Vermont

2023, 16mm, Color, 20 min.

Desires shift after a trip to the mountains. Back in the city, a man contemplates an unseen landscape and explores alternative paths. Filmed in New York on 16mm by Robert Orlowski, the film meditates on city scenes to a piano and flute score composed by Cody Boyce. Vermont stars Ryan McDermott in his acting debut and features a number of other non-actors to make up an ensemble cast of mostly queer men. The film had its world premiere at IndieLisboa in May 2024. Learn more here.

“A trip to Vermont haunts a couple. Everyone keeps asking how it went, if the scenery was beautiful, if the atmosphere was romantic, if it was fun and relaxing. The two boys give short answers. Clearly something happened in Vermont, but it hardly matters. Joseph Barglowski, the director, is more interested in the emotional consequences of that supposedly idyllic weekend and how, from then on, a friction is generated in that relationship that throws each of the boys in different directions (and into different bodies). The sudden instability of that moment, which is not one of rupture but of torsion, allows Barglowski to build a portrait of a city (New York), a community (queer) and an environment (tense and cold). Vermont is therefore a gloomy urban symphony, in which 16mm photography (and reminiscent Super-8 sequences) merges with anti-psychological acting direction (there’s something of Robert Bresson’s ‘models’ here) to produce a melancholic portrait of a generation.” (Ricardo Vieira Lisboa)

Screenings:
IndieLisboa 2024 International Film Festival — May 2024, Lisbon, Portugal (World Premiere)
L'Œil d'Oodaaq Festival 2024 — May 2024, Rennes, France

Written and Directed by Joseph Barglowski
Starring Ryan McDermott
Featuring Marty Williams and Chris Bank
Produced by Joseph Barglowski and Kati Rehbeck
Cinematography by Robert Orlowski
Original Music by Cody Boyce
Title Design by Daniel Calderwood
Gaffer Zane Shaffer
Location Sound Robyn Huey and Maxwell di Paolo
Sound Mix by Noah Chevan
Telecine by Negativeland