Background
The program focuses on new work from around the world together with a few classic films. Around half the films shown are documentaries. There are also screenings of shorts and student films. Screenings are often followed by informal discussions often involving the filmmakers themselves. The festival also features special appearances by established film critics and filmmakers. Past guests have included critics Kenneth Turan, Molly Haskell, Phillip Lopate, David Thomson, Gerald Peary, and Matthew Hays. Filmmakers have included the screenwriter and director, Robin Swicord, actor/director Giancarlo Esposito, actor Michael Murphy, producer Christine Vachon, and documentary makers Albert Maysles, Les Blank and Ralph Arlyck.
The critic Stuart Klawans, writing in The Nation, described the 2003 Green Mountain Film Festival as "a cinephile's utopia: a festival organized and supported by an entire community of local moviegoers." [1]
Matthew Hays, the Montreal-based film critic, called the 2006 festival "incredible ... a mind-bendingly fascinating diet of movies."
Every year hundreds of volunteers help run the festival and host special events at numerous venues across Montpelier, Vermont.
The 21st Green Mountain Film Festival was held between March 16 and March 25, 2018, and featured 82 feature films and 75 shorts, [2] hand- on workshops, a “coming of age” film short course, and the first Vermont Filmmakers Summit. Then-current director Karen Dillon spoke about the 21st anniversary saying that she wanted the festival to “feel like a party for everyone”. [2]
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival went into hiatus. The 23rd Green Mountain Film Festival returned to Downtown Montpelier, Vermont in March 2024 after a 4 year hiatus.
Actor and Filmmaker Iva Gocheva called the March 2024 festival "one of the most thoughtful and caring programming I have seen in a long time" and Vermont-based Filmmaker John Killacky referred to the festival as “great curation, wonderful gatherings for filmmakers, and engaged post-screenings conversations.”
History
Films in earlier festivals (2006)
11th Festival 2008
The 11th Green Mountain Film Festival was held from 21 to 30 March 2008. Notable films shown included
12th Festival 2009
World Premiere - The Brother Who Sent His Sister to the Electric Chair (2009) World Premiere - Numen: The Nature of Plants
13th Festival 2010
The festival added a new venue at the Pavilion Auditorium, and also a three-day series of satellite screenings in Vermont's North East Kingdom.
World Premiere - The Summer of Walter Hacks (2010)
14th Festival 2011
The 14th Green Mountain Film Festival was held from March 18 to 27, 2011. [3]
The festival inaugurated the Green Mountain 48-Hr Film Slam, a film-making competition, and announced the Margot George Short Film Competition, both initiatives aimed at fostering emerging film-making talent.
The 14th festival Guests included Phillip Lopate, David Amram, Roy Prendergast, and Jonathan Katz. [3]
15th Festival 2012
The 15th Green Mountain Film Festival was held on March 16, 2012. Notable films shown included [4]
16th Festival 2013
The 16th Green Mountain Film Festival was held from April 4 to April 12, 2013. Notable films shown included [5]
- Childhood
- Northern Borders
- A Fierce Green Fire
- Bert Stern: Original Madman
- Beware of Mr. Baker
- Girl Model
- Kumare
- My Worst Nightmare
- Revolutionary Optimist
- Sightseers
- The Revisionaries
- The Savoy King
- The Thieves
- The Waiting Room
- 5 Broken Cameras
17th Festival 2014
Green Mountain Film Festival hired a new Executive Director, Rachelle Murphy. [6] The festival was held from March 21-30, 2014. Notable films shown were;
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