WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — From Thursday through Sunday, White River Indie Film Festival will return to the Briggs Opera House and the JAM space with a few subversive twists.
The festival will feature an invigorating and diverse curation of 2022's best global indie cinema, including first-time features from Sundance, Venice and Toronto, and top-tier work by local filmmakers. Panel discussions and talkbacks are back, along with brunches and parties for mingling with fellow filmmakers and film lovers.
The festival kicks off tonight with a celebration of regional Emerging Filmmakers, followed by a secret screening of a rip-roaring comedy/action/adventure that critics are calling the movie event of the year.
The festival officially opens Friday at the opening gala at JAM, welcoming the community to celebrate with music from Route 5 Jive and food from Fulla Flava Jamaican Jerk. The party will move upstairs to the Briggs Opera House where comedy, suspense, ethnographic exposé, and metatextual trickery all come together in opening night film "No Bears," renegade Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's auto-fictional exploration.
Selected shorts by winning WRIF Emerging Filmmakers from Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Quebéc will precede feature films throughout the festival. Notable Vermont films include the fantastical "The Butterfly Queen" (directed by Liam O'Connor-Genereaux), described as a "hangover after the coming-of-age story," and "Whitman Brook," a documentary meditating on the nature of time filmed at the Whitman Brook Orchard in Quechee by N.H. Filmmaker of the Year, Ben Silberfarb. Both filmmakers will be in attendance.
After-parties on Friday and Saturday nights offer an immersive cinematic experience, and the festival concludes on Sunday.
For a full festival schedule and more information, visit uvjam.org/wrif.
