Later this month, the Green Mountain State will roll out the red carpet for the United States’ newest international film festival: The Vermont Film & Folk Festival, which will open in Manchester, Vermont on Thursday, May 23 with a full lineup of award-winning narrative features, documentaries, and shorts from around the world, including a spotlight on Vermont-made films.
Founded by a pair of indie film luminaries and recent Manchester transplants — MovieMaker Magazine founder Tim Rhys and Filmmaker Magazine co-founder Karol Martesko-Fenster — the festival will play home to screenings of more than 40 new and classic films, including rare 16mm screenings of some of Hollywood’s most beloved movies, including 70th anniversary screenings of “On the Waterfront” and “La Strada,” a 75th anniversary screening of James Cagney’s “White Heat,” and an 80th anniversary screening of “Double Indemnity, and more.
The festival will kick off at The Southern Vermont Arts Center with the opening night feature screening of festival circuit darling “Tokyo Cowboy” with director Marc Marriott in attendance, followed by an opening night party to include a performance from the Hartford, Connecticut-based band Gravity. In addition to the film screenings, the program will include afternoon happy hour cocktail parties for festival supporters and guests, and two seminars to be held at Burr and Burton Academy: “Producing the Independent Feature” and “Why Folklore is Integral to Vermont’s Character.” The festival will run May 23-26.
On a personal note, if you’re wondering about the kismet and coincidence of both Rhys and Martesko-Fenster moving to the same small Vermont town, imagine this writer’s shock when she walked into a brand-new bookstore during a recent visit to her own hometown, only to find Rhys behind the register (he owns the place, which is located next door to his wife’s darling preschool, truly a Vermont dream).
“When Karol and I discovered we had both moved from urban areas to the same small town, we talked about all the things we loved about Manchester, Vermont and the thing we both missed most of all —accessible cinema on the big screen,” said co-founder and festival director Rhys in an official statement. “We know we’re not alone, as Bennington County is home to an extremely dynamic, artistic population. We hope that folks will come out and support these films and filmmakers by attending the screenings this Memorial Day weekend. We’ve already gotten a nice response from the business community and we’re so excited to serve up what we’ve been cooking this past year.”
Rhys and Martesko-Fenster’s venture is also notable because Manchester lacks its own movie theater. The two-screen joint this writer grew up watching films in is now a Sherwin-Williams paint store. For Manchester denizens, like my own family, the closest theater is over half an hour away in Bennington, with the nearest multiplex located more than an hour away in Saratoga Springs, New York (yes, a whole other state away; yes, I’ve lived it).
According to the festival, its mission “is to serve the people of southern Vermont by creating an annual event that underscores the importance of story to who we are as a society with a shared set of values, while simultaneously discovering and nurturing new talent and shining a spotlight on some of the most talented storytellers of our time. Honoring and reveling in storytelling is VFFF’s primary role.”
Film awards will be given in the following categories by a jury to be announced: Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short, The Equinox Award (Jury Award for Best of Fest), and the Green Mountain Award (Audience Award for Best of Fest). Venues for the festivities include the Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester Community Library, Burr & Burton Academy, and Rhys’ Wheelwrite Imaginarium Bookshop Arthouse, which will also be the location of the Filmmakers Lounge during the festival.
You can find out more about the festival, including its full schedule and how to purchase tickets and passes, on its official website. Check out the full lineup below, with all synopses provided by the festival.
FEATURE FILMS
TOKYO COWBOY
Directed by Marc Marriott
A Japanese businessman goes on an unwitting journey of self-discovery when he takes a company trip from Tokyo to a Montana cattle ranch.
ROWDY GIRL
Directed by Jason Goldman
Determined to make the planet a better place, former Texas cattle rancher Renee King-Sonnen transforms her husband’s beef operation into a farm animal sanctuary, encouraging other farmers to transition from animal agriculture to plant-based food production.
FULL CIRCLE
Directed by Josh Berman
Faced with a traumatic injury that leaves you permanently disabled; how would you reinvent yourself? Trevor Kennison’s life was forever altered by a broken back – for worse and for better, in equal measures.
ROBERT SHIELDS: MY LIFE AS A ROBOT
Directed by Mark Bonn
“No words” can describe him, literally. Robert Shields, one of the most unique performers of the century, performing for 2 Presidents a Queen while gaining the admiration of many of Hollywood’s greats-all of it done without saying a word.
THE QUIETEST YEAR
Directed by Karen Atkins
Filmmaker Karen Atkins’ darkly quirky personal quest to curb noise pollution in her quaint Vermont village uncovers dire consequences for noise regulation, not only in her home state, but nationwide.
THE ARTIST AND THE ASTRONAUT
Directed by Bill Muench
A uniquely American couple’s captivating story during the pinnacle of American exploration and social change.
THE NINE LIVES OF BARBARA DANE
Directed by Maureen Gosling
Barbara Dane turns setbacks into opportunities, paving her own way with her art, participating in, and influencing international social justice and musical movements across nine decades.
DEMON MINERAL
Directed by Hadley Austin
A portrait of life in the radioactive desert on the Navajo Reservation, following a group of indigenous scientists, elders, and activists as they work to protect a vital living space on contaminated land.
