Woodstock FIlm Festival - February 2004 Newsletter

Vera Farmiga and Meira Blaustein
in Sundance

Vera Farmiga and Jasper Daniels
Photo credit: Sebastian Mlynarski

WOODSTOCK AND HUDSON VALLEY FILMS
COME THROUGH AT SUNDANCE - AGAIN!
Locally shot film wins for Best Director and Best Actor
Locally scored doc wins documentary directing prize

In 2002, "Personal Velocity," which was shot in Woodstock and surrounding areas, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. When the 2004 Sundance awards were handed out for 2004, the directing prize for dramatic feature was awarded to Debra Granik for her film "Down to the Bone," which was produced in the Woodstock, Saugerties and Kingston area.

New Paltz resident Vera Farmiga earned a special-jury prize for her performance in the film, which also stars Hugh Dillon, Clint Jordan, Caridad De La Luz, and Woodstocker Jasper Daniels.

Of the film, Stephen Garrett wrote:
Many movies in the dramatic competition deal with people not seeking new experiences but struggling to escape old ones. Addiction drives Debra Granik's "Down to the Bone," a starkly fresh take on people trying desperately to kick their drug habits. Vera Farmiga turns in a powerful performance as a married woman with kids fighting to clean up her act but always close to sliding back into her old ways. Tough, unsentimental dialogue and a hard ending help "Bone" to circumvent the pitfalls of this overworn subgenre. (read the full article in Indiewire)

The Woodstock Film Commission acted as a local conduit for production in the Hudson Valley / Catskill region, and provided help with auditions, crew recruitments, and promotion. Key local crew members included Ulster County based location scout/location manager Michele Baker and head production assistant Hannah Lewis Rosenblum.

SUPERSIZE ME & NEVERLAND

FERRY TALES NOMINATED FOR OSCAR

Katja Esson's short doc about a group of women who gather each day in the powder room of the Staten Island Ferry, to put on their make-up and share their thoughts and problems was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Documentary short subject. The film, which screened at the 2003 Woodstock Film Festival, was edited by WFF advisory board member, Sabine Hoffman.

In other Sabine news, Hoffman was cited during an acceptance speech at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Awards show when "Brother to Brother" director Rodney Evans described Hoffman's work on his feature film as "brilliant, brilliant, brilliant."

Hoffman, who is presently editing Rebecca Miller's "Snake and the Rose," is scheduled to moderate and teach a Woodstock Film Festival editing seminar this coming summer. Stay tuned for more.

ON THE TUBE

Resisting Paradise Sundance Channel Premiere
directed by Barbara Hammer
Monday, February 16, 2004 @ 9pm, check out Resisting Paradise by part-time Woodstock Barbara Hammer. Posing the question, "Can art exist during a time of political crisis and war?" documentary filmmaker Barbara Hammer turns her lens on life in Southern France during World War II. As Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard created iconic canvasses celebrating physical pleasure and the Mediterranean light, some of their neighbors were risking their lives to save Jews who had fled to the south. In this cinematic personal essay, Hammer reveals some astounding true stories of bravery and how the worlds of art and political responsibility often intersect. Other screenings include Monday 02.23.2004 @ 7:30AM, Monday 02.23.2004 @ 4:45PM, Sunday 02.29.2004 @ 6:15AM

My Babushka - Searching Ukrainian Identities Sundance Channel Premiere
directed by Barbara Hammer
Monday, February 16, 2004 @ 10:20pm, check out My Babushka - Searching Ukrainian Identities Sundance Channel Premiere by part-time Woodstock Barbara Hammer. Barbara, who has been called "the Stanley Kubrick of documentary filmmakers," travels to the former Soviet Union to investigate her maternal grandparents, and in the process discovers a region of emerging identities and cultural differences. As it gradually opens to the West, the Ukraine has had to deal with questions of human rights, feminism and a history of anti-Semitism. An eclectic group of contemporary Ukrainians talks with Hammer as they reflect on everything from the notorious massacre at Babi Yar to new definitions of sexuality. Other Feburary screenings include Monday 02.23.2004 @ 6:05PM, Saturday 02.28.2004 @ 11:00AM

ON DVD

Square Footage Films Presents "Avoid Eye Contact"
Some of our favorite animators from over the years, including Bill Plympton, Aleksey Budovsky, Patrick Smith, Signe Baumane, and PES are featured on a fantastic new animation compilation. The DVD includes over 18 independent films, special features, including pencil tests, behind the scenes, and making of mini-docs.

