MONTPELIER - The 13th Annual Green Mountain Film Festival will again host a rich array of remarkable films from around the world, across the nation, and within Vermont’s borders. 129 events take place around Montpelier, from March 19-28. New elements this year include the addition of the Pavilion Auditorium as a third screening room and a pass providing deep discounts for weekday afternoons. There are films on art, music, politics, history, and the environment as well as stories that weave many of these together.

The Festival offers film classics along with relative unknowns and includes fiction as well as documentaries. Audiences respond. They laugh and cry, question characters’ motives, and sit in silent awe caught up in an intriguing plot set in a new locale. When the lights go back on, there is a chance to meet some of the directors and actors or gain new insights from visiting critics and writers.

A complete schedule of events, and ticket information, is available at www.Green- MountainFilmFestival.org or call 802 262-3456.

The entire lineup of films is featured on the back page of the News where you can cut it out and keep the schedule so you’ll know when and where each film is being shown.

You can also search for Twitter feeds marked #GMFF or join the GMFF Facebook group from the Festival web site.

2010’s line-up includes Oscar nominees, a special program of “Circus in Cinema” presented by Rob Mermin of Cirkcus Smirkus fame, a backstage look at the Paris Opera Ballet, and a hilarious animation from Belgium starring three plastic toys. The films will bring viewers from the Arctic wilderness to the Indian sub-continent and introduce audiences to wonderful characters, both real and imagined.

“The Festival has so much,” explains Festival Director Donald Rae. “I always tell people to plan ahead to get tickets for what they want, but to also take a chance on something just because it intrigues them.”

The Green Mountain Film Festival is presented by the Vermont nonprofit organization Focus On Film.