Films & Events 2008
Screenings may include shorts.
Sold out shows indicated in red
2008 PROGRAM LISTING
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The Art of Cinematography
- 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
The Axe in the Attic
- Saturday, March 22 6:15 pm
- Sunday, March 23 4:15 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Saturday, March 22 at 6:15 pm SOLD OUT
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, filmmakers Ed Pincus and Lucia Small, drawn together by outrage, took a 60-day road trip from New England to New Orleans. Along the way they met evacuees and witnessed the loss, dignity, perseverance and
humor of people who have become exiles in their own country. The
breakdown of trust between a government and its citizens and the
influence of race, class, and gender – as well as the ethics of
documentary filmmaking itself – form the backdrop to this universal
story of the search for home. The Boston Globe: “The film is about rediscovering our common humanity - pushing through the flat screen of TV footage to connect with the Katrina victims as individuals.” Sponsored by Union Institute and University. Post-film event: filmmaker Ed Pincus will appear after both shows. No rating, 110 minutes. Film website
The Birthday
- Sunday, March 23 2:00 pm
- Thursday, March 27 2:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
From the Margaret Mead Traveling Film and Video Festival:
Issues of sexuality remain bound to tradition in modern Iran, and yet
within this rigid structure, transsexuals find a government supportive
of their desire to be reborn through surgery. This sensitive portrait
offers a window into the complex issue of sexuality in an Islamic
society. In 1976, Ayatollah Khomeini, imposed a fatwa to allow people
with hormonal disorders to change sex if they wished, because the Koran
doesn’t say anything on the subject. Transsexuals don’t have to fear
prosecution and they even can change their birth certificates, but the
challenge is the traditional, religious Iranian society in which
transsexuality is still treated as a disease. Negin Kianfar and Daisy
Mohr’s film follows a young man who decides to become a woman; his
conservative parents try to come to terms with their son’s decision. Supported
in part by the Vermont Humanities Council and the National Endowment
for the Humanities. Community Partners: RU12?, Samara Foundation. Post-film
events: Steve Zind and Anousha Shahsavari will discuss the film after
the Sunday, March 23 show; three members of the RU12? Trans Support
Group will speak after the Thursday, March 27, show. No rating, 65 minutes, in Farsi with subtitles. Film review
Bittersweet
- Friday, March 28 4:00 pm
- Saturday, March 29 8:45 pm
- Sunday, March 30 9:30 am
Savoy Theater
True to its title, Doron Benvenisti’s film is a charming comedy with dramatic undercurrents.
Ran directs a successful international investment company; he is
married to Dana and they have two children. Their friend Keren, a
musician, is married to Leon, an attorney. David is a successful
gynecologist, who lives with his boyfriend, Gal. No one knows his true
sexual identity, so Ran sets him up with Daniella, his secretary. A
quiet evening together among the six friends is interrupted by the
unexpected arrival of a fortune teller. Her prophecies disturb the
group’s fragile harmony and each of these people’s lives begins to
unravel. Sponsored by Zutano. Community Partner: Beth Jacob Synagogue. Post-film event: filmmaker Doron Benvenisti will appear at all showings. No rating, 101 minutes, in Hebrew with subtitles. Film website
Blame it on Fidel
- Friday, March 21 6:00 pm
- Sunday, March 23 8:45 pm
- Thursday, March 27 12:00 pm
- Sunday, March 30 6:30 pm
Savoy Theater
Friday, March 21 at 6:00 pm SOLD OUT
Sunday, March 30 at 6:30 pm SOLD OUT
Julie
Gavras’s insightful film is a deeply political movie that sidesteps
strident polemics by viewing the ideological conflicts within a
French-Spanish family through the eyes of a smart, willful child. As
the daily life of nine-year-old Anna (Nina Kervel) is drastically
revised after her parents, Fernando and Marie de la Mesa, suddenly
become radicals, she resists change with the ferocious determination of
a youngster who is told that she must part with her favorite toys.
