VTIFF Program Guide 2025 - Flipbook - Page 15
FILMS A TO Z
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LITTLE KID FLICKS
THE LITTLE SISTER
France, Chile, Uruguay, Taiwan, Japan, Slovakia, Czech Republic, UK, U.S., Canada |
2025 | Fiction and Documentary | 58 min | English w/subtitles
Directed by Hafsia Herzi
France, Germany | 2025 | Fiction | 106 min | French, Arabic w/subtitles
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 | 10:30 AM | FH
Sponsored by: Allison Dersch
This event is free for all ages.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20 | 7 PM | FH
Let your little ones discover the magic of the big screen with Little Kid Flicks! This year’s
charming collection of animated and live-action shorts features films from France, Chile,
Uruguay, Taiwan, Japan, Slovakia, Czech Republic, UK, U.S., and Canada. The stories
include beach vacation mishaps (Hello Summer), forest kids craving pancakes (Mojappi
It’s Mine!), fed-up capybaras (Capybaras), dancing in the rain (Dancing in the Rain,
Splish, Splash, Splosh!), a girl glued to her phone while surrounded by fantastical
creatures (The Girl with the Occupied Eyes), a pep-talk from Paralympic swimmer Lizzi
Smith (Swimming with Butterflies), and a frog filming a documentary about a crocodile
(Ronny: A Crocumentary). These shorts from around the world—all audience favorites
from the New York International Children’s Film Festival—are sure to enchant and
delight audiences of all ages. ~OO
Winner of the Queer Palm and Best Actress awards at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,
Hafsia Herzi’s The Little Sister finds Fatima (Nadia Melliti) working to reconcile her
identity and her family’s worldview. The youngest of three adult children in a loving but
conservative French-Algerian household, she’s the dutiful daughter at home, but out in
the social world of Paris, another side of Fatima comes to the fore. Beautifully observed
by Herzi, and anchored by the star-making performance from Melliti, The Little Sister
goes beyond the standard coming-of-age tropes to deliver a powerful story about
self-discovery and its conflicts with family and religion—although, in a refreshing twist
here, the film seems to suggest that it might just be possible to reconcile the two on
occasion. The Little Sister also features one of the steamiest, most collar-tugging kisses
seen on film in recent years. ~SM
LIVING THE LAND
Directed by Huo Meng
China | 2025 | Fiction | 132 min | Mandarin, Tibetan w/subtitles
Sponsored by: Bernard Rubenstein
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 | 7:15 PM | BB
In rural China, a farming community hews to tradition even as it feels the
intractable pull of industrialization. Gorgeously photographed, director
Huo Meng’s film is so perfectly, minutely observed that it often carries the
feel of a documentary—or, more specifically, of real life—rather than a
narrative film. In Meng’s carefully paced story, we see these hardworking
people react to the seasons, to various calamities, and to each other. The
land is beautiful, but life isn’t easy—Chuang, our 10-year-old POV
character, sees his share of hardship and funerals, even as he pines to
reunite with his family in the city (they left him behind because of
one-child rules in ’90s China). The inevitable specter of modernity hovers
over everyone, though each generation sees it differently—some as a
scourge, others as a temptation. ~SM
VTIFF.ORG | VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025
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