VTIFF Program-Guide 2024 - Flipbook - Page 11
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FILMS A TO Z
BLACK BOX DIARIES
Directed by Shiori Itō
Japan | 2024 | Documentary | 102 min | English, Japanese w/subtitles
Sponsored by: Kate and Bill Schubart
SHOWTIMES
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 | 7:15 PM | BB
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24 | 2 PM | FH
It’s a story that is depressingly familiar, especially over the last few years: a powerful man
(and sexual predator) drugs and assaults a young ambitious woman trying to build her
career. What makes Black Box Diaries stand out? First and foremost it is the remarkable
courage and winning personality of journalist Shiori Itō, the woman at the center of this
story, who turns her trauma into strength before our eyes. Using her investigative skills,
she painstakingly builds a case against her attacker, Noriyuki Yamaguchi—a well-known
journalist and close personal friend, and biographer, of former Japanese prime minister
Shinzo Abe—and uses it to decry the outdated consent laws on the books in Japan. Also
remarkable is Itō taking the helm as director of her own story, confidently stepping into
the role of filmmaker, adapting her memoir Black Box, and weaving a compelling and
sophisticated story of survival. Itō, who became the face of Japan’s #MeToo movement
and was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, has crafted an emotional,
candid, and timely rallying cry for victims around the world. ~OO
BORN IN FLAMES
Directed by Lizzie Borden
USA | 1983 | Fiction | 79 min | English
SHOWTIMES
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 | 3:45 PM | FH
As revolutionary now as when it was released in 1983, Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames is
a Molotov cocktail of feminist futurism that’s both an essential document of its time and
radically ahead of it. Set in a fictional America 10 years after a social-democratic
revolution, things are still pretty miserable for women. So when prominent Black
revolutionary Adelaide Norris is killed, a truly diverse coalition of women decides to bring
it all down. Made for $40,000 (not a typo) and shot over five years with a cast of nonprofessional actors, Born in Flames positively hums with indie energy. “Perhaps the sole
entry in the hybrid genre of radical-lesbian-feminist sci-fi vérité” (Village Voice), Born in
Flames has come to be revered as a landmark in American independent film, and in
many ways, the scene still hasn’t caught up to it. ~SM
The film is followed by a Q&A with Lizzie Borden, this year’s recipient of the
VTIFF Award for Outstanding Contribution to American Cinema, sponsored by
CSE Holding Co.
THE CONVERSATION
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
USA | 1974 | Fiction | 113 min | English
Sponsored by: Barbara McGrew
SHOWTIMES
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 | 7 PM | FH
The 1970s was the Golden Age of the paranoid thriller, and Francis Coppola’s The
Conversation was the most paranoid and most thrilling of them all. Sometimes referred
to as “the movie Coppola made between the two Godfather films”—which is true, and
mind-blowing—it is also an absolute masterpiece that more than stands on its own.
We’re delighted to be screening this 50th-anniversary 4K restoration. Harry Caul (Gene
Hackman) is a surveillance guy, the best in the biz. But when a job goes wrong, suddenly
Harry finds himself on the other side of that equation, which is not a good place to be.
Beautifully written and directed by Coppola, The Conversation oozes both menace and
style, building a tension that is almost nerve-shattering by film’s end. Featuring one of
Gene Hackman’s finest performances, with stellar support from a loaded cast that
includes John Cazale, Teri Garr, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, and Robert Duvall, The
Conversation is a towering achievement from one of America’s finest filmmakers. ~SM
VTIFF.ORG | VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2024
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