Trevor Johnson, Time Out: “A deft, original, entertaining and
thoughtful look at that moment when we realise the world’s just that
bit more complicated than we thought.” Stephen Holden, The New York Times: “Each
minute fluctuation in the household’s political weather registers
poignantly on Anna’s visage as she tries to grasp events she barely
comprehends. Ms. Kervel, her grave, intelligent features scrunched into
a worried frown throughout much of the movie, is a marvel. By any
measure it is a great performance by a child actor.” Sponsored by
Christa Lancaster. Community Partners: Chronique Francophone, Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Rated PG-13, 95 minutes, in French with subtitles. Film review
The Business of Being Born
- Sunday, March 23 10:00 am
- Tuesday, March 25 6:00 pm
- Friday, March 28 12:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Compelled
to find answers after a disappointing hospital experience during the
birth of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruited filmmaker Abby
Epstein to examine and question the way babies are delivered in
America. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising
historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics
about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein
discovered she was pregnant during the making of the film, the journey
became even more personal. Variety: “This highly
informative expose makes a strong case for natural childbirth and an
even stronger case for having a baby anywhere besides a U.S. hospital.” Sponsored by Gifford Hospital. Community Partners: “Mama Says,” Vermont Birth Network. Post-film event: There will be a panel discussion after the Tuesday, March 25, show. No rating, 87 minutes. Film website
The Cake Eaters
- Friday, March 21 8:00 pm
- Saturday, March 22 11:45 am
- Thursday, March 27 8:00 pm
Savoy Theater
Friday, March 21 at 8:00 pm SOLD OUT
Two
troubled families are thrown together by the return of one family’s
prodigal son, forcing the clans’ members to battle old ghosts and work
through emotional issues as they search for love at any cost. An
outstanding cast includes Bruce Dern, Aaron Sanford, Elizabeth Ashley,
Jayce Bartok (who also wrote the screenplay) and most notably, Kirsten
Stewart as a teenager with a degenerative disease whose zest for life
sets the plot in motion. Says
director Mary Stuart Masterson, “When I first read the script, I was
struck by its simplicity and sweetness. Oddly, the world of this movie
is untouched by the techno-centric world. Rather than fight it, I chose
to embrace it on every level.” Variety:
“Mary Stuart Masterson brings the same directness and vulnerability
that imbue her acting to her quietly impressive directorial debut….a
vibrant, unpretentious small-town tale with a dynamite performance by
Kirsten Stewart.” Sponsored by Sarducci’s. Post-film
event: Actor/screenwriter Jayce Bartok will discuss the film after the
Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22, shows. Rated R, 95 minutes. Film review
China Blue
- Friday, March 28 4:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
From the Margaret Mead Traveling Film and Video Festival:
They live crowded together in cement factory dormitories where water
has to be carried upstairs in buckets. Their meals and rent are
deducted from their wages, which amount to less than a dollar a day.
Most of the jeans they make in the factory are purchased by retailers
in the United States and other countries. CHINA BLUE
takes viewers inside a blue jeans factory in southern China, where
teenage workers struggle to survive harsh working conditions. Providing
perspectives from both the top and bottom levels of the factory’s
hierarchy, the film looks at complex issues of globalization from the
human level.
Supported in part by the Vermont Humanities Council and the National
Endowment for the Humanities. Community Partners: Vermont Workers’
Center, Green Mountain Forum on Globalization. Post-film event: Discussion with University of Vermont anti-sweatshop activists. No rating, 85 minutes, in Chinese with subtitles.
Film review
A Conversation with Christine Vachon
- Sunday, March 30 12:00 pm
Hayes Room, Kellogg-Hubbard Library
CHANGE OF DATE : due to changing commitments this event will take place on Sunday, March 30 and not as previously intimated.
A Conversation with Kathleen Carroll
- 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.
Dancemaker
- Saturday, March 29 4:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Saturday, March 29 at 4:00 pm SOLD OUT
Paul
Taylor has been hailed as the world’s greatest living choreographer,
having created a stunning body of dance work over the last 40 years. Matthew Diamond’s 1998
film tells the tale of Taylor and his extraordinary company. Cutting
from stage to backstage to rehearsal with brilliant camerawork, the
film looks at the rise of Taylor from solitary child to star dancer to
master choreographer. Interviews with current and past
members of the company give the audience glimpses of the pain, joy,
obsession and love that motivate the artists – and the complex world of
ambition, emotion, creation, and hard-nosed decisions that go into
maintaining a world-class company. Sponsored by First in Fitness.
