series. Sponsored by Richard Jenney.107 minutes, in Hungarian with subtitles. With short RETOUCHES (5 minutes).

  • Monday, March 22 8:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Thursday, March 25 2:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Saturday, March 27 8:45 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Last Stand Farmer

In Last Stand Farmer, 40-year part-time Chelsea resident Richard Brick documents an Orange County (VT) farm couple’s end of the road in his now-classic 1976 film (25 minutes). Bjorn Jackson’s UNDER THE CLOAK OF DARKNESS (45 minutes) looks at the troubling role of today’s migrant laborers on Vermont farms. Post-film event: discussion with both filmmakers. Community Partner: Vermont Action for Peace. Film website

  • Saturday, March 27 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Lemon Tree

Salma Zidane is a 45-year-old widow who lives alone in a tiny Palestinian village on the West Bank. When the Israeli minister of defense builds a house on the other side of the Green Line, his bodyguards consider Salma’s lemon trees, planted many generations ago, to be a security risk, since they can hide terrorists. Meanwhile, the minister’s wife feels increasingly drawn to Salma as the battle between her husband and their Palestinian neighbors drags on. An invisible bond connects these two very different women who find themselves on the brink of a new phase in their lives. The New York Times: “Directed by the Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis, whose 2004 movie, THE SYRIAN BRIDE, explored Israeli-Arab border tensions, the film is also a wrenching, richly layered feminist allegory as well as a geopolitical one.” Sponsored by Red Hen Baking Co. Community Partners: Beth Jacob Synagogue, Peace and Justice Center, Vermont Council on World Affairs. 105 minutes, in Arabic and Hebrew with subtitles. Film website

  • Saturday, March 27 12:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 28 3:45 pm @ Savoy Theater

Life in Washington County

Life in Washington County, a documentary by Vince Franke and Senator Bill Doyle;  Four Friends, a documentary by Sue Bettmann on four notable Vermonters whose paths crossed in the late 60s at Goddard College; and Caro Thompson’s Champlain: The Lake Between. Total program 105 minutes. Filmmakers will be on hand to introduce their films. Community Partner: Vermont Historical Society.

  • Monday, March 22 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Lorna’s Silence

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made unforgettable films about today’s changing face of Europe; their latest protagonist is an Albanian immigrant in Belgium who is forced to make several agonizing decisions. Lorna dreams of opening a snack bar with her boyfriend, Sokol, but in order to do so, she becomes an accomplice in a plan devised by mobster Fabio. The Toronto Star: “In casting the previously unknown Asha Dobroshi as Lorna, the brothers approach greatness with their lean portrait of simple humanity tested by desire and driven desperate by circumstances.” Post-film event: critic Gerald Peary will discuss the film after the Saturday show. Sponsored by Terry Doran and Deb Richter. Community Partners: Chronique Francophone, Kellogg-Hubbard Library. 105 minutes, in French with subtitles. Directors interview

  • Friday, March 26 12:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Saturday, March 27 4:15 pm @ Savoy Theater

M. Hulot’s Holiday

In 1953, Jacques Tati, master of his own idiosyncratic genre of cinematic slapstick, debuted his alter ego, M. Hulot, a gangly and awkward Frenchman, perpetually the center and possible cause of a whirlwind of disasters, pratfalls, and mishaps. In place of a plot, a series of disastrous coincidences, surreal sight gags, and irascible indignations erupt around Hulot as he gallantly and obliviously strolls through his seaside vacation. While he tries to impress a lovely ingenue, Hulot inadvertently barges in on a funeral, ignites a fireworks stand with his pipe, and topples a Ming vase, rarely aware of the extent of the damage he causes. We are pleased to show a restored print from Janus Films. With an introduction by GMFF Programmer Rick Winston. Sponsored by National Life Group. Community Partners: Chronique Francophone, Kellogg-Hubbard Library. 88 minutes, in French with subtitles. Film website

  • Saturday, March 20 2:30 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 21 4:45 pm @ Savoy Theater

