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WFF's CAN FILM
FESTIVAL,
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED,
EMBEDDED WITH OSCAR,
TAKING LIVES, AWARDS AND POTSHOTS,
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WFF's CAN FILM FESTIVAL Each month, the Woodstock Film Festival presents free screenings. Instead of Admission, we ask that you please bring non perishable canned or boxed food to help benefit local food pantries. Sunday, March 28 @ 7pm, join us at the Woodstock Community Center on Rock City Road to Celebrate Women's history month with this selection of short films by emerging women filmmakers. IF YOU STEP ON A CRACK by Jennifer Atkins When the Cubs are your home team, losing can become a permanent state of mind. But the night before her breast biopsy, a worried woman refuses to give up hope. GYPSY BLOOD by Samantha Sanders Despite mounting pressure to keep her feet on the ground and procreate, a woman endowed with a remarkable set of wings learns how to use them. NON-DISCLOSURE by Julie Pham A New York publicist on the fast track makes a difficult decision between her sister and her biggest client. GUNPLAY by Stefanie Berk It’s Alice’s 13th birthday and her father Jake’s gift is a shiny new gun and a lesson on how to shoot it at the local suburban gun range. WAIT HERE by Gilly Barnes Two men anticipate success in this hilarious look at the audition process. For additional info, including the upcoming Haskell Wexler screening and panel, visit year round events. | |||||
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Advisory board member Liev Schreiber is following up his starring role in the upcoming Jonathan Demme remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, with his directorial debut. The film, to be shot in Prague, is an adaptation of “Everything is Illuminated” by Jonathan Safran Foer. The story follows a young Jewish American who travels to the Ukraine in the hope of finding the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. The book has been lauded as extremely funny and as an intelligent meditation on love, friendship, and loss in the tradition of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Fellow WFF advisory board member Peter Saraf (Adaptation, Ulee’s Gold) and Marc Turtletaub will produce. |
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After picking up his Oscar for his supporting role in “Mystic River,” 2002 WFF Maverick Award recipient Tim Robbins flew back to New York for the big apple premiere of EMBEDDED, an Actors Gang Production, which he wrote and directed. The work is described as “A raucous commentary about the journalists, politicians and media frenzy surrounding a modern day war. Fringed with the jaded sarcasm of front line journalists, the outrageous schemes of government officials and the biting humor of a show-tune singing colonel. At the center of the madness, the play focuses on the brave women and men fighting on the front lines.” The Actors' Gang is one of Los Angeles' most enduring theatre ensembles with a mission is to create raw, socially minded, original work for the stage. Robbins, a founding member, directed the first Actors Gang production “Pere Ubu,” by Alfred Jarry, in 1982. Tickets are on sale at The Public Theater box office, 425 Lafayette Street or on-line at the Public Theater. |
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TAKING LIVES, AWARDS AND POTSHOTS WFF advisory board member and Austin native Ethan Hawke opens everywhere March 19 in the thriller TAKING LIVES, directed by D.J. Caruso. Hawke stars as James Costa, a local art dealer that becomes involved with a criminal investigation after witnessing a brutal crime. As the inspection, he starts falling in love with his leading investigative officer, played by Angelina Jolie. Check out the brooding score by Philip Glass. Last week in Austin, Hawke was honored by the Texas Film Hall of Fame, which singled out his contributions to filmmaking, especially his collaborations with Austin based director Richard Linklater, including projects like the much anticipated BEFORE SUNSET (shot in Vienna). The following morning, on ABC’s Good Morning America, Hawke made a controversial comment when he was asked "if you could be anybody in the world for a day, who would it be?" He replied "I would want to be George Bush so I could resign, fire my whole cabinet, go back to Texas and sell my ranch to a real Texan and leave Texas, and go back to Greenwich, Connecticut..." |
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 The cast of CENTURY CITY |
The
future is now in session. LA Law meets Minority Report halfway. Next up for Cederquist is her directorial debut of VENUS, TRANSIT (to be shot in Woodstock and Israel) with Rana Joy Glickman as producer. |
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HUDSON VALLEY FILM & “PAINTBALL CHAMP” WIN AUDIENCE AWARD AT SXSW After seeing locally shot “DOWN TO THE BONE” win multiple awards at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, it’s no surprise that another locally produced film has claimed the audience award, this time at Austin’s SXSW. Banned from competition for ten years, Bobby Dukes, the former Hudson Valley Paintball Champion, has returned to reclaim his title in the comedy “BLACKBALLED: THE BOBBY DUKES STORY.” BLACKBALLED marks Brant Sersen’s narrative feature directorial debut. The film, shot predominantly in a cinema verite style in Liberty, New York was largely improvised to highlight the comedic timing of the accomplished ensemble cast, which features Rob Corddry as Bobby Dukes. Corddry currently serves as a correspondent for Comedy Central's Emmy-Award winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." The film was executive produced by The 7th Floor. Founded in 1999 by Allen Bain , Jesse Scolaro and Darren Goldberg to finance, develop, and produce films, The 7thFloor has produced a wide range of projects including MANITO, CAMP, TWENTY-NINE PALMS, and P.S. |
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Hudson Valley screenwriter/filmmaker Russell Craig Richardson recently signed with