Community Partner: Contemporary Fitness and Dance Studio. Post-film event: Cinematographer Tom Hurwitz will discuss the making of the film. No rating, 95 minutes. Film website
Daratt (Dry Season)
- Saturday, March 22 9:45 am
- Monday, March 24 2:00 pm
- Thursday, March 27 6:00 pm
Savoy Theater
Thursday, March 27 at 6:00 pm SOLD OUT
Atim is a teenager, son to a man slain in Chad’s civil war just before
he was born. His grandfather raised him, and now that the boy is 15,
the old man has handed him a gun with orders to travel to the capital
and avenge his father’s death. But instead of finding a cold-hearted
killer, Atim discovers a quiet, regal man who has left killing behind
and now bakes baguettes for a living. Manohla Dargis, The New York Times:
“Truth arrives as grudgingly as reconciliation in the Chadian film
DARATT. Gently and quietly told, steeped in the kind of resigned sorrow
that can come after years of hurt and disappointment, it is an
unassumingly political work that unfolds with the simplicity of a
parable and the gravity of a Bible story… Revenge is generally wretched
business, but in DARATT,written and directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun,
it is mainly bedeviling and surprising… DARATT has the feel of a gift.”
Sponsored by Sarducci’s. Community Partners: Association of Africans
Living in Vermont, Vermont Council on World Affairs, Peace and Justice
Center. Rated PG-13, 96 minutes, in Arabic and French. Film website
Daughters of Wisdom
- Monday, March 24 12:00 pm
- Friday, March 28 8:30 pm
- Saturday, March 29 12:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Friday, March 28 at 8:30 pm SOLD OUT
Saturday, March 29 at 12:00 noon SOLD OUT
In
Tibet today, roughly 15% of the people live in urban centers, where the
ongoing struggle for Tibet’s future is taking place. But the other 85%
of Tibetans live in rural areas, subsistence farmers and nomadic
herding families engaged in the daily struggle to eat and survive.
DAUGHTERS OF WISDOM is a story of these people, an experiential and
transporting view of contemporary Tibet seen through the eyes of some
of its most extraordinary women, the nuns of Kala Rongo Monastery of
Nangchen, Kham. Founded in 1990, the Kala Rongo Monastery is granting
women choices they’ve never had before, and changing outmoded attitudes
that no longer serve the greater good of the community. Nearly 300 nuns
are now receiving religious and educational training previously
unavailable to them and are being given a real opportunity to change
the course of their lives and to preserve the rich spiritual heritage
of their people. Sponsored by Johnson State College. Community Partners: Shambhala Center of Montpelier, Kagyu Palchen Chöling Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center of Montpelier. Post-film event: Producer and director Bari Pearlman will appear at the Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29 shows. 68 minutes, in Tibetan with subtitles. Film website
Day for Night
- Saturday, March 22 2:00 pm
Savoy Theater
Saturday, March 22 at 2:00 pm SOLD OUT
“I still smile at the
very thought of Francois Truffaut’s opening shot in “Day For Night,”
the amazingly long tracking shot that gradually reveals the
film-within-the-film. I interviewed Truffaut at
the time that “Day for Night” was first released in this country. This
is how he explained his purpose for making the film. I wanted to
show a film to the public about the making of a film, a film that would
give the most information and from which one could learn the technical
aspects of movie making. The film will help those who are thinking
about making films. And, as far as the ordinary public is concerned,
the film doesn’t spoil anything.” – Kathleen Carroll
The Dhamma Brothers
- Monday, March 24 8:30 pm
- Tuesday, March 25 2:00 pm
- Thursday, March 27 8:30 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Monday, March 24 at 8:30 pm SOLD OUT
The Edge of Heaven
- Sunday, March 23 6:30 pm
- Monday, March 24 11:45 am
Savoy Theater
Sunday, March 23 at 6:30 pm SOLD OUT
The
lives of six characters living in Hamburg and Istanbul, including a
university professor, a prostitute and a political activist, intersect
in an emotional tale of separation and reconciliation. Variety:
“The point at which a good director crosses the career bridge to become
a substantial international talent is vividly clear in THE EDGE OF
HEAVEN, an utterly assured, profoundly moving fifth feature by Fatih
Akin. The superbly cast drama, in which the lives and emotional arcs of
six people — four Turks and two Germans — criss-cross through love and
tragedy, takes the German-born Turkish writer-director’s ongoing
interest in two seemingly divergent cultures to a humanist level that’s
way beyond the grungy romanticism of his 2003 HEAD-ON or the playful
comedy of IN JULY (2000).” Sponsored by Cranbury International.
Community Partners: Vermont Council on World Affairs, Kellogg-Hubbard
Library. Rated R, 120 minutes, in Turkish and German. Film review
Everything’s Cool
- Thursday, March 27 12:00 pm
- Friday, March 28 6:15 pm
- Saturday, March 29 8:45 pm
City Hall Arts Center
For the past two decades researchers, activists, scientists and
progressive politicians have struggled to rouse the public and the
federal government to take action on global warming. Concurrently,
naysayers, industry-funded think tanks and lobbyists have worked
tirelessly to challenge, convolute and dismiss the issue as hysterical.