The Maid

An obsessively diligent, emotionally remote domestic causes all sorts of trouble for herself and the family she works for in Chilean director Sebastian Silva’s taut film. The New York Times: “A tense, engrossing character study with a sometimes boldly repellent performance by Catalina Saavedra in the title role, this sharply cut gem is less a story of class differences than a tough, nuanced and finally compassionate portrait of an individual who thwarts compassion more often than not.” THE MAID was a hit at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, copping the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and an acting award for Saavedra. 95 minutes, in Spanish with subtitles. Film review

  • Tuesday, March 23 12:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Thursday, March 25 2:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Friday, March 26 6:15 pm @ Savoy Theater

Mary And Max

This claymation wonder from Australia’s Adam Elliott made a splash at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The surprising friendship between a young Australian girl named Mary (voiced by Toni Collette) and an aging and troubled New Yorker named Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman) lies at the heart of this sweet comedy with decidedly serious themes. Though Mary and Max have never met, they communicate via letter, becoming close companions though they are separated by thousands of miles. Barry Humphries provides narration, while Eric Bana also supplies his voice. indieWire: “A lovingly crafted, startlingly inventive piece of animation whose technical craft is equaled by its emotional resonance.” Not intended for children. Sponsored by Patricia Fontaine. Community Partner: School of Cartoon Studies. 80 minutes. Film website

  • Friday, March 26 10:15 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Saturday, March 27 2:15 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 28 11:30 am @ Savoy Theater

The Messenger

The New Yorker: “Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson, nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar), a brusque Army lifer, and Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), a coiled, secretive Iraq-war veteran, work together at one of the armed forces’ most difficult jobs: telling parents and spouses that a loved one has been killed in Iraq. There’s an excruciatingly obvious but unavoidable irony here: the movie itself has taken on the unwelcome task of telling its audience what it doesn’t want to hear—news of the way families get hit by an unending war. This is a fully felt, morally alert, marvelously acted piece of work. Harrelson, with his eye-popping glare and acetylene voice, takes his usual wild-man character deep into melancholy and loneliness; the mesmerizing Foster, whose eyes seem to look inward and outward at the same time, eases the tense, guilty war hero back into life. The two form an uneasy, carousing friendship. The visits to the families are done with great delicacy, but great courage, too, and after a while we feel not like voyeurs but like participants. The director, Oren Moverman (a veteran of the Israeli Army), is clearly a whiz with actors.” Sponsored by The Black Door. 105 minutes. Director interview

  • Monday, March 22 8:30 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Tuesday, March 23 2:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Wednesday, March 24 6:15 pm @ Savoy Theater

The Most Dangerous Man in America

Rick Goldsmith and Judith Ehrlich’s eye-opening documentary has been nominated for this year’s Best Documentary Oscar. “I just say that we’ve got to keep our eye on the main ball. The main ball is Ellsberg. We’ve got to get this son-of-a-bitch,” said Richard Nixon in conversation with Attorney General John Mitchell in 1971. Earlier that year, Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concluded that the war was based on decades of lies and leaked 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world. This film is a riveting story of how one man’s profound change of heart created a landmark struggle involving America’s newspapers, its president, and the Supreme Court. Los Angeles Times: “Fortunately, the staunchly committed and controversial Ellsberg, now 78, is still around to tell his history-making tale, and he lends the film gravitas as both its persuasive narrator and primary talking head.” Sponsored by Buch Spieler. Community Partners: Peace and Justice Center, American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. 92 minutes. With short HA’AKI (5 minutes). Film review

  • Monday, March 22 4:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Wednesday, March 24 8:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 28 4:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

