Presented by guest programmer and VTIFF member Ravi Venkataraman Postwar film noir becomes a powerful vehicle to explore America’s racial injustices in Carl Franklin’s tense, atmospheric debut. Adapted from the hard-boiled best-seller by Walter Mosley—the first in a series of mystery novels following gumshoe Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins—Devil in a Blue Dress is told through the […]
Presented by guest programmer and VTIFF member Ravi Venkataraman When John Woo’s Hard Boiled dropped in 1992, his days in Hong Kong were numbered. Hard Boiled capped a run of classic bullet operas—The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, Bullet in the Head—that rendered violence as poetry and blasted Woo into the Hollywood system. A year later, […]
Shot guerilla-style in 14 days in the Bronx, Joel Alfonso Vargas’ debut feature is a one of the most visually striking movies of the year. A rough-and-tumble, sun-dappled stateside kin to the life-on-the-margins tales of Andrea Arnold, Mad Bills to Pay is seen through the bleary eyes of Rico, a 19-year-old Dominican-American hustler who’s content […]
Island of Marajó, Amazon rainforest. 13-year-old Marcielle (Tielle) lives by the riverbanks with her father, mother, and three siblings. Prompted by her mother’s words, she idolizes her older sister, who supposedly escaped their poverty by “finding a good man” on the barges that ply the region. As Tielle matures, her idealized visions shatter, leaving her […]
Island of Marajó, Amazon rainforest. 13-year-old Marcielle (Tielle) lives by the riverbanks with her father, mother, and three siblings. Prompted by her mother’s words, she idolizes her older sister, who supposedly escaped their poverty by “finding a good man” on the barges that ply the region. As Tielle matures, her idealized visions shatter, leaving her […]
Shot guerilla-style in 14 days in the Bronx, Joel Alfonso Vargas’ debut feature is a one of the most visually striking movies of the year. A rough-and-tumble, sun-dappled stateside kin to the life-on-the-margins tales of Andrea Arnold, Mad Bills to Pay is seen through the bleary eyes of Rico, a 19-year-old Dominican-American hustler who’s content […]
Electric Eye presents First of the Month Films We’re pleased to welcome filmmaker Brian Brightly for this screening. He will share his film La Boheme, a short inspired by the Puccini opera, and participate in a discussion about his work after the show. Bob Rafelson and his producing partner Bert Schneider first made their mark […]
Live improvised score by Matt Hagen + Will Andrews (aka Willverine) Widely recognized as the source of the Frankenstein myth, the ancient Hebrew legend of the Golem provided actor/director Paul Wegener with the substance for one of the most adventurous films of the German silent cinema. Suffering under the tyrannical rule of Rudolf II in […]
Director of the Month: Akira Kurosawa Without a doubt one of the 20th century’s most influential pieces of storytelling, movie or otherwise, Akira Kurosawa’s breakout international sensation, Rashomon, represents a clear inflection point in the history of cinema. In this riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, four […]
Born into a family of influential Zionist thinkers and archaeologists whose work helped shape the ideology of early Israel, filmmaker Orly Yadin sets out to examine the foundations of the worldview that defined her upbringing. The film unfolds as a metaphorical archaeological excavation: digging through layers of family history, ideology, and memory, and exploring how national […]
This screening is sold out. We will start an in-person waitlist one hour before the screening in case we are able to release last-minute tickets. Born into a family of influential Zionist thinkers and archaeologists whose work helped shape the ideology of early Israel, filmmaker Orly Yadin sets out to examine the foundations of the […]
Distinguished Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi specializes in kaleidoscopic portraits of people living amid anxiety and uncertainty. His latest, Pompei: Below the Clouds, which caps a a conceptual trilogy about the intersection of everyday life and spiritual life in Italy, is among his most striking and monumental works. Shot in beautiful black and white, the film […]
Distinguished Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi specializes in kaleidoscopic portraits of people living amid anxiety and uncertainty. His latest, Pompei: Below the Clouds, which caps a a conceptual trilogy about the intersection of everyday life and spiritual life in Italy, is among his most striking and monumental works. Shot in beautiful black and white, the film […]
Is it overstating things to call Pee-wee’s Big Adventure one of the high-water marks of American comedic cinema? Well, maybe, but it’s very, very funny and has definitely achieved “comedy classic” status. When his beloved bicycle is stolen by his nemesis, Francis Buxton (boo!), Pee-wee (Paul Rubens) goes on a cross-country trek to recover it, taking […]
Director of the Month: Akira Kurosawa Hands down the best Shakespeare adaptation in cinema history (for us at VTIFF, anyway; sorry, Olivier). A vivid, visceral take on Macbeth, Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood sets Shakespeare’s immortal tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan. As a hardened warrior who rises savagely […]
Ask E. Jean is the thrilling story of E. Jean Carroll’s life, from her early days as Miss Cheerleader USA to her rise as a trailblazing journalist, author, and beloved advice columnist. Carroll broke barriers as the first female editor at Esquire, Playboy, and Outside, helping to redefine women’s roles in media with her sharp […]
Ask E. Jean is the thrilling story of E. Jean Carroll’s life, from her early days as Miss Cheerleader USA to her rise as a trailblazing journalist, author, and beloved advice columnist. Carroll broke barriers as the first female editor at Esquire, Playboy, and Outside, helping to redefine women’s roles in media with her sharp […]
New Release We know so little of the world beneath our feet. To most it is a place only of fear and darkness, though to a brave few it is one of knowledge and wonder to be found nowhere else. Based on the bestselling book by Robert Macfarlane, Underland is a cinematic documentary that ventures […]
New Release We know so little of the world beneath our feet. To most it is a place only of fear and darkness, though to a brave few it is one of knowledge and wonder to be found nowhere else. Based on the bestselling book by Robert Macfarlane, Underland is a cinematic documentary that ventures […]
Shortly after the release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Eric Idle flippantly floated the title of the next Python feature to the impatient press: Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory. But the idea took root and this offhand joke soon spawned the group’s most ambitious film. Monty Python’s Life of Brian is the story […]