This film, directed by Daniel B. Gold (who narrates) and Judith Helfand
(BLUE VINYL), tells the harrowing story of what it takes to talk about
global warming — the art of duking it out with collective denial, the
struggle to communicate the urgency of the crisis to an indifferent
public and a laggard United States government. We follow a cadre of
messengers who are passionate, exasperated, driven by fear, hope and a
deep appreciation for the ever shrinking window of time we have to stop
global warming. Post-film event: directors Daniel Gold and Judith Helfand will appear after the Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29 shows.
Sponsored by Washington Electric Coop. Community Partners: Vermont
Public Interest Research Group, Peace and Justice Center. No rating, 89
minutes. Film website
For the Bible Tells Me So
- Wednesday, March 26 12:00 pm
- Thursday, March 27 6:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Das Fräulein
- Saturday, March 22 4:45 pm
- Sunday, March 23 12:15 pm
- Wednesday, March 26 2:15 pm
Savoy Theater
Saturday, March 22 at 4:45 pm SOLD OUT
High and Outside
- Monday, March 24 6:15 pm
- Tuesday, March 25 4:00 pm
- Friday, March 28 10:15 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Monday, March 24 at 6:15 pm SOLD OUT
Honeydripper
- Friday, March 28 11:45 am
- Saturday, March 29 4:00 pm
- Sunday, March 30 2:15 pm
HONEYDRIPPER
Saturday, March 29 at 4:00 pm SOLD OUT
Sunday, March 30 at 2:15 pm SOLD OUT
I’m Not There
- Saturday, March 22 6:15 pm
- Monday, March 24 8:30 pm
- Tuesday, March 25 8:15 pm
Savoy Theater
ALL SHOWS SOLD OUT
Todd
Haynes’ highly anticipated biographical film about legendary singer and
songwriter Bob Dylan follows six distinct characters, embodying a
different aspect of Dylan’s life and music. Cate Blanchett (nominated
for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar), Richard Gere, Heath Ledger,
Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw and Marcus Carl Franklin all take turns
playing Dylan, and Julianne Moore and Charlotte Gainsbourg appear as
two of the women in his life. Lyrical, poetic and highly stylized, it’s
the first biographical feature project to secure the approval of Dylan
himself. A.O. Scott, The New York Times: “Among
its many achievements, Todd Haynes’s I’M NOT THERE hurls a Molotov
cocktail through the facade of the Hollywood biopic factory, exploding
the literal-minded, anti-intellectual assumptions that guide even the
most admiring cinematic explorations of artists’ lives. Rather than
turn out yet another dutiful, linear chronicle of childhood trauma and
grown-up substance abuse, Mr. Haynes has produced a dizzying document
of images and styles, in which his subject appears in the form of six
different people.” Sponsored by Figrig Web Crafters and National Life Group. (Producer Christine Vachon will discuss this and other films on Sunday, March 30 at Kellogg-Hubbard Library.) Rated R, 135 minutes. Film review
It’s a Free World…
- Monday, March 24 4:15 pm
- Tuesday, March 25 12:00 pm
- Saturday, March 29 12:00 pm
Savoy Theater
The
subject of the latest film from the team of director Ken Loach and
screenwriter Paul Laverty (THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY) is illegal
immigration, approached from an unusual angle. The complex protagonist
is Angie, a young London woman who operates an employment agency
matching up mostly Eastern European immigrants with employers in the
U.K. Intensely proud of her meager independence, she is put to the test
when she discovers that for her small business to survive, she must
start doing what everyone in her field does: hire illegals. Cinematical: “The
film works on every level — the performances (especially that of
newcomer Kierston Wareing in the lead) are compelling, the drama feels
grounded and real, and we brush up against an issue so large and
overwhelming that you can easily see why no one thinks it’s their
problem to solve.” Sponsored by Zutano. Community Partners: Green
Mountain Forum on Globalization, Vermont Council on World Affairs. No
rating, 93 minutes. Film website
Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten
- Friday, March 21 10:30 pm
- Wednesday, March 26 4:00 pm
Savoy Theater
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen
- Sunday, March 23 10:00 am
- Wednesday, March 26 6:30 pm
- Friday, March 28 8:30 pm
- Saturday, March 29 9:30 am
Savoy Theater
Friday, March 28 at 8:30 pm SOLD OUT
The new film by the directors of ATANARJUAT: THE FAST RUNNER is set in
and around Igloolik in the 1920s, as the last great Inuit shaman and
his headstrong daughter struggle to survive the sweep of civilization
that brought Christianity and commerce to the arctic and irrevocably
changed Inuit life. Witnesses to their story are Danish ethnographer
and explorer Knud Rasmussen and his two traveling companions. Time Out:
“After the timeless fable of ATANARJUAT: THE FAST RUNNER, writers and
directors Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn return with a more reflective
offering. What emerges from this careful chronicle is a pantheistic
worldview integrated into the Inuit’s harmony with the inhospitable
landscape, and its subsequent destruction when the adoption of
Christianity removed the central influence of the community shaman.
