VTIFF Program-Guide 2024 - Flipbook - Page 15
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FILMS A TO Z
FLOW (STRAUME)
Directed by Gints Zilbalodis
Belgium, France, Latvia | 2024 | Fiction | 85 min
GANJA & HESS
Sponsored by: Kevin Meehan
Directed by Bill Gunn
U.S. | 1973 | Fiction | 113 min | English
SHOWTIMES
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 | 12:15 PM | BB
SHOWTIMES
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26 | 7:15 PM | BB
This swashbuckling tale of a cat who befriends a capybara, a lemur, a stork, and a
golden retriever is not your average kids’ movie. For one thing, filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis
lets these animals be animals. That is, they don’t speak to each other, at least not in any
human language, and their movements and motivations are true to their respective
species: the cat struts and scurries, the capybara waddles and thumps, the stork
preens and stalks, and the lemur leaps about and loots. The world seems to have come
to an end and there are no humans to be found. Flood waters recede then return and
this ragtag group of animal pals scramble aboard a passing boat and head out into the
unknown. Sailing through mystical landscapes, they navigate the challenges and
dangers of adapting to this new world, with Zilbalodis adding more than a touch of
Zemeckis to their perilous episodes. Flow, which has been chosen as the Latvian entry
for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards, is a wonderful animated
adventure about chosen families and cross-species friendships that transcend
language. ~OO
Blacula this is not. Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess is one of the best bad trips of the ‘70s, a
heady and sweaty vampire flick like no other. Duane Jones—who starred in just two
films, both masterpieces, the other being Night of the Living Dead—plays wealthy
anthropologist Dr. Hess Green who is stabbed by a ceremonial African dagger, turning
him into an immortal supernatural being. His sudden bloodlust soon awakens other
carnal hungers, and he lures Ganja, the estranged wife of his attacker, into his hedonistic
lifestyle. Mishandled and all but buried at the time of its release, critics and distributors
reacted with hostility to this raw, sexually charged art film—inspiring Gunn to pen a
powerful, damning open letter in The New York Times titled “To Be a Black Artist”—but
Ganja & Hess is now regarded as an ahead-of-its-time independent horror milestone, a
key influence on a generation of boundary-pushing Black filmmakers (including one
Spike Lee, who fought to remake it as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus). Hallucinatory,
enigmatic, and deeply political, this vivid monster movie has only grown more potent
over the last fifty years. Consider this an early Halloween present from VTIFF. ~OO
THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE (PIGEN MED NÅLEN)
Directed by Magnus van Horn
Denmark | 2024 | Fiction | 115 min | Dutch w/subtitles
SHOWTIMES
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22 | 4 PM | FH
Not for the faint of heart. Director Magnus van Horn describes his gothic horror film as a
“fairy tale for adults,” which makes you wonder what kind of fairy tales they read in
Denmark. Harrowing and utterly compelling, The Girl With The Needle is a stark study of
the lack of choices for women in a cold, cold world. It’s 1917, the Great War has just
ended, and things are pretty grim. At the bottom of the social order, factory worker
Karoline finds herself pregnant, unwed, abandoned, and utterly desperate. At her very
darkest hour, she meets a kindly woman who takes her in. But this angel of mercy is, to
say the least, not what she seems. The film creates its own very specific universe, though
there are vibes of David Lynch, Lars von Trier, and Tod Browning. Michael Dymek’s
thrilling monochromatic B&W photography suggests charcoal etchings, while production
designer Jagna Dobesz admirably creates a claustrophobic, unforgiving Copenhagen
comprised of dirty streets and cramped rooms. Composer Frederikke Hoffmeir’s
occasionally nerve-shredding score adds immeasurably to the proceedings. Rich and
satisfying, but dark-dark-dark, The Girl With the Needle offers a unique cinematic
experience. ~SM
VTIFF.ORG | VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2024
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