THE STORY
The Vermont Film & Folklore Festival is a celebration of the art of storytelling.
Film is the universal contemporary medium which simulates experiences and communicates images, ideas, stories, and emotions through the use of moving images. Folklore is the traditional medium of poems, myths, legends, and tales shared by a group of people. "Folk" is a social group and "lore" means instruction. These now include things people make with words (verbal lore), things they make with their hands (material lore), and things they make with their actions (customary lore). Both film and folklore live and thrive within community.
Through film, writing, art, poetry and spoken word, VFFF's mission is to serve the people of southern Vermont by creating an annual event which underscores the importance of storytelling to illustrate who we are, to share our values, and to nurture community. Our festival aims to discover new voices and to shine a spotlight on some of the most talented storytellers of our time. Honoring and reveling in storytelling is VFFF's primary role; this festival will, for the first time, bring filmmakers together with traditional storytellers to showcase their shared lineage... from a spellbinding tale around a campfire to the IMAX thunderdome experience.
We’d love for you to join us!
“Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.”
– Jean Luc Godard, Filmmaker
“On one of their first dates my father gifted my mother with a huge hardcover volume of The Complete Works of Shakespeare. On the inscription inside he wrote ‘Spontaneity is superb.’ I've always been a believer in the adage that there is no such thing as coincidence—that everything happens for a reason. And perhaps that's why, of all places in the world for two former rival publishers to end up (Karol founded Filmmaker Magazine and I founded MovieMaker Magazine within a few months of each other in 1992), we both randomly chose the small town of Manchester, Vermont to settle with our families... and that's where, toward the beginning of the pandemic, we met in person for the first time in 30 years, outside of a Jamaican food truck... again, totally randomly. But the serendipity of that meeting and the superb spontaneity of our conversation that day eventually proved to be providence, because we realized that, while southern Vermont had many things we loved, it lacked one thing we both considered essential to a region's ability to provide a high quality of life—a great film festival. So we decided to change that and collaborate to build The Vermont Film and Folklore Festival in order to capitalize on the region's deep tradition of storytelling and celebrate that tradition with the world.”
— Tim Rhys, VFFF Co-founder
THE TEAM
Louise Rosen
Louise Rosen serves as an editorial and business consultant, producer, and sales agent. Her projects include Oscar, Emmy, and Sundance award-winning films. Louise began her career in film and television at WGBH-TV as Director of International Sales and Co-productions. She later launched her own distribution company and sales agency. She has raised financing for and distributed landmark projects such as Eyes on the Prize, as well as the Oscar winner Anne Frank Remembered, and Oscar nominee Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern. Louise is a credited producer on films such as The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition, and the feature documentaries Killing for Love, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Prodigal Sons, and Holy Water-Gate. Louise tutors annually at Germany’s Documentary Campus Master School and has been a speaker and moderator at conferences and film festivals including Sheffield DocFest, DOC NYC, & HotDocs. In other roles, Louise was the Founding Director of the Points North Documentary Forum at the Camden International Film Festival; from March 2022 to March 2023 served as Senior Consultant, Programs & Strategy and then Interim Managing Director for the International Documentary Association (IDA) and was Program Director for the 2023 Progress History Summit.
Ryan Spahr
Ryan Spahr is an accomplished artist & designer working in a variety of media, including marker, pen and ink, oil, pastel, and photography. Their work exhibits bold, expressive mark-making, exploration, and experimentation. Ryan was a professional tattoo artist for 20 years and loves to yo-yo. Ryan lives in Rupert, Vermont where they spend their free time with their family and collecting records.
Sterling Mahoney
Sterling Mahoney is the in-house graphic designer for Abramorama. She graduated from SUNY Purchase with a degree in graphic design but has spent her life up to that point working at movie theaters. In her free time Sterling is an artist, DIY crafter, movie-lover, nature enjoyer and cat enthusiast.
Bill Muench,
VFFF Technical Committee Chair
Bill is a documentary filmmaker whose feature The Artist & the Astronaut has won awards at numerous festivals and is currently screening around the country. For over a quarter of a century, Bill has been an integral part of Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, Vermont. Throughout his tenure, he taught a variety of subjects including Cinematography, Journalism, English, and AP Psychology. In addition to his teaching roles, Bill was deeply involved in extracurricular activities. He still coaches basketball, and during his leisure hours he often performs with the local band, DON’T LEAVE. Bill shares his life with Barbara Muench, who serves as a Special Educator at BBA, and takes pride in his role as a father to Weston and Taylor. His dedication and impact resonate deeply within both the academic and broader community.