It’s a cumulatively powerful story of loss, played out amid
extraordinary images of the tundra.” Sponsored by Onion River Sports. Community Partner: University of the Arctic, Center for Northern Studies at Sterling College. Post-film event: Norman Cohn will discuss the film after the Friday, March 28, and Saturday, March 29, shows. Rated R, 112 minutes, in Inuktitut and Danish with subtitles. Film website
King Corn
- Monday, March 24 4:00 pm
- Tuesday, March 25 8:30 pm
- Saturday, March 29 6:30 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Saturday, March 29 at 6:30 pm SOLD OUT
America’s fast-food empire is fueled by a secret ingredient: corn. High
fructose corn syrup makes the sodas sweet, corn-fed beef makes the
burgers fat, and corn oil crisps the fries. As college buddies Ian
Cheney and Curt Ellis find out, their junk food generation has grown up
eating so much corn that if you test their hair, it’s actually made of
the stuff. In a tiny town in the middle of Iowa, Ian and Curt plant and
grow an acre of America’s most powerful crop and attempt to follow its
fate as food. What they find is alternately hilarious and horrifying:
genetically modified seeds and home-brewed corn syrup, a bumper crop of
obesity and diabetes, and a government paying farmers to grow what’s
making us sick. Chicago Tribune: “A breezy diary from a pair of
first-time farmers, as well as a wry rebuke to a nation devoted to
eating cheaply but not necessarily well, King Corn makes its points
without much finger-wagging.” Sponsored by Hunger Mountain Coop.
Community Partners: Rural Vermont, Northeast Organic Farming
Association (NOFA), Food Works, Vermont Public Interest Research Group,
Mad River Localvore. Post-film event: Director Aaron Woolf will appear at the Saturday, March 29, show. Rated PG, 88 minutes. Film website
Leonard Bernstein on OMNIBUS
- Wednesday, March 26 6:15 pm
City Hall Arts Center
For those who watched television in the 1950s, there was nothing quite
like CBS’s Omnibus program, perhaps the best and certainly the most
ambitious cultural program ever seen on network TV. Produced by Robert
Saudek and hosted by Alistair Cooke, Omnibus covered the world of
music, theater, literature and dance in unexpected ways. We are
presenting two segments of the several that conductor Leonard Bernstein
did for Omnibus on understanding Bach and Beethoven. Sponsored by
Vermont Sheep and Goat Association. Community Partners: Vermont Public
Radio, Capital City Concerts, Monteverdi Music School, Friends of
Classical Music, Green Mountain Youth Symphony. Post-film event: Susan
Cooke Kittredge, daughter of Alistair Cooke, and Richard Saudek, son of
Robert Saudek, will share their recollections of the production of
“Omnibus.” 75 minutes. Film website
“As
a teacher, Bernstein is intense yet detached, dedicated yet
well-rounded. He is contemptuous of the cult of “music appreciation,”
and thinks that love of music should be as complex and emotional as
love itself. ‘We live in our emotions,’ he argues, ‘and that is the
area a teacher must reach—and as soon as possible. If you can strike an
emotional spark, then you can teach anything.’ “
“The
sort of teaching that I had visions of television doing in all the arts
and sciences. One great teacher bursting with vitality and personality
and information could spread his culture all over the country,
assaulting you in a physical wave to such a degree that a short course
…sticks in a million or so craniums forevermore. It’s quite a feat if
you can bring it off and Bernstein can and does. Virtually no one else
does. He’s a natural asset, that young man, and one we should treasure.”