The Necessities of Life

This finely wrought drama, Grand Prize winner at the 2008 Montreal Film
Festival, was inspired by a tuberculosis epidemic that broke out among the Inuit population of Canada’s Far North in the 1940s and 1950s. Natar Ungalaaq of THE FAST RUNNER stars as Tivii, a stricken man yanked from his isolated home terrain to a Quebec City hospital, where he experiences both profound culture shock and some barrier-transcending
human connections. While no one there speaks his native tongue, Tivii
does grasp that his treatment is expected to last as long as two years.
Toronto Star: “In examining what constitutes the necessities of
life, writer-director Benoit Pilon presents a variety of
options–communication, belonging, acceptance and family. But chief
among them is dignity.” Sponsored by Quebec Government Office in Boston. 105
minutes, in Inuktitut and French with subtitles. Film review

  • Friday, March 26 2:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Saturday, March 27 8:45 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 28 6:00 pm @ Savoy Theater

North Face

Based on a true story, this is a suspenseful adventure film about a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps. Set in 1936, as Nazi propaganda urges the nation’s alpinists to conquer the unclimbed north face of the Swiss massif — the Eiger — two German climbers begin their daring ascent. NORTH FACE is a gripping film with a vivid sense of its historic moment, and an homage and critique of the great German mountain films of the 1920s and 1930s. The Independent, London: “Writer-director Philipp Stölzl evokes a keen sense of period in setting up the story, but once it switches to the mountain face, with avalanches and bitter weather looming ominously, the film becomes as taut as a holding rope.” Sponsored by Concept2. Community Partners: Green Mountain Club, Kellogg-Hubbard Library. 126 minutes, in German with subtitles. Film review

  • Saturday, March 20 12:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Monday, March 22 2:00 pm @ Savoy Theater

Numen: The Nature of Plants

Local filmmakers Terrence Youk and Ann Armbrecht explore the healing powers of plants in a film that in its rough cut version was a GMFF favorite from 2009. Now they are pleased to present it in its final version. The filmmakers quote Kenny Ausbel, founder of the Bioneers Conference: “Our relationship with plants and our knowledge of those plants is perhaps the most important collective heritage we have…That knowledge is ultimately what is going to sustain us.” Sponsored by Montpelier Pharmacy. Post-film event: Discussion with the filmmakers. Guest appearance by Deb Soule, herbalist, gardener, teacher and author of A Woman’s Book of Herbs. 95 minutes. Film website

  • Sunday, March 28 8:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Orgasm Inc.

In her shocking and often hilarious documentary, filmmaker Liz Canner takes a job editing erotic videos for a drug trial at a pharmaceutical company. Her employer is developing what it hopes will be a female Viagra: a drug for women that will win FDA approval to treat a new disease: female sexual dysfunction (FSD). Liz gains permission to film the company for her own documentary. Initially, she plans to create a movie about science and pleasure, but she soon begins to suspect that her employer, along with a cadre of other medical companies, might be trying to take advantage of women (and potentially endanger their health) in pursuit of billion-dollar profits. Sponsored by Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Naturally). Post-film event: discussion with filmmaker Liz Canner. 75 minutes. Film website

  • Sunday, March 28 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

A Sea Change

Barbara Ettinger’s film follows the journey of retired history teacher Sven Huseby on his quest to discover what is happening to the world’s oceans. After reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Darkening Sea, Sven becomes obsessed with the rising acidity of the oceans and what this “sea change” bodes for mankind. His quest takes him to Alaska, California, Washington, and Norway to speak with oceanographers, marine biologists, and climatologists. The film is also a touching portrait of Sven’s relationship with his grandchild Elias; as Sven keeps a correspondence with the little boy, he mulls over the world that he is leaving for future generations. Post-film events: Barbara Ettinger and Sven Huseby will discuss the film after both shows. Sponsored by Vermont Natural Resources Council. 83 minutes. Film website

  • Friday, March 19 6:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Saturday, March 20 9:30 am @ City Hall Arts Center

The Secret of Kells

In this spectacular Irish animated film (nominated for this year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar), taking place in medieval times, young Brendan plays a role in preserving the ancient Book of Kells, an intricately illuminated Latin gospel that is considered to be Ireland’s greatest national treasure. Screen Daily International: “Visually ravishing and doused in Celtic magic.” For ages 8 and up (some scary images). Post-film event: cartoonist/author Steve Bissette will discuss the film after the Saturday, March 20, show. Sponsored by Zutano. 85 minutes. Film website
New York Times article