The films on this volume span the last decade of NYC animation. Young animators join seasoned masters in a program that will surely become an important part of any animation enthusiasts library. For more info visit Square Footage Films.

Recent DVD Releases of WFF alumni films include:

Pieces of April (2003), directed by Peter Hedges

EvenHand (2003), directed by Joseph Pierson

Manic (2002) directed by Jordan Melamed

YEAR ROUND EVENTS

GARBAGE, GANGSTER, AND GREED
Friday, March 12 (Student Town Meeting) Students only

Directed by Fred Isseks and his Middletown High School Electronic English Class

Since 1991 Middletown High School students have been investigating and documenting the history and health implications of toxic waste disposal in the lower Hudson Valley, the primary source of drinking water for New York City. As part of their course work, they produced a documentary about the organized crime-figures, law-enforcement officers, politicians and state regulators who participated in pointless pollution, then kept it hidden. (Film screening and student town meeting. Guests include Congressman Maurice Hinchey, Ward Stone, educator/filmmaker Fred Isseks, and student filmmakers.)

Friday, March 19 @ 7:30pm at Inquiring Mind in Saugerties (celebrate Women¹s History Month)

INTO THE FIRE: AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR Introduced and directed by Julia Newman, Exemplary Films Inc.

"Hemingway, Dos Passos, Orwell, and other famous men have related their experiences during the Spanish Civil War; now we hear from some considerably less-known women, and their stories are vivid and movingŠtales that Hollywood could usefully adapt into big-screen fiction." Seattle Weekly

In July 1936, a right-wing military uprising tried to overthrow the new, legally elected, democratic government of Spain. Hitler and Mussolini quickly joined the fight in support of the rebel General Francisco Franco. In response, about eighty American women joined over 2700 of their countrymen in defiance of their government to volunteer for the Spanish Civil War, the first major battle against fascism. They were part of the International Brigades' 40,000 volunteers from fifty countries who came to fight for democracy in Spain. In 1996, sixty years after the start of the war, two of the American nurses returned to Spain with other survivors of the International Brigades to be given honorary citizenship in recognition of the heroic part they played in Spain's fight against fascism. (Presented in conjunction with Inquiring Mind and Alternative Videos of Woodstock)

Friday, March 26 @ 7pm at the Linda Norris Auditorium, 339 Central Avenue, Albany, NY

MEDIUM COOL - Directed by Haskell Wexler

An Evening with Haskell Wexler

Where is the line between fantasy and reality? Check out Medium Cool and you'll have trouble finding it. Pioneering cinematographer Haskell Wexler got the bright idea that the 1968 Democratic National Convention would be a hotbed of riots (with Vietnam in its worst years, Martin Luther King recently assassinated, and a growing movement fed up with the government) and he was right. Wexler decided to make a (fictional) movie set during all of this -- but rather than wait until it was over and done with, he took a group of actors to ground zero, tossed them in among the cops and the protesters, and had them "act." The result is one of the most vibrant and eye-opening films ever made, a bit of fantasy that seems devastatingly real

-- because, in large part, it is. The story -- about a jaded America during the 1960s -- has become more relevant than ever. (This event is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.)

Sunday, March 28 @ 7pm at the Woodstock Community Center, Rock City road in Woodstock

SPONSOR NEWS:

We're thrilled to announce that for the fifth straight year, Markertek, America's largest video and audio supply and accessory source, is on board as a presenting sponsor of the Woodstock Film Festival.

IF YOU NEED THE BEST CABLES, Check out Markertek for all your video and audio needs.

Now offering Next Day To L.A. & The West From Our Las Vegas Warehouse!

The Woodstock Film Festival is a not-for-profit, 501 (C) 3 organization with a mission to present an annual program and year-round schedule of film, music, and art-related activities that promote artists, culture, inspired learning, diversity, and sustainable economic development through film, video and media production and exhibition.

The Woodstock FIlm Festival is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency

2004 sponsors: Markertek.com