Mother of Mine
- Sunday, March 23 2:00 pm
- Wednesday, March 26 12:00 pm
- Sunday, March 30 12:00 pm
Savoy Theater
During
World War II, more than 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated to
neutral Sweden to avoid the conflict. This deeply felt film, the
Finnish Oscar submission for 2006, tackles that painful patch of
history in the tale of nine-year-old Eero After
his father is killed on the Finnish-Russian front in 1943, Eero
reluctantly leaves his mother, joining a large transport of kids
promised dolls and bikes in the haven of neutral Sweden. At a remote
farm on the coast, he’s taken in by a childless couple in their 40s,
though Signe, still grieving and blaming herself for the death of her
daughter, refuses to let him into her heart. Variety:
“This fictional story of one of the ‘war children’ unfolds with fierce
restraint under Klaus Haro’s helm, and the film departs from most
memory pieces about the war in its emphasis on the complex psychology
of its characters, brought to vivid life by the strong cast.” Sponsored
by Casey Family Services. Rated PG-13, 111 minutes, in Finnish and
Swedish with subtitles. Film website
Note by Note: The Making of Steinway #L1037
- Friday, March 21 6:00 pm
- Saturday, March 22 2:15 pm
- Monday, March 24 2:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Friday, March 21 at 6:00 pm SOLD OUT
In our age of mass-production and consumption, what is the role of the
musician—both an instrument’s craftsman and its player? Musically, what
have we gained? More importantly, what are we losing? The most
thoroughly handcrafted instruments in the world, Steinway pianos are as
unique and full of personality as the world-class musicians who play
them. However, their makers are a dying breed: skilled cabinetmakers,
gifted tuners, thorough hand-crafters. NOTE BY NOTE is a feature-length
documentary that follows the creation of the Steinway concert grand
#L1037— from forest floor to concert hall. It explores the relationship
between musician and instrument, chronicles the manufacturing process,
and illustrates what makes each Steinway unique in this age of mass
production. From the factory floor in Queens to Steinway Hall in
Manhattan, each piano’s journey is complex—spanning 12 months, 12,000
parts, 450 craftsmen, and countless hours of fine-tuned labor. Filmed
in key Steinway locations—the factory, Steinway’s reserved “Bank,” and
private auditions—NOTE BY NOTE is a loving celebration of music and
craftsmanship. Community Partners: Vermont Public Radio, Capital City
Concerts, Friends of Classical Music, Green Mountain Youth Symphony.
Post-film event: director Ben Niles will appear at the Friday, March 21
and Saturday, March 22 shows. No rating, 80 minutes. Film website
OSS 117: A Nest of Spies
- Tuesday, March 25 6:15 pm
- Thursday, March 27 2:00 pm
- Sunday, March 30 8:30 pm
Savoy Theater
Tuesday, March 25 at 6:15 pm SOLD OUT
Sunday, March 30 at 8:30 pm SOLD OUT
A box-office sensation in France, Michel Hazanavicius’ uproarious
satire stars comic Jean Dujardin as secret agent OSS 117 who, in the
tradition of Maxwell Smart and Inspector Clouseau, somehow succeeds in
spite of his ineptitude. After a fellow agent and close friend is
murdered, Hubert is ordered to take his place at the head of a poultry
firm in Cairo. This is to be his cover while he investigates Jack’s
death, monitors the Suez Canal, checks up on the Brits and Soviets,
burnishes France’s reputation, quells a fundamentalist rebellion and
brokers peace in the Middle East. A blithe and witty send-up not only
of spy films of that era and the suave secret agent figure but also
neo-colonialism, ethnocentrism and the very idea of Western covert
action in the Middle East. Variety: “Sparkling production
design, a jubilantly retro score and a genuine flair for using the film
and TV vocabulary of the ’60s to revisit colonial arrogance put the
film in the same conceptual ballpark as Austin Powers or ‘The Naked
Gun’ series.” Sponsored by Christa Lancaster. Community Partner:
Chronique Francophone, Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Rated PG-13, 99
minutes, in French with subtitles. Film review
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
- Thursday, March 27 4:00 pm
- Friday, March 28 2:15 pm
- Saturday, March 29 6:30 pm
- Sunday, March 30 4:30 pm
Savoy Theater
Thursday, March 27 at 4:00 pm SOLD OUT
FRIDAY STILL AVAILABLE
Saturday, March 29 at 6:30 pm SOLD OUT
Sunday, March 30 at 4:30 pm SOLD OUT
Living legend Pete Seeger was a key figure of the folk music revival,
performing solo and with The Weavers, and writing some of its
best-known songs, including “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” “Turn,
Turn, Turn” and “If I Had a Hammer.” Largely misunderstood by his
critics, including the U.S. government, for his views on peace,
unionism, civil rights and ecology, Seeger was targeted during the ‘Red
Scare’ of the 1950s and, despite his enormous popularity, banned from
American television for more than 17 years. With a combination of
never-before-seen archival footage and personal films made by Seeger
and his wife, this biography chronicles the life of the artist and
political activist who touched many generations. Directed by Jim Brown,
who brought us the 1983 film on The Weavers, WASN’T THAT A TIME?