Maya Gingery
Hospitality Coordinator
Maya Gingery took a Covid vacation to Vermont and never left. After a lifetime devoted to the fine and performing arts, with careers in education, graphic design, music, choreography and theatre, she is living the semi-retired life in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Always looking for exciting projects and new adventures, Maya is thrilled to be involved in the inaugural year of the Vermont Film and Folklore Festival.
Gloria Palmer
Gloria Palmer has been the Executive Director of Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning (GMALL) since 2009. The organization provides a wide range of educational opportunities for adults in southern Vermont. In her role, she is responsible for all aspects of running a nonprofit... programming, marketing, fundraising, financial and administrative management. She is also a watercolor artist, a certified pickleball instructor, and active in her community. She served as President of the Burr and Burton Alumni Board for several years. A Brooklyn native, Gloria's family moved to Manchester, Vermont in 1974 and she attended local schools. She is a proud mother of two daughters, who with their spouses, live in Colorado and Europe.
Debbie Doherty
Debbie Doherty is a retired graphic designer and art director with experience in retail, retail buying, marketing, and management. She believes that the power of positive collaboration can achieve remarkable outcomes. Her corporate experience includes a history of successful deadline-oriented collaborations with corporate partners in the US and the UK, working in concert with outside vendors to achieve desired outcomes. In addition to her corporate achievements, she has volunteered on local Boards of Directors for the Northshire Day School, resulting in the new facility and Northshire Figure Skating Club at Riley Rink, coordinating lessons and incorporating hockey skaters to build a revenue stream while acting as creative director for several movie-themed ice shows. She is also a Paul Harris Fellow for fundraising efforts for the Rink and the Rotary Club of Manchester. Debbie has a BS in Graphic design, including a year of on-site study of Italian Renaissance art history based in Sienna, Italy. Debbie and her family reside in Manchester Center with their two dogs, and her husband is a manufacturer’s representative in the ski and bike industry and a Manchester Volunteer Fire Department Captain. In addition to their day jobs, her children continue the tradition of ice skating instruction, with her daughter, now the lead skating instructor, and her son, who has also taught skating and volunteered as an ice hockey coach.
Evelina Jarosz
VFFF Managing Director
Evelina is a screenwriter and editor. She is a graduate of Humber College’s Film & Television program and works in various production and post-production roles on both TV and film.
Along with her own writing projects, she works as a script doctor for other screenwriters. With her keen attention to detail she enjoys assisting writers polish their screenplays prior to agent delivery.
Evelina is a lifelong film lover and appreciates every above and below-the-line responsibility that must successfully come together to create a work of cinematic art that resonates with audiences.
THE JURORS
Greg Hamilton
Greg Hamilton is a Film Programmer / Curator in Portland, Oregon where he has hosted regional premieres, retrospectives and film revivals for the last 20 years. Greg was the West Coast Editor-At-Large for MovieMaker Magazine, where he wrote about international festivals and served on film juries including American Film Institure, New Orleans FF, Montana International FF and Julien Dubuque FF. He works as a creative consultant, talent curator and film programmer for several film festivals and specializes in assembling original 16mm film programs that play indie theaters across the United States. He served for six years as a board member at the world-famous Hollywood Theatre in Portland, directed the documentary "Thou Shall Not Tailgate" and is currently helping preserve / catalog one of the largest private 16mm film archives in the country.
Jonathan Martin
Jonathan Martin is a multi-faceted filmmaker and film festival founder & director. Since 2011, his films have won over 250 industry and festival awards while playing over 300 film festivals worldwide. He founded FilmQuest in 2014, which has become renowned as one of the very best genre festivals on the planet, currently sitting as the #2 best reviewed film festival on FilmFreeway and annually listed as one of MovieMaker Magazine’s "Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” while also named one of its “25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World.” Jonathan spends most his year based in Utah with his beautiful wife and actress, Emily Ashby.
