VTIFF Program-Guide 2023 - Flipbook - Page 3
CONTENTS
WELCOME TO VTIFF 2023!
In so many ways, this year’s version
resembles festivals past – dozens of
incredible films from around the world,
filmmaker Q&As (from first-timers to
legends), plenty of historical context, and
provocative discussions in the lobby – but
this year also marks a new phase for VTIFF.
We’re moving our offices to Main Street
Landing, a new space that opens up all kinds of
possibilities for us, thanks to an actual screening room (a
modest 35 seats, but all ours!). Things should start
happening there in early 2024.
More impactfully, this marks Orly Yadin’s last year as
Executive Director. My space is far too limited to list how
Orly has improved, innovated and energized this
organization; that’s public record. I’ve been lucky enough
to learn the ropes by helping Orly and Gail Clook bring this
year’s festival to life, and it’s been a wildly entertaining,
eye-opening experience, as I have seen first-hand the care,
the passion, the eye for detail, and the devotion to cinema
that Orly, Gail, and all the staff, volunteers and board put
into this festival.
That commitment will neither change nor waver. And as
the organization transforms, as it must, we’ll remain rooted
to the ideas of commitment and excellence that Orly has
put into place and made part of the very air
at VTIFF. She set the bar high, and that’s
where we get to launch into this next
chapter.
~STEVE MACQUEEN, VTIFF Executive Director
WHAT’S INSIDE
Venues and ticketing ........................................................2
VTIFF Staff and Board of Directors .................................. 2
Welcome letter................................................................ 3
Meet the Programming Committee .................................. 3
Meet the Filmmakers and other Special Guests ............ 6-7
VTIFF Award .................................................................. 7
We are thrilled to bring to you an
intentionally curated festival program of over
60 outstanding films from five continents. Fiction,
documentary, animation and experimental, features and
shorts, all come together to represent a panorama of
filmmakers’ esthetics and concerns of the past two years.
In addition, we must not forget to look back at the history
of this art form, and we are therefore also including seven
classics.
A film festival is not a festival without conversation: we
have invited many guest speakers and filmmakers, and
hope you will engage with them during Q&As and daily
receptions. Cinema is a global language and we hope that
the diversity of films represented here will widen the
horizons for all moviegoers.
It has been my delight and honor to bring you this
festival for the past 12 years.
~ORLY YADIN, VTIFF 2023 Program Director,
and Executive Director, 2011-2023
Special Events ................................................................ 8
Films A-Z ........................................................... Page 9-26
Schedule ....................................................... Pages 16-17
Happy Hours, Receptions & Parties ......................Pages 27
Sponsors and supporters ............................... Pages 28-31
WE’VE GOT AN APP!
MEET THE PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
CHRISTIAN ACOSTA: Chris has been a member
of the programming committee since 2021. A
filmmaker and photographer, he has made a
number of award winning short films in VT and
internationally. In his free time, he practices B&W
film photography, and acts for the Shelburne Players Community
theater. He holds a BA for Filmmaking from Champlain College and
can be found bartending at Zero Gravity on the weekends.
LUKE BAYNES: Luke has been a member of the
programming committee since 2014 and served
on the VTIFF board of directors from 2012 to
2017. He works as an editor for a Seattle-based
media company and has a soft spot for obscure
film noirs and 1950s Westerns.
RYAN CHARTIER: Ryan is Associate Director of
Major Giving at Vermont Public. He is an avid
music fan, hosting a weekly free-form show at
WRUV on the UVM campus. He holds a B.A. and
M.A. in English and Film Studies from UVM.
During his first visit to a movie theater as a child he exclaimed “Wow
that’s a really big TV”!
GAIL CLOOK: Gail has been involved with VTIFF
since 2009, when she was General Manager at
Palace 9. In 2020 she joined VTIFF as Associate
Director, primarily responsible for program
operations and membership communication. As
she says, though, “with such a small staff, we do a little bit of
everything.”
HOLLY CLUSE: Cluse graduated from Rhode Island School of Design
with a BFA in photography. She has connections with local business
owners and local artists. She’s been an educator and, to quote her: “I
have some artistic moments. The best job I have had in relation to the
restaurant was coordinating Penny Cluse art exhibits.
GRAYDON HANSON: Graydon Hanson is a junior
Film & Media Culture major at Middlebury
College. He has always been interested in the
many aspects of film, and being a programmer at
VTIFF has allowed him to explore a new side of
the field. He hopes you enjoy all of the films at the festival this year.
MORGAN HILLS: Morgan Hills is a class of 2022
graduate of Champlain College with a BFA in
Filmmaking and a minor in Psychology and has
produced a variety of short films. Currently, she
works as a Sales Assistant for a local news
station, reads scripts on the side, and volunteers for both VTIFF and
NHFF. She is always interested in learning new things, loves to travel
the world, and creatively is drawn towards dramas.
STEVE MACQUEEN: Steve is the Executive
Director of VTIFF. Previously, he was the
Executive Artistic Director of Circus Smirkus
(2022-23) and Artistic Director of the Flynn, as
well as the Discover Jazz Festival (2012-22).
Prior to life in Vermont, he ran the Opening Nights festival at Florida
State University and directed multidisciplinary programs in Atlanta,
GA and Brevard, NC. He also had a prior life as a newspaper reporter.
VTIFF.ORG | VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2023
ARNIE MALINA: Arnie served as Artistic Director
and Chief Programming Officer at the Flynn
Center for the Performing Arts as well as Artistic
Director of the Discover Jazz Festival, 19972012. He was an enthusiastic film attendee in
NYC where a major inspiration was the wave of European directors in
the 50s and 60s. In 1976, he founded the Helena Film Society /
Helena Series for the Performing Arts in Montana.
TRAVIS WEEDON: Travis Weedon arrived in
Vermont from Southern California, where he
worked as a teacher and film critic. He worked as
a programmer at the Savoy Theater, a freelance
contributor to Seven Days and was the Director
of WRIF in 2022. Travis has recently begun working at Visit Films, a
film distribution company.
ORLY YADIN: Orly is the Program Director of
VTIFF, prior to which she spent 12 years as the
festival’s Executive Director. She has produced
and directed documentaries and animated films,
including Silence which was short-listed for the
Academy Awards. Prior to making films, she was a film researcher on
historical programs and 2001 –2015 and was Managing Director of
Footage Farm – an archival footage collection. Orly taught
documentary film history and theory in England and at Burlington
College.
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