Philadelphia Inquirer: “THE POWER OF SONG shows this icon of
20th-century music to be a man of passion and principle, and a true
American. An important figure, and an important film.” Sponsored by
Vermont Compost Company. Community Partners: Vermont Public Radio,
Events for Tom, Peace and Justice Center, American Friends Service
Committee in Vermont, Summit School of Traditional Music and Culture.
Post-film event: Cinematographer Tom Hurwitz will appear after the
Saturday, March 29, show. Rated PG-13, 90 minutes. Film website
Protagonist
- Sunday, March 23 9:00 pm
- Tuesday, March 25 12:00 pm
- Friday, March 28 2:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Exploring extremism and the limits of certainty, this visually
inventive documentary from writer/director Jessica Yu (IN THE REALMS OF
THE UNREAL) weaves the stories of four men—a German terrorist, a bank
robber, an “ex-gay” evangelist and a martial arts student—who are
consumed by personal odysseys. At first glance the characters appear
disconnected. But as their stories unfold, parallels emerge. Each
character embarks on a journey for valid reasons, only to find himself
so deeply embedded in the cause that he becomes the opposite of what he
had intended. He is blind to this fact, though, until the forces of
fate and character boil and distill to a single moment of dark
epiphany. Variety: “The dangers of extremism and the virtues of
uncertainty are the keys to the remarkable PROTAGONIST’s exploration of
four men’s journeys through dysfunction, obsession and redemption. The
film’s sheer boldness — Yu uses puppets, and the work of 5th Century
B.C. Greek dramatist Euripides to illustrate the timelessness of her
subjects’ dilemmas — should make it a must-see among film buffs.”
Sponsored by The Black Door. Rated PG-13, 90 minutes. Film website
The Seventh Seal
- Sunday, March 23 4:15 pm
- Tuesday, March 25 4:00 pm
- Wednesday, March 26 8:45 pm
Savoy Theater
Shout it Out: The Voices Project Movie - a Preview
- 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.
Steal a Pencil for Me
- Sunday, March 23 6:45 pm
- Wednesday, March 26 2:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
1943: Holland is under Nazi occupation. In Amsterdam, Jack, an
unassuming accountant, first meets Ina at a birthday party - a
20-year-old beauty from a wealthy family who instantly steals his
heart. But Jack’s pursuit of love will be complicated; he is poor and
married to Manja, a flirtatious and mercurial spouse. When the Jews are
being deported, the husband, the wife and the lover find themselves at
the same concentration camp, living in the same barracks. When Jack’s
wife objects to the “girlfriend” in spite of their unhappy marriage,
Jack and Ina resort to writing secret love letters, which sustain them
throughout the horrible circumstances of the war. STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME
is a compelling documentary feature film by Michele Ohayon about the
power of love and the ability of humankind to rise above unimaginable
suffering. New York Times: “What makes Ms. Ohayon’s movie special is
its recognition that epic horrors don’t erase private dramas.”
