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Snake Alley Festival of Film - June 23-25

The 5th Annual Snake Alley Festival of Filmis scheduled for June 23-25 at the Capitol Theater in downtown Burlington. As the event has grown, so has Tadd Good's role.

Good said he attended the first festival as a spectator. He added some responsibilities the next two years before taking over as director last year. Good said he remained in that role to make sure the event remains available to film fans.

“It’s such an important event and I didn’t want to see it disappear,” said Good. “I knew if I didn’t do it, it probably would [have been cancelled], so I jumped right in and I love it. We don’t have a lot of big events that bring people in from other states, even other countries, here in Burlington. It’s such a unique opportunity for people to come down and see these films. The only place you can see most of these are small film festivals.”

The Snake Alley Festival of Film offers up only short films. Good said that allows participants to truly experience the works of many directors and artists.

“My favorite thing when I first came to the festival was that if you don’t like the film, within 15-20 minutes, you were going to get another one, so you are not going to sit through a [90-minute] movie that you are not really liking. Also, the format lends to smaller-budget, independent filmmakers so they can do more with a shorter amount of time. We get a huge variety of anything from music videos to documentaries," he said.

Good says this year’s entries include some from celebrities such as Evan Peters, from the American Horror Story and X-Men franchises, and comedian Pete Holmes.

He said there are 96 films from 17 countries. Good said narrowing the list to 96 was difficult this year.

“I go through and watch every single one of them, every submission at least twice, most of them 3-4 times, probably more,” said Good. “It’s really a process of figuring out how much time do we have and going from there. I judge them on criteria, [going back and forth] before I have to start making cuts. Unfortunately we lose a lot of really great films. I always try to find more room to put in. This year, like I said, we are showing 96, which is a big jump from last year, where we showed 70. I just keep finding more time and eventually, I will probably have to add more days.”

Thethree day event features four, 2-hour film blocks on both Thursday and Friday and three blocks on Saturday. Each block includes a question/answer session. Good said there will also be stage readings and an after-party each day of the festival as well as an awards ceremony and guest speaker on Saturday.

Good said tickets can be purchased at the door or online.

Jason Parrott is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.