  • Saturday, March 20 2:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium
  • Tuesday, March 23 4:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 28 9:30 am @ City Hall Arts Center

Séraphine

Séraphine de Senlis (Yolande Moreau) was a simple and profoundly devout housekeeper whose brilliantly colorful canvases now adorn some of the most famous galleries in the world. Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur), a German art critic and collector, discovers her paintings while she is working for him as a maid in the beautiful countryside of Senlis, near Paris, in the early part of the 20th century. A moving and unexpected relationship develops between the avant-garde art dealer and the visionary cleaning lady. Seattle Times: “The film belongs to Moreau. Half-derided, half-protected by her village neighbors, her Séraphine is dowdy, willful, gruff, determined: a blend of singing mystic and muttering madwoman.” Sponsored by Goddard College. Community Partners: Chronique Francophone, Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Studio Place Arts. 126 minutes, in French with subtitles. Director interview

  • Thursday, March 25 11:30 am @ Savoy Theater
  • Saturday, March 27 9:30 am @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 28 8:15 pm @ Savoy Theater

Shugendô Now

How does one integrate lessons learned from nature in daily life? This feature documentary is an experiential journey into the mystical practices of Japanese mountain asceticism. In Shugendô (the way of acquiring power), practitioners perform ritual actions from shamanism, Shintô, Daoism, and Tantric Buddhism. Through the peace and beauty of the natural world, practitioners reconnect with their truest nature. But how does one return to the city after an enlightening experience in the mountains? This film explores how a group of modern Japanese people integrate the myriad ways that mountain learning interacts with urban life. With intimate camera work and a sensual sound design, the viewer is taken from deep within the Kumano Mountains to the worlds of Osaka and Tokyo and back again. Post-film events: co-director Mark Mcguire will speak after both shows. Sponsoreed by Katherine and John Paterson.Community Partners: Green Mountain Club, Japan Society of Vermont. 91 minutes, in Japanese with subtitles. Film website

  • Saturday, March 20 11:45 am @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 21 4:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

The Sky Below

To create the documentary THE SKY BELOW, Sarah Singh traveled across one of the world’s most volatile regions, through northern India, Pakistan, and Kashmir, tracing culture, history, society, and the politics of divide and rule. She explores the lasting and dangerous effects of the partition of 1947 that created Pakistan, interviewing people of many backgrounds. Newsline Magazine, Pakistan: “THE SKY BELOW is a film that will not please those who are looking for easy answers. It does, however, raise all the right questions.” Post-film events: Sarah Singh will discuss the film, on Saturday with journalist Aseem Chhabra, and on Sunday by herself. Sponsored by New England Construction Company. Community Partner: Friends of Indian Music and Dance, Vermont Council on World Affairs.75 minutes, in English and several regional languages. Film website and more information on Sarah Singh.

  • Saturday, March 20 4:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 21 2:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Snowflake Bentley

In 1885 Wilson A. Bentley became the first person ever to photograph a single snowflake. By his death, in a snow storm, on December 23, 1931, he had captured thousands of images of snowflakes, of such astonishing quality that for almost a hundred years hardly anyone bothered to take any more.

A short film. More information to follow.

To be shown with by EARTH DAYS.

