Student Showcase awards!
The VIFF student showcase featured films from area colleges and high schools and was juried by a panel of five college students from the participating schools. Filmmaker Orly Yadin moderated the judging process. The judges were…
From Burlington College:
Ben Youngbaer
From Champlain College:
Frank Stetson II and Matt Reevy
From the University of Vermont:
Sam Carpenter and Suzannah Mullen
The winners in the Best Short, Feature and Editing categories won editing software packages by AVID and the winner in the Best Production Values category won the Ultimate Stock Footage Collection, which contains footage from 80 of Footage Firm’s best selling reels.
And the Awards went to…
Best Short
The First Supper
Graham Raubvogel
Burlington High School
Best Feature
Abe Gallaway
Ian Sotzing
University of Vermont
Best Editing
Animayday
David Kaufman & Gef Gove
University of Vermont
Best Production Values
What Should Never Be
Heather Beliveau, Jaron Collins & Jeff White
Burlington College
Honorable Mentions
Chasing Discovery
Mark Gould & Bill O’Connor
St. Michael’s College
La Nintenda
Jeff White & Ian Johnson-Sherman
Burlington College
Blame the Woman
John Lazzaro
University of Vermont
If You Can’t Say Anything Nice
Keith LaFountaine
Burlington High School
Congratulations to all the winners!
Posted by Bill Simmon | Permalink
Let the Right One In
I’ve just returned from a showing of Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in) and it really got under my skin. The feat of genre-mixing that director Tomas Alfredson has achieved is nothing short of miraculous.
First off, this is a Scandinavian coming-of-age film in the tradition of My Life as a Dog and Fanny and Alexander. The film is even set in the early eighties, when those films were made. It is charming and funny, snowy and quiet, touching and sad.
But this film is also a grizzly tale of disturbing horror. That the writer and director were able to tell a fresh vampire story at all — the genre having been all but completely drained of life in recent years (pardon the pun) — is impressive. But this film is inspired cinematic fusion.
The vampire genre has been mixed with just about every other kind of film I can think of. Without even clicking through to IMDb, I can think of vampire/westerns, vampire/police procedurals, vampire/high school angst films, vampire/road movies and vampire/sci-fi movies. But vampire/Scandinavian coming-of-age films? I hadn’t thought of that. Touché, Thomas Alfredson.
The poster for this film lets you know you’re going to see some blood, but I almost wish they’d kept it a secret and marketed the film as a straight Swedish tween drama. The mood of the first part of the film doesn’t belie its trajectory in the slightest. The sense of realism that imbues the filmmaking is so stark, that when the first of the few digital effects in the film appeared, I almost didn’t notice them. They’re like little droplets of muted color in a monochrome painting.
Despite the horrific trappings, the film’s central relationship, between a 12-year old boy and the strange new pale-complected girl who moves in next door, is surprisingly sweet. The film is going to stay with me a while, I think.
I didn’t intend for this blog to be a place for film reviews, but I was surprised by this one and had to tell someone! Luckily, it’s playing again at the Palace 9 Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8:50 p.m.
Posted by Bill Simmon | Permalink
WCAX gives VIFF some love
Posted by Bill Simmon | Permalink
Quick schedule update!
There were some last-minute changes in the film screening schedule that didn’t make it to the printed schedules. The website schedule is up to date, but if you’re relying on a printed copy, make sure you have noted the following updates…
The printed schedule says:
FRIDAY 06:30 PM | The Palace 9
Stranded: I Have Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
and…
SUNDAY 06:20 PM | The Palace 9
How About You
These times have been swapped. The actual schedule is…
FRIDAY 06:30 PM | The Palace 9
Doctor, Doctor (Vermont short)
and How About You
and…
SUNDAY 06:20 PM | The Palace 9
Stranded: I Have Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
We apologize for any confusion.
Posted by Bill Simmon | Permalink
And the award goes to...
Tonight’s opening night party, awards ceremony and opening night film screening were attended by a decently-sized crowd. It wasn’t sold-out, but there were plenty of butts in seats, and we anticipate a good showing this weekend, due to some really great publicity and, frankly, the weather. Friday is supposed to be sunny, but Saturday and Sunday will be perfect movie-watching days. Nobody likes a rainy forecast except for farmers and film festival programmers.
VIFF would like to once again extend our congratulations to the Vermont filmmakers who won some well-deserved awards tonight. If you missed the ceremony, here is a rundown of the award winners…
Harold and Margaret Blank Award for Creativity in Filmmaking: ($1,000) Shout it Out by Bess O’Brien
Harold and Margaret Blank Award for Storytelling: ($1,000) Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai by Alan Dater and Lisa Merton
James Goldstone Award for Emerging Vermont Filmmaker: ($500) Knock Knock, Who’s There? by Adam and Evan Beamer
James Goldstone Honorable Mentions: Under the Cloak of Darkness by Björn Jackson; & And I am Me by Allison Segar
Make sure you check out their films at Main Street Landing this weekend! Congratulations, winners!