Sponsored by Ariel’s Riverside Café. Community Partner: Beth Jacob
Synagogue. Post-film event: Dutch writer Edith Velmans, author of the memoir Edith’s Story, will speak after the Sunday, March 23, show. No rating, 94 minutes, in English and Dutch with subtitles. Film website
Super Amigos
- Saturday, March 22 8:45 pm
- Wednesday, March 26 4:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
From the Margaret Mead Traveling Film and Video Festival: The comedy
NACHO LIBRE introduced American audiences to the Mexican luchador
(masked wrestler). Now documentary filmmaker Arturo Perez Torres
introduces us to the concept of luchador social - five former
professional wrestlers in Mexico City who don the personas of
superheroes to fight injustice and inspire others within their local
communities. We follow the caped crusaders—Super Barrio, Super Animal,
Super Ecologista, Super Gay, and Fray Tormenta—on their mission to
protect the underdog. Variety: “Mexico-born and Canada-based, director
Torres benefits from an outsider-insider’s perspective on the country’s
myriad social issues and its pop culture.” Sponsored by Vermont
Humanities Council. Community partner: Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Post-film
event: Carlos Haase, former GMFF Managing Director and former Mexico
City resident, will discuss the film after the Saturday, March 22, show. No rating, 82 minutes. Film website
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
- Friday, March 21 8:15 pm
- Saturday, March 22 12:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Friday, March 21 at 8:15 pm SOLD OUT
Marlboro, Vermont-based filmmakers Alan Dater and Lisa Merton
present a sneak preview of their new film, which tells the inspiring
story of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and its founder Wangari
Maathai, the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the
Nobel Peace Prize. She started the Green Belt Movement in
1977 in her backyard north of Nairobi, to combat soil erosion and to
produce a sustainable wood for fuel use. This began a remarkable
30-year journey of courage to not only protect the environment but also
to ensure equality between men and women, defend human rights, and
promote democracy, all sprouting from the achievable act of planting
trees. Sponsored by Vermont Women’s Fund. Community Partners:
Association of Africans Living in Vermont, Nature Conservancy. Post-film event: directors Alan Dater and Lisa Merton will be present at both shows. 81 minutes. Film review and interview
Two Square Miles
- Saturday, March 22 4:30 pm
- Sunday, March 23 12:15 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Sven Huseby and Barbara Ettinger’s
film tracks the conflicts that unfold as a proposed multi-national
coal-fired cement plant threatens the small community of Hudson, New
York, on the banks of the Hudson River. Hudson’s colorful and
passionate citizens fight to save the town’s unique character and its
architectural heritage, breathing life into the exercise of local
democracy. The film immerses the viewer in an
extended observation of life in an American small city (not unlike
Montpelier) experiencing rapid transition. Sponsored by
Vermont Natural Resources Council. Community Partners: Vermont Public
Interest Research Group, Montpelier Community Development Association. Post-film
event: directors Sven Huseby and Barbara Ettinger and Hudson community
activist Sam Pratt will be present at both screenings. No rating, 93 minutes. Film website
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
- Friday, March 21 10:30 pm
- Wednesday, March 26 8:45 pm
- Thursday, March 27 4:00 pm
City Hall Arts Center
Vermont Filmmakers’ Showcase
- 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.
The Violin
- Saturday, March 22 9:30 pm
- Monday, March 24 6:30 pm
- Tuesday, March 25 2:00 pm
Savoy Theater
Monday, March 24 at 6:30 pm SOLD OUT
The
time is the early 1970s. The aged Don Plutarco (Ángel Tavira) and his
son and grandson, all live double lives: on one hand they are musicians
and humble farmers, on the other they support the peasant guerilla
movement’s armed efforts against an oppressive Mexican army. When the
military seizes the village, the rebels flee to the sierra hills,
forced to leave behind their stock of ammunition. While the guerillas
organize a counter-attack, old Plutarco executes his own plan. He plays
up his appearance as a harmless violin player in order to get into the
village and recover the ammunition hidden in his corn field. This
award-winning film is a first feature, written and directed by
Francisco Vargas. Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times:
“THE VIOLIN has won 46 international awards, and it’s not hard to see
why. It is a potent work made with confidence and skill.” Sponsored by
Richard Jenney. Community Partners: Peace and Justice Center,
Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Rated R (the violence of the occupying army is
graphically portrayed), Rated R, 98 minutes, in Spanish with subtitles. Film review
The Visitor
- Friday, March 28 6:30 pm
- Saturday, March 29 2:00 pm
Savoy Theater
Friday, March 28 at 6:30 pm SOLD OUT
Saturday, March 29 at 2:00 pm SOLD OUT
When Connecticut college professor Walter Vale (Six Feet Under’s
Richard Jenkins) visits Manhattan to deliver a paper at a globalization
conference, he returns to his little-used apartment to discover that
globalization has come to him in the persons of Tarek, a Syrian, and
Zainab, a Senegalese. His first impulse is to toss them out, but
watching them struggle with their meager belongings in the street, he
relents, and then an odd sort of family is born. Hollywood Reporter:
“Tom McCarthy, the actor turned writer/director who wowed audiences
four years ago with THE STATION AGENT returns with THE VISITOR. Once
again, he demonstrates a delicate, irresistible touch when it comes to
lonely, eccentric characters, but he widens his canvas with a small,
resonant story that could be ripped from today’s headlines.” Sponsored
by Jim Culver, DDS. Community Partner: Vermont Refugee Assistance.
Rated PG-13, 103 minutes. Film review