  • Tuesday, March 23 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Soul Power

A. O. Scott, The New York Times: “A partial list, in alphabetical order, of the reasons to see SOUL POWER might go as follows: James Brown, Celia Cruz and the Fania All-Stars, B. B. King, Miriam Makeba, the Spinners and Bill Withers. A partial list, as I say, of performers captured with remarkable sonic brilliance and visual immediacy on an outdoor stage in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Congo), in 1974. This is an extravagantly entertaining documentary, assembled by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte from a trove of hundreds of hours of footage captured by some of the world’s finest cinéma vérité camera operators some 35 years ago.” Sponsored by Figrig Web Crafters. 96 minutes. Director interview

  • Friday, March 19 11:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Monday, March 22 4:30 pm @ Savoy Theater

The Summer of Walter Hacks

Last year, Waterbury filmmaker / musician / organic dairy farmer George Woodard presented some excerpts of his long-awaited film. This year, George presents the premiere of the completed film. The year is 1952, and every country boy’s summer is supposed to be idyllic, but 11-year-old Walter is forced to grow up fast on his father’s farm. Walter and his older brother Clifford work hard, though Walter finds unexpected intrigue and adventure with his bicycle, his cowboy hat, and his sidekick Margaret. Post-film event: George Woodard and producer Gerianne Smart will appear at the Friday, March 19, show. Film website Sponsored by Amtrak, and by Horizon Organic. 130 minutes.

  • Friday, March 19 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium
  • Saturday, March 27 2:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Sunday Shorts

Jim Gallagher’s drama COMPLICATIONS, Richard Waterhouse’s RESPECT FOR ACTING, Jason Lorber’s comedies DOCTOR DOCTOR and AN UNEXPECTED AFFAIR, Tim Joy’s dramas ANTI DE PRESENCE and AGAIN TO RETURN, and Michael Fisher’s experimental shorts WIDOW and BACKWATER. Sponsored by Figrig Web Crafters. Approximately 120 minutes. Introductions by filmmakers.

  • Sunday, March 28 12:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

That Evening Sun

Hal Holbrook gives a career-capping performance as Abner Meecham, an elderly Tennessee farmer discarded to a nursing facility by his lawyer son. He flees his situation and catches a ride back to his country farm to live out his days in peace. But on arrival, he finds he must confront a family betrayal, the reappearance of an old enemy, and the loss of his farm. Variety: “An exceptionally fine, richly atmospheric film…. Holbrook is at the absolute top of his game.” Sponsored by The Black Door. 110 minutes. Film website

  • Friday, March 26 8:15 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Saturday, March 27 6:40 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Sunday, March 28 1:30 pm @ Savoy Theater

Tibet in Song

In 1995, Ngawang Choephel returned to his native Tibet to document the country’s fast-disappearing folksinging tradition. Once there, he was accused of being a spy and sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Chinese, inspiring international demand for his eventual release after five years. Variety: “The very existence of the film is something of a miracle…. Despite the personal hardship he suffered, Choephel puts the local musicians and their endangered traditions first. But his own experience strongly amplifies the film’s political subtext, revealing a form of cultural Darwinism in which Chinese control threatens to extinguish centuries of cultural heritage.” The film contains both original music composed by Ngawang himself and an array of traditional folk songs sung by native Tibetans. Sponsored by National Life Group. Community partners: Peace and Justice Center, Vermont Council on World Affairs. 86 minutes, in Tibetan with subtitles and English. With short WAITING FOR A TRAIN (20 minutes). Film website

  • Saturday, March 27 6:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 28 11:15 am @ City Hall Arts Center

To Inform and Delight: The World of Milton Glaser

Here’s a chance to spend some time with one of today’s great creative minds – the renowned artist, designer, illustrator and teacher who has given us many iconic images in his 50-year career. The New York Times: “Instead of a detailed biography, this heartening documentary, produced and directed by Wendy Keys, concentrates on his work, with analysis by many commentators, of whom the most articulate is Mr. Glaser himself.” A must for any visual artist! Sponsored by Goddard College. Community Partner: Studio Place Arts. 80 minutes. Film review

  • Saturday, March 27 2:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

A Town Called Panic

Hilarious and frequently surreal, the stop-motion extravaganza from Belgium has endless charms and raucous humor. Based on the Belgian animated cult TV series, PANIC stars three plastic toys named Cowboy, Indian, and Horse, who share a rambling house in a rural town with eccentric neighbors. Cowboy and Indian’s plan to give Horse a homemade barbeque backfires when they accidentally buy 50 million bricks on the Internet. This sets off a perilously wacky chain of events as the trio travel to the center of the earth, trek across frozen tundra, and discover a parallel underwater universe of pointy-headed creatures. For ages 8 and up (subtitles and some mild swearing). Sponsored by Three Penny Taproom. Community Partner: School of Cartoon Studies. 75 minutes, in French with subtitles. With short PHOTOGRAPH OF JESUS (6 minutes). Film website