CHAPERONE
Directed by Zoe Eisenberg
Alienated by friends and family for her lack of ambition, 29-year-old Misha finds a dangerous acceptance in a bright 18-year-old athlete who mistakes her for a fellow student.
THE ACCIDENT
Directed by Giuseppe Garau
After being fired, Marcella, a gentle-hearted mother going through separation, buys a tow truck, gets trapped deeper and deeper in a cynical and aggressive world until a terrible opportunity shines in front of her.
FALLEN DRIVE
Directed by Nick Cassidy and David Rice
On the night of their high school reunion, Charlie and her boyfriend Reese have come with plans to exact revenge on former classmate, Liam. The plan – to stage the same heinous crime he committed in high school, but this time collect the evidence to prove his guilt.
JUST GETTING BY
Directed by Bess O’Brien
A documentary film that explores the day-to-day challenges and incredible resiliency that low-income Vermonters bear witness to every day. The film sheds light on an often-hidden Vermont population persevering against all odds to feed and house themselves and their families.
AFRICAN GIANTS
Directed by Omar S. Kamara
Over a weekend visit in Los Angeles, two first-generation Sierra Leonean American brothers navigate the changing dynamics of brotherhood after a surprise announcement.
THE YORKIE WEREWOLF
Directed by Michael DiBiasio-Ornelas
A rebellious teen witch is turned into a tiny werewolf and thrown into the middle of a decades-old war between one small town’s creatures of the night – and the local mafia.
UNDERDOG
Directed by Tommy Hyde
A hardscrabble Vermont dairy farmer risks losing the only home he’s ever known to chase his dreams of dog mushing in Alaska. Meticulously captured over the course of a decade, UNDERDOG paints an intimate verité portrait of Doug Butler as he puts a curiously optimistic twist on the kinds of family farm tragedies that have marked American rural life.
COMMON GROUND
Directed by Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell
The solution of Regenerative farmers to bring soil health across the continent and beyond.
VERMONT-MADE FILMS
MOTHER’S HOUSE
Directed by Garret Harkawik
In the 1950s Mary Tarinelli’s mother had a vision while visiting a historic site purported to be the final home of the Virgin Mary. Tarinelli recounts the story and explains the unique ways in which her mother’s experience has shaped her life.
LIA: A BODYBUILDING STORY
Directed by Susan Weiss
The story of a female body builder, a woman with focus, determination, and the goal to participate in a pro tournament.
LOVE OF THE LAND
Directed by Travis Van Alstyne
A short, animated film based on the true and tragic story of Vermont farmer Romaine Tenney. His farm was in the construction path of Interstate 91 in the 1960s and the State of Vermont seized his land through eminent domain. 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of his passing.
STEVE’S CHAPEL
Directed by Gail Osherenko
The tale of one individual’s quest to establish a sanctuary wherein people can contemplate and rejoice in a world that has shed much of its ceremonial and profound significance.
THE THAW
Directed by Sarah Wisner and Sean Temple
In 19th century Vermont, a young woman’s parents drink sleeping tea in order to survive the harsh winter, but an early thaw leads to horrifying results.
SHORTS PROGRAM 1
SUBTEXT
Directed by Erin Brown Thomas
Two people on a first date mask and ignore their insecurities until an event forces them to say what they’re really thinking.
RIZOO
Directed by Azadeh Navai
To Rizzo, 8—who’s recently moved back from Tehran from California—the world is a magical place. But when she must take a class portrait, her world suddenly becomes very complicated. Does she wear the traditional head-scarf, which all girls over the age of 9 must wear—or not?
SCREWJOB
Directed by Sam Benjamin
On the night before she is set to be crowned World Champion, a talented but injury cursed pro wrestler finds out that plans have changed and that she will be forced to lose the match or will be fired from the company.
LEAF
Directed by Cash Cassidy
Young Portland, Maine-based band LEAF plays their biggest show yet at the Portland House of Music.
COMMON AS RED HAIR
Directed by Robbie Robertson
The aftermath of an emotional funeral causes a grieving father and mother to re-examine their early life decision to have gender normalization surgery performed on their intersex infant.
YOU CAN’T SHRINK LOVE
Directed by Veena Rao
An artist gives life to the memories of our most beloved companions.
SCAM
Directed by Julie Sharbutt
When a phone scammer makes one last late-night call, the woman on the other end gives her much more than she bargained for.
SHORTS PROGRAM 2
THE ABCs OF BOOK BANNING
Directed by Sheila Nevins, Trish Adlesic and Nazenet Habtezghi
Reveals the voices of the impacted parties of books banned from school districts, inspiring hope for the future through the profound insights of inquisitive youthful minds.
MATTRESS EXPRESS
Directed by Noah Morse
After twins Ben and Rosie botch their only chance to pull their childhood home out of foreclosure, their night spirals out of control.
TREE CROWN
Directed by Predrag Todorovic
Without narrative sandstone and wretched landmark, people of Western Serbia seem to have never existed. The only portraits and biographies were given to them only after they had died.
VESPA
Directed by Olivia Ramos
Luiza visits her estranged mother’s new home, inadvertently inheriting her role in a peculiar natural cycle.
DECIDING VOTE
Directed by Robert J. Lyons and Jeremy Workman
50 years ago, assemblyman George Michaels cast a single vote on New York’s abortion bill that changed the course of American history but destroyed his political career in the process.
