Director Alison Tavel’s Resynator, Audience Award Winner for Documentary Feature at SXSW 2024, chronicles her journey through unsettling secrets and complex truths as she builds a relationship with her late father, inventor Don Tavel, who died when she was ten months old. What starts as a curious project to resurrect her mythical father’s synthesizer prototype that she rescued from her grandmother’s attic turns into an insatiable globe-trotting quest aided by estranged family, lost friends, fellow inventors, and celebrated musicians like Grace Potter, Peter Gabriel, Fred Armisen, Gotye, and Jon Anderson.
Director Contessa Gayles’ Songs from the Hole, Audience Award Winner for Visions at SXSW 2024, is a visual album composed behind bars. At 15, he took a life; three days later, his brother’s life was taken; now, he is an incarcerated musician who is struggling for healing and peace as he comes of age.
VIFF will screen six narrative, three documentary, and one animated shorts: director Andrew Saunderson’s Crows (West Coast Premiere); director Anthony Saxe’s Dissolution, Grand Jury Award Winner for Narrative Shorts at SXSW; director Àlex Lora’s The Masterpiece (La Gran Obra), Grand Jury Prize Winner for Best Short Film at Sundance 2024; directors Kerry Furrh and Olivia Mitchell’s Ripe!, Best Narrative Short Winner at Tribeca 2024; directors David and Sam Cutler-Kreutz’ Trapped, Special Jury Award Winner for Narrative Short at SXSW 2024; directors Matt Eastman and Karen Knox’s The Year of Staring at Noses, Audience Award Winner for Best Canadian Short at Calgary Underground Film Festival 2024; director Jack Dunphy’s Bob’s Funeral, Short Film Jury Award Winner for Non-Fiction at Sundance 2024; director Shuli Huang’s Goodbye First Love, World Premiered at Berlinale 2024; directors Shannet Clemmings and Ursa Kastelic’s Remember, Broken Crayons Colour Too, Special Jury Prize Winner for Best Documentary Short at Slamdance 2024; and director Nina Gantz’ Wander to Wonder, Grand Jury Award Winner for Animated Short at SXSW 2024.
Resynator
There is also the newly introduced out-of-competition screening section Local Spotlight, which highlights films from the local community, including director Emily Moss Wilson’s feature film Inheritance (World Premiered at Dances With Films 2024), director Thomas Scott Stanton’s short film Mare (World Premiere), and production company Children of The Setting Sun’s television pilot The Sound (World Premiere). VIFF will also feature selections from its local short film competition shortCUTZ, sponsored by C’Mon Barber, owned and operated by islander Tara Morgan, which will compete for a year of free haircuts and passes to the Vashon Theatre.
All features compete for the Quartermaster Award, the Audience Award for Best Feature, and the Red Bicycle Awards in each category, as determined by the VFI’s Programming Team. Shorts compete for the Burton Award and the Audience Award for Best Short. The awards occur on Sunday, August 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Vashon Theatre Backlot.
VIFF’s Jury selects Quartermaster and Burton Award winners in an anonymous voting process. This year’s jury consists of actor Dian Bachar (Orgazmo, BASEketball), writer/director Justin Foia (Point Defiance, Doe), and VIFF alums Olivia Kuan (The Herricanes, VIFF 2023), writer/director Paris Zarcilla (Raging Grace, VIFF 2023), and actress/producer Decker Sadowski (Juniper, VIFF 2022). Festival attendees determine Audience Awards.
“Our commitment at VIFF remains to quality, which I feel confident our program reflects. This way, we can mirror the experience offered at major festivals. The difference is we do it in shorts and sweatpants instead of black tie attire—what you might call ‘island casual.’ On second thought, our commitment remains to quality and comfort,” says Sayre.
To learn more about the 2024 Vashon Island Film Festival, visit vashonislandfilmfestival.com.