  • Wednesday, March 24 4:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Friday, March 26 9:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 28 6:00 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Uncertainty

The New York Times: “UNCERTAINTY is a taut, skillful exercise in cinematic clockwork concocted by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, the talented directors of THE DEEP END and BEE SEASON.” Written by the two men, with dialogue largely improvised by the actors, the movie splits into parallel stories (one a thriller, one a family drama) after an opening scene in which young lovers, Bobby Thompson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a Canadian musician, and Kate Montero (Lynn Collins), a Broadway dancer, meet on the Brooklyn Bridge one Fourth of July morning.” Post-film event: discussion with the filmmakers after the Saturday, March 20, show. Sponsored by New England Construction Company. 105 minutes. Film review

  • Saturday, March 20 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium
  • Saturday, March 27 10:45 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Under Our Skin

Journeying deep into the microscopic and macrocosmic world of Lyme disease, UNDER OUR SKIN uncovers the shocking human, medical, and political dimensions of this condition. As the film delves into the lives of those who have been unalterably changed by the disease, a haunting picture emerges of our health care system and its inability to cope with a terror under our skin. Austin Chronicle: “The information it presents is eye-opening for medical consumers and health professionals of any stripe. And the film incidentally makes a great case for health care reform.” Post-film event: discussion with central Vermonters affected by Lyme Disease, and local doctors. 104 minutes. Film website

  • Sunday, March 21 5:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Vermont Farm Films

In Last Stand Farmer, former Chelsea resident Richard Brick documents an Orange County, Vermont, farm couple’s end of the road in his now-classic 1976 film (28 minutes). Bjorn Jackson’s UNDER THE CLOAK OF DARKNESS (38 minutes) looks at the troubling role of today’s migrant laborers on Vermont farms. Post-film event: discussion with both filmmakers. Community Partner: Vermont Action for Peace.

  • Saturday, March 27 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Vermont History Films

LIFE IN WASHINGTON COUNTY (33 minutes), a documentary by Vince Franke and Senator Bill Doyle; FOUR FRIENDS (18 minutes), a documentary by Sue Bettmann on four notable Vermonters whose paths crossed in the late 1960s at Goddard College; and Caro Thompson’s CHAMPLAIN: THE LAKE BETWEEN (63 minutes). Filmmakers will be on hand to introduce their films. Community Partner: Vermont Historical Society. Sponsored by Lost Nation Theater Company.

  • Monday, March 22 6:15 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Vermont Student Films

Two comedies: THE RUBE GOLDBERG EFFECT and SIN-ERGY. Four documentaries: IN THE VALLEY OF THE ONION,“and i am me,” GOD HATES, and STORIES OF EXTRAORDINARY COURAGE. Sponsored by Community National Bank. Approximately 120 minutes. Introductions by filmmakers.

  • Sunday, March 21 2:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Vermont’s George Aiken: Balancing Freedom and Unity

A farm boy from Dummerston, Vermont, set the standard for common sense, bipartisanship, and loyalty to the folks back home for 34 years in the U.S. Senate. Post-film event: discussion with the filmmaker, Rick Moulton, and the senator’s widow, Lola Aiken. 63 minutes. Community Partner: Vermont Historical Society.

  • Saturday, March 20 12:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

Warriors’ Women

Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) is the subject of both Dorothy Tod’s 1981 documentary WARRIORS’ WOMEN about Vietnam veterans and their spouses (28 min.) and Tyrone Pinkham’s recent drama about a returning Iraq War vet, HONOR (18 min.) Post-film event: Discussion with filmmakers and local therapists dealing with PTSD. Community Partner: Vermont Action for Peace.

