Film enthusiasts attending Vermont International Film Foundation's (VTIFF) upcoming 30th anniversary festival will have a new way to show their support for Vermont filmmakers. Developed in partnership with students at the Emergent Media Center (EMC) at Champlain College, VTIFF is launching a mobile-friendly website feature for filmgoers to vote for their favorite films in the Vermont Filmmakers' Showcase while simultaneously making a modest donation to support Vermont filmmakers and VTIFF.

The website feature offers users quick access to Vermont Filmmakers' Showcase film trailers, descriptions, and show times, as well as options to donate and rate these films. As an extra incentive, users who vote for films during the festival will be entered into a prize drawing.

"Champlain College students brought their exceptional talents in the field of creative media development and their utmost professionalism to develop an attractive and easy to use mobile-friendly feature," says Paula Willoquet-Maricondi, dean of the Division of Communication and Creative Media at Champlain College and VTIFF board member. "We are thrilled to have this partnership with VTIFF that supports the outstanding work of our students and Vermont Filmmakers."

Orly Yadin, executive director of VTIFF, shares "VTIFF is excited to launch this new audience participation project with the help of the enthusiastic design and programming students at Champlain College's Emergent Media Center. Finding ways to enhance our support of Vermont filmmakers is an area of continued interest for VTIFF and we're glad to have forged this partnership with the talented students of Champlain College."

Champlain Sponsored Films Events

TAXI -  Friday, October 23, 7:00 PM - Opening Night 
Main Street Landing Film House
Directed by Jafar Panahi | Iran | Persian w/ English subtitles | 2015 | Fiction/Documentary | 82 mins.
Followed by Opening Night Party in the Lake Lobby and announcement of VT Filmmakers Awards. Call it guerilla cinema, Iranian neorealism or an act of political dissent. But whatever the label, Jafar Panahi's Taxi is simply great filmmaking in the face of considerable adversity. Since 2010, Panahi has been banned by the Iranian government from making movies. But that hasn't stopped him from surreptitiously turning out the autobiographic This Is Not a Film (which was smuggled from Iran to the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in a flash drive hidden in a birthday cake and was also screened at VTIFF 2013) and the similarly self-reflexive Closed Curtain. Like fellow Iranian Abbas Kiarostami's 2002 film Ten, Taxi is set entirely within the confines of an automobile. Panahi himself is at the wheel, with a dashboard camera capturing his interactions with a variety of passengers - including a bootlegger of American videos and Panahi's precocious niece, who longs to make a "distributable" film. Like the earlier Kiarostami film, Panahi's movie deals with the subjugation of women in Iranian society, but it also overtly addresses issues of state censorship and Iran's disturbing propensity for meting out capital punishment for minor offenses. Taxi is bold, uncompromising cinema, which should on no account be missed.

GTFO: GET THE F&#% OUT -  Friday, October 30, 3:30 PM Main Street Landing Film House
Directed by Shannon Sun-Higginson | USA | 2015 | Documentary | 76 mins.
Introduction by Alumna and Champlain Trustee Marguerite Dibble.

Post-screening Round Table Discussion with filmmaker and panelists
"Gender Games: Video Games and the Evolving Concept of Gender"
Panelists: Shannon Sun-Higginson, Squinky, Allison Cole, Jessica Marcotte,  Jonathan Ferguson,  Nathan Walpole and Kathryn Wright (Moderator) Attend the Vermont International Film Festival Oct.  23 - Nov. 1 in Burlington.

• For detailed information about the festival and the schedule, please visit vtiff.org. To access the new audience participation feature, visit vtiff.org/festival/vtfilms-voting.
• To learn more about the Emergent Media Center, visit champlain.edu/emc.
• To learn more about the Champlain College Division of Communication and Creative Media, visit ccm.champlain.edu.

About VTIFF: The Vermont International Film Foundation (VTIFF) is a cultural non-profit organization whose mission is to enrich the community through film. VTIFF operates year-round and showcases community film screenings, supports programming like the Global Roots Series, the Burlington Film Society and VTIFF For Schools, as well as supporting Vermont filmmakers. VTIFF celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2015. The largest program of the Foundation is the annual Vermont International Film Festival, best known for featuring groundbreaking and independent films from around the world and Vermont. The festival also includes the Vermont Filmmakers' Showcase^TM, the largest juried selection of Vermont-made films. The 2015 festival runs October 23rd - November 1st 2015, at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, and The BCA Center. More information at www.vtiff.org.