VTIFF Program Guide 2025 - Flipbook - Page 9
FILMS A TO Z
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BY DESIGN
Directed by Amanda Kramer
U.S. | 2025 | Fiction | 92 min | English
COVER UP
Directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus
U.S. | 2025 | Documentary | 117 min | English
Sponsored by: Orly Yadin and Bob Summers
Sponsored by: Anna Blackmer
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 | 1:30 PM | FH
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 | 2:15 PM | FH
A woman (Juliette Lewis) somehow sends her consciousness into a coveted vintage
chair, and finds that people like her better that way. A highly unconventional comedy
from Amanda Kramer (Please Baby Please), By Design is a treasure for those who like
their comedy a bit off-kilter. By Design is beautiful to look at, with its highly stylized
interiors, expensive clothes, and oddly flat tones—big kudos to production designer
Grace Surnow for the hyper-realistic/unrealistic look of it all. Kramer likes to cast women
whom Hollywood seems to have forgotten and she gets great work from Lewis, Melanie
Griffith, Samantha Mathis, Robin Tunney, and Betty Buckley. Oh, and Udo Kier’s here,
too. By Design has a lot to say about the authenticity of an unexamined existence, but…
it really is a nice chair. ~SM
There’s reporting, there’s investigative reporting, and there’s Seymour Hersch. In a
career that has covered 60 years, including famous scoops on the My Lai Massacre in
Vietnam and the torture and abuse of prisoners by American military personnel at Abu
Ghraib Prison, Hersch has broken a lot of stories and generated a lot of controversy.
Cover Up looks at both. Oscar-winning documentarian Laura Poitras (All the Beauty and
Bloodshed) chased Hersch for 20 years to get this profile, though his rueful onscreen
commentary makes you wonder if he’s re-thought that decision. Poitras and co-director
Mark Obenhaus hit Hersch’s high notes but didn’t shy away from notoriety. As the
concept of journalistic integrity is repeatedly battered, Cover Up asks some basic
contemporary questions: What is the truth? Who do we believe? Who can we trust?
What’s next? ~SM
CALLE MALAGA
Directed by Maryam Touzani
Morocco, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium | 2025 |
Fiction | 116 min | Spanish w/subtitles
Sponsored by: Olivia Milens
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 | 7 PM | FH
Maria, a 79-year-old woman, has lived in a Spanish
community in Tangier, Morocco, for her entire life,
and her sunny, lovely apartment reflects her
contentment. But when circumstances threaten to
evict her from her space and end her independence,
she must make some big decisions. And in this lovely,
moving drama from director Maryam Touzani (The
Blue Caftan), Maria chooses to live her life more fully
than ever before. Calle Malaga boasts an excellent
script, beautiful setting, and fine supporting
performances, but what really drives this film is a
monumental performance from the great Carmen
Maura, the Spanish star of many early Almodóvar
films. She’ll definitely be in the conversation come
awards season. ~SM
VTIFF.ORG | VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025
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