  • Sunday, March 21 12:00 pm @ Pavilion Auditorium

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

Filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler explore the life of their father, the late radical civil rights lawyer. In the 1960s and 1970s, Kunstler fought for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. and represented the famed “Chicago 8” activists who were charged with conspiracy after the 1968 Democratic convention. When the inmates took over Attica prison or when the American Indian Movement stood up to the federal government at Wounded Knee, they asked Kunstler to be their lawyer. But later, when the daughters were growing up, Kunstler represented some of the most reviled members of society, including alleged rapists and assassins. This powerful film not only recounts the historic causes that Kunstler fought for, it also reveals a man that even his own daughters did not always understand. Post-film events: Emily Kunstler will discuss the film after both showings. Sponsored by Vermont Compost Company. Community Partners: Peace and Justice Center, American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. 95 minutes. Film website

  • Monday, March 22 6:15 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Tuesday, March 23 11:30 am @ City Hall Arts Center

XXY

For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15-year-old Alex (Ines Efron) in this moving Argentine film. As Alex, who was born an intersex child, begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-year-old son Álvaro. Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity and forces both families to face their worst fears. The New York Times: “Delicate, emotionally potent.” Community Partners: Samara Foundation, Outright Vermont, RU12? 86 minutes, in Spanish with subtitles. Film review

  • Tuesday, March 23 4:00 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Wednesday, March 24 8:30 pm @ Savoy Theater

The Yes Men Fix the World

Armed with nothing but thrift-store suits, the Yes Men (Andy Bichelbaum and Mike Bonnano) lie their way into business conferences and parody their corporate targets, such as Dow Chemical, in ever more extreme ways – basically doing everything that they can to wake up their audiences to the danger of letting greed run our world. New York Magazine: “Outrageously entertaining…. This movie is glorious testimony to the moral power of satire.” Sponsored by Wayne M. Ridley, Fine Oriental Rugs. Community Partner: Peace and Justice Center. 85 minutes. Film website

  • Wednesday, March 24 2:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Friday, March 26 10:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center

Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

From Aviva Kempner (THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG) comes this humorous and eye-opening story of television pioneer Gertrude Berg (As the film poster says, “The most famous woman in America you’ve never heard of”). She was the creator, principal writer, and star of The Goldbergs, a popular radio show for 17 years, about Jewish family life, which became television’s very first character-driven domestic sitcom in 1949, featuring her alter ego, the warm-hearted Molly Goldberg. San Francisco Chronicle: “Whenever watching a documentary by Aviva Kempner, surprises are always in store. In her latest film, Kempner once again educates and entertains with unexpected tidbits and just plain good old-fashioned filmmaking.” Post-film events: Aviva Kempner will discuss the film at both shows. Sponsored by Washington Electric Co-op. Community Partner: Beth Jacob Synagogue. 92 minutes. Film website

  • Saturday, March 20 6:30 pm @ City Hall Arts Center
  • Sunday, March 21 11:45 am @ City Hall Arts Center

You, the Living

Swedish cult director Roy Andersson couples his iconic visual style (stationary shots, a monochromatic palette of grays and greens) with a meticulous eye for composition to yield a brilliant succession of dreamlike tableaux: a bride and her electric-guitar-playing groom sail along in a house moving like a train; a distraught man complains of his financial woes while his wife tries to make love to him; a drunken woman shouts, “No one understands me” to a bar full of silent patrons, and a man waiting in line to buy a train ticket changes queues repeatedly, to no advantage. Andersson brings a blast of distinctive Nordic humor to our universal woes. Seattle Times: “Essentially indescribable, it can be quite funny if you’re susceptible to Andersson’s curious way of capturing the human comedy.” Sponsored by Salaam Boutique. 95 minutes, in Swedish with subtitles. Film review

  • Sunday, March 21 6:45 pm @ Savoy Theater
  • Thursday, March 25 4:15 pm @ Savoy Theater