Last year, attendance at the annual Vermont International Film Festival hit a 13-year high, according to executive director Steve MacQueen. With its weekly screenings at Burlington’s Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, the festival’s parent organization has built a strong local following.

It helps that VTIFF’s program guide sells the offerings with gusto. Perusing the guide to this year’s 10-day festival, which begins on Friday, October 16, inspired me to create a Hollywood-style logline for each film — short, snappy and to the point.

In addition to the 48 features below — assume they’re fiction unless you see “[doc]” — VTIFF includes several programs of shorts and six classics from 1976. To find the film(s) for you, look for the heading that best describes your most recent social media status update.

So Bored of Samey Crap!

I’m Just So Mad at the World Right Now

  • All of a Sudden: Director of Drive My Car makes last-ditch defense of empathy against capitalism.
  • Ben’Imana: Rwandan director explores the limits of forgiveness in the wake of genocide.
  • A Bit of Light: Iranian doctor contemplates suicide over the state of the world.
  • Fatherland: What did literary lion Thomas Mann think of his native Germany in 1949? Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida) has ideas.
  • Minotaur: Russian dissident filmmaker tells story of corruption and marital dysfunction at start of the invasion of Ukraine.
  • The Red Hangar: In 1973, fascism comes to the Chilean military.
  • The Seoul Guardians [doc]: How South Korea said no to autocracy.

Let’s Start the Oscar Pool!

  • Everytime: Austrian family goes on vacay, and shit gets weird. Look for the “shot of the year,” according to VTIFF program notes.
  • Fjord: Cannes Palme d’Or winner, legal drama, big stars, big issues.
  • A Girl Unknown: Foster child ballerina in China seeks her identity.
  • Josephine: Eight-year-old witnesses assault — can dad Channing Tatum help?
  • Look Back: Hirokazu Kore-eda crafts live-action version of beloved manga about manga love.
  • Mouse: No-wallowing tearjerker from directors of Ghostlight about coming of age with grief.
  • Queen at Sea: Juliette Binoche and stepfather clash over Mom’s ability to make decisions with dementia.
  • Rose: A 17th-century village isn’t ready for a war veteran’s (Sandra Hüller) secret.

Please Take Me Somewhere/when Else

Not Enough People Are Talking About This!

Found This Random Cool Thing

  • Agnus Dei [doc]: Cute lambs at the Vatican!
  • Crocodile [doc]: Young Nigerians make it big with YouTube sci-fi.
  • Her Game Is Hardball [doc]: What about women who don’t want to play softball?
  • The Last Critic [doc]: Robert Christgau has opinions on rock criticism. Featuring Winooski’s Autumn Records.
  • Nuisance Bear [doc]: What happens to the “polar bear capital of the world” during climate crisis?
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Why not again?
  • Test: Can Midwestern lifter become bodybuilding champ? ➆

Vermont International Film Festival, Friday, October 16, to Sunday, October 25, at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington. Tickets $6-12; festival pass, $150.

This article appears in October 14 • 2026.

Margot Harrison is a consulting editor and film critic at Seven Days. Her film reviews appear every week in the paper and online. In 2024, she won the Jim Ridley Award for arts criticism from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Her book reviews have also appeared in the New York Times. She is a member of the Online Film Critics Society, with reviews on the Tomatometer, and the author of five novels, including YA thrillers Only She Came Back and We Made It All Up.