Join emcee PAUL GREEN's Band of Monkeys in celebrating
JONATHAN DEMME
and the Woodstock Film Festival
at the 13th annual Maverick Awards Gala
Saturday, October 13 @ Backstage
Studio Productions in Kingston.

7:00pm: Cocktail party in Gallery.
8:15pm: Seating for awards begins.
9:00pm: Award Ceremony with presentations to our honorary recipients.

/mav-er-ick/:
1. Being independent in thought and action or exhibiting such independence.
2. One who refuses to abide by the dictates of a group.

JONATHAN DEMME
During his 40 years of filmmaking, Jonathan Demme has had a profound impact on audiences with works so diverse it is astonishing to realize that the same director envisioned and created them. He is known to some people for such narrative masterpieces as “Silence of the Lambs,” “Melvin and Howard,” “Swing Shift,” “Something Wild,” “Swimming to Cambodia,” “Philadelphia," and “Rachel Getting Married.” But he has made an equal mark as a documentarian, giving voice to many unsung people and momentous issues with such films as “Cousin Bobby,” “The Agronomist,” “Jimmy Carter Man from Plains,” and “I’m Carolyn Parker,” which chronicled the life of Parker and her family as they rebuilt their lives after Hurricane Katrina devastated their community and home in the Lower Ninth Ward. His upcoming films, “The House at Lovestrand” and three New Orleans portrait documentaries continue Demme’s commitment to champion the unacknowledged.

Anyone who follows music undoubtedly knows Demme for his phenomenal feature-length music films, including “Stop Making Sense” (which got people up and dancing in the aisles of theaters), “Neil Young: Heart of Gold,” “The Neil Young Trunk Show,” and most recently “Enzo Avitabile Music Life,” which chronicles the career of the incomparable Italian saxophonist, singer-songwriter who plays a fusion of world music and jazz that is mesmerizing.

This glimpse at his career, spanning four decades, clearly illuminates what makes Demme the Woodstock Film Festival 2012 choice for the Maverick Award. He courageously tackles challenging and controversial subjects. And in doing so, whether he is portraying Anthony Hopkins as the terrifying Hannibal Lecter or Tom Hanks as an early victim of AIDS, his characters emerge with unusual depth and humanity. What’s more, his stories are not only thoughtful, they are as equally absorbing and entertaining.

Demme began his film career not behind the lens, but as a film critic, eventually graduating to public relations, until 1970, when he met Roger Corman, mentor to many brilliant filmmakers.