A vibrant regional festival based in Burlington, Vermont, the Made Here Film Festival showcases the rich tapestry of Quebec and New England’s cinematic talent while fostering community engagement, dialogue and cultural exchange.
The Made Here Film Festival is a young spinoff of the Vermont International Film Festival (VTIFF), based in Burlington in the Northeastern United States, with a mission to “bringing the world to Vermont through film and enriching the community through film.” Established four years ago, the Made Here Film Festival was born to directly address the latter part of VTIFF’s mission. From its inception, the Made Here Film Festival adopted the “Vermont Filmmakers’ Showcase” originally presented as part of VTIFF in the fall, turning it into a standalone event while also incorporating neighboring regions of Vermont, too small a state to warrant a dedicated festival for its filmmakers. The result is a regional festival with a strong identity, bringing together Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and neighboring Quebec under its banner. An expanded New England, united by a common identity as highlighted by the director of the Made Here Film Festival, Orly Yadin: “There’s a New England culture, different from the rest of the US, stemming from the puritan pilgrim culture. Quebec’s culture is very different, but its history is intimately linked to that of Vermont, and all these regions are predominantly rural.”
During its 4th edition, held in a warm, welcoming, and intimate atmosphere from April 10th to 14th, 2024, Film Fest Report had the pleasure of attending the event and supporting it as a media partner.
What quickly captivates with such a regionally focused festival is the richness of a program that is both local and diverse. From film to film, the depicted stakes and realities are sometimes distant, but geographical and cultural proximity creates a special connection with the audience. A Montrealer grappling with complicated grief in Thirty Second Season, or an old Italian anarchist society in Vermont explored in Christopher Wiersema’s Rough Blazing Star, to name just a few, the proposals are endless. By mixing films based on their origins within the various short film programs offered, the programming highlights this diversity, which is also expressed in the films’ forms. While Quebec productions generally benefit from larger government financial support, New England films are not lacking in heart or personality. “I love the mixing,” rejoices Orly Yadin. “The audience is exposed to films from neighboring territories that are simultaneously different.” she continues, seeming to take great pleasure in crafting the festival’s programming and fostering dialogue between selected films: “Just like in an exhibition, if you put together two pictures next to each other, from artists who may not even know each other, then you start getting extra meaning sometimes.”
Another benefit of a festival that shines on a regional scale is offering local premieres of films dealing with realities familiar to all. In this regard, the screening of the documentary feature The Quietest Year by Karen Akins will remain among our memorable experiences of this festival edition. The screening led to a fascinating discussion with a large and diverse audience touched in various ways by the film’s local socio-political subjects.
Because “there is no festival without filmmakers,” as Orly Yadin likes to point out, there wouldn’t be engaging and committed exchanges between filmmakers and the audience if the latter were not invited to participate in the event. That’s why the Made Here Film Festival has chosen to be free, made possible by the support of trusted partners, foremost among them the Vermont Public broadcaster. Festival attendees are encouraged to make donations at their discretion, which are later redistributed to the filmmakers.
These filmmakers are also present in large numbers at the festival. Pragmatic, Orly Yadin remarks: “The advantage of being a regional festival is that we can afford to bring in the directors.” Lodged in surrounding hotels, or sometimes even with locals, filmmakers have only a few hours’ drive to reach the epicenter of this celebration of regional cinema.
The final ingredient of this successful and delightful recipe: an iconic and welcoming venue. The festival takes place in the Lumière Hall of the Burlington Beer Company, an institution in Vermont, the former factory of the Lumière brothers, inventors of the seventh art. A perfect setting to celebrate cinema in all its diversity and to interact between filmmakers and members of the public. “There’s something about the vibe of this place. Plus it’s a historic building for cinema,” as Orly Yadin sums it up.
To top it all off, this year, the festival decided to take advantage of this conducive setting for exchanges and the presence of filmmakers to inaugurate an “industry” component. Several workshops for professionals dotted the event, offering participants the opportunity to grasp the art of pitching during an engaging and highly appreciated session led by Emily Best, director of Seed&Spark, as well as refining their scripts or learning to master lighting on set.
This is likely the main area of development for the Made Here Film Festival. “I want to take it somewhere we can help filmmakers even more. When our industry side develops it can bring in distributors,” projects Orly Yadin. Made Here aims to become an indispensable and enduring player in a growing ecosystem. “Vermont is a very friendly place, but for film professionals, there is still a lot of work to do,” observes Orly Yadin. And the Made Here Film Festival is an essential component of this effort.
We wish to thank Made Here Film Festival director Orly Yadin for welcoming Film Fest Report as media partner. Watch our video recap now!
