Killington Film Festival coming to the mountain

Where: Killington Grand Resort Hotel
When: Friday 7 p.m.
Tickets: $10 per screening; $15 per day, $40 all access
Contact: www.killingtonfilmfestival.com; (800) 337-1928 or 773-4181.

For the past 15 months actress and filmmaker Kerstin Karlhuber has been working on one of her biggest productions thus far, the Killington Film Festival.

The three-day event debuts at 7 p.m. Friday with “Living with Slim,” a documentary film about kids in Africa living with AIDS, in the Killington Grand Resort Hotel.

Admission to the Friday films is $10 for the two screenings. Throughout the weekend, admission is $10 per screening, $15 per day or $40 for an all-access pass to the festival.

“It’s probably one of the most moving and important films I’ve ever seen,” said Karlhuber about the documentary film directed by Sam Kauffman.

Two films will be featured Friday, two more on Saturday, and the five winning films of the festival’s Short Film Competition will be shown Sunday. Local film producer David Giancola will premiere his feature-length film, “Illegal Aliens,” starring Anna Nicole Smith, to wrap up the weekend event.

All film screenings will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the filmmakers, and most of the Short Film Competition winners will be on hand for discussion. In choosing a location to feature some of New England’s, specifically Vermont’s, best filmmakers, Karlhuber decided to go back to her roots.

“I just felt like Killington was the perfect venue for a film festival,” said Karlhuber, who lives in Boston. “I’ve never put one together before.”

That novel experience is familiar right now for filmmaker Vin Fraioli, who is coming down from the high of winning awards for his film, “The Strange Case of Marie France,” at the Rhode Island Film Festival. The film also has won accolades at the Newport Film Festival.

“It’s a 14-and-a-half-minute film, but it’s one of the richest films I’ve seen in a long time,” Fraioli said.

The movie was set in Fraioli’s house in North Kingston, R.I., and based on a short story he wrote in a moment of frustration. He brought in Frank Miele to be the executive producer of the film and Till Newman as director to help tell his story.

“It is an auto-biographical snit-fit I put to film,” said Fraioli about his first venture into moving pictures. “It’s really like hopping in a van and making things up as you drive across the country.”

A number of the films to be featured over the weekend have shown at other film festivals around the country.

At 7 p.m. Friday, things will begin with Kauffman’s film, “Living with Slim,” which won the Audience Award — Best of Festival at the Crested Butte Film Festival in Colorado. “Refugee All-Stars,” a feature-length documentary film directed by Zach Nile, originally of Woodstock, is about Sierra Leone refugee musicians. It has won a number of awards at more than five different film festivals.

It has been 10 years since Fred Tuttle’s story, “Man With a Plan,” produced by John O’Brien, first was shown to Vermont audiences. At 3 p.m. Saturday, Tuttle will grace the screen of the festival to begin the second day. The film will be followed by Jay Craven’s latest, “Disappearances,” starring Kris Kristofferson and Luiz Guzman.

On Sunday at 3 p.m., five short films chosen by Karlhuber will be shown. A winner is being chosen by three local judges, Dom Chioffi, Saskia Groom and Kip Dalury, and will be announced at the completion of the showing. David Giancola will wrap up the event with his latest film, “Illegal Aliens,” and a discussion will follow.

For a complete schedule of events and information about the films go to www.killingtonfilmfestival.com or call the Killington Chamber of Commerce at (800) 337-1928 or 773-4181.

“I want it to grow bigger and better next year,” Karlhuber said. “I think it will help to have the recognition behind us.”-

By SARAH HINCKLEY Herald Staff