Nick Cassidy
Nick Cassidy is a writer, director, and Meisner-trained actor who grew up in California and Maine. He has acted in numerous television productions, playing pivotal recurring roles in Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists on ABC and The Girl in the Woods on NBC. Peacock streaming platform. He's also had memorable guest star parts in S.W.A.T. and NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS. In his early twenties Nick began directing original short films (including a trilogy of ambitious one-takes) before writing, producing, directing, and starring in his first feature, the thriller Fallen Drive, which recently premiered to rave reviews at the prestigious Cinequest Film Festival, where it was called “a stellar revenge thriller,” and “a crowd pleaser.” Next up for Nick is a horror feature he's shooting in upstate New York this fall.
Floyd Webb
A runaway from the Missisippi Delta, Floyd’s past work includes producer of the feature film Legally Drugged (2024); producer of the short sci-fi drama Sisyphus of Coney Island (2024), premiered at the 2024 Coney Island Film Festival; Producer & development Team for the feature film, Way of the ButterflyAn African Warrior in Japan; Associate producer on Mansa Tiafa (2021); Space Moms (2020); associate producer of the award winning Julie Dash film, Daughters of the Dust (US 1992),; Chicago producer of the American Masters film, The World of Nat King Cole (2006), and producer and director of music videos, short documentaries, and 3D animations projects.
Presently a member of the board of directors of Chicago Filmmakers, where he founded the Blacklight Film Festival, one of the first Black Film Festivals, in 1982 in cooperation the Film Center at the School of the Art Institute. He is also a member of the Kartemquin Films Board of Directors.
THE FOUNDERS
Tim Rhys
Vermont Film & Folklore Festival Director Tim Rhys is a writer and producer who founded MovieMaker, the international magazine for independent filmmakers which he published for three decades. He also founded the MovieMaker Institute, which for many years brought acclaimed educational seminars to cities around the world, and MovieMaker Production Services, a program which continues to help North American feature film producers bring their projects to fruition by fostering partnerships and arranging creative financing opportunities.
During his long career as an entertainment journalist Tim has served as a juror or panelist at scores of film festivals including Hawaii International, New Orleans, New Hampshire, Mammoth Lakes, Leipzig, Oporto, and many others.
For seven years he served on the board of Portland's historic Hollywood Theatre, where he was instrumental in saving Movie Madness, a beloved Oregon institution.
Tim received a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications from The University of Maine and subsequently studied film production at The Vancouver Film School and cultural journalism and photography at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies before launching MovieMaker and operating offices in Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles.
These days Tim lives with his artist and educator wife Jessica, their sons Torin and Roan, and assorted animals in a colonial saltbox farmhouse which has been in his family for almost 250 years. In his spare time he writes poetry, studies Italian, and operates The Wheelwrite Imaginarium Bookshop and Arthouse in Manchester Center, Vermont.
Karol Martesko-Fenster
Karol is an Austrian-born American entrepreneur and media industry innovator with broad motion picture, Internet, digital, broadcast, publishing, and event backgrounds. He has produced over three dozen award-winning films and his career spans multiple decades including pioneering leadership in the American independent film sector.Karol is CEO of Abramorama, Founder of Thought Engine and Innovation & Strategy Officer of the non-profit Theorem Media. Karol was the President of Film for Michael Cohl’s S2BN Entertainment, EVP of Film & Animation at Babel Networks, President/Publisher of Silicon Alley Reporter, and Head of Film at Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures. While at Palm, he led operations and brand positioning for the RES Media Group unit, including its digital film festival RESFEST, the world’s original digital arts and entertainment festival, which in its 10th year (’06) was a global touring event spanning 6 continents, 19 countries and 40 cities worldwide.
Karol has produced over 25 television and satellite broadcast music programs, multiple Webby Award-winning projects and he co-founded Filmmaker Magazine, RES Magazine and several media content enterprises, including conditionone, and IndieWire.com.
Current and former boards include Columbia University’s Global Thought (CGT) and Digital Storytelling Lab (DSL), The Wall Street Theater, Rightster, Bella Gaia, The Film Collaborative, Rising Tide Studios, and the Hamptons International Film Festival, LA Independent Film Festival, and Kitzbuehel Film Festival. Karol has lived in over 20 cities internationally and received a B.A. from SUNY Purchase and an M.F.A. from Columbia University with a concentration in entertainment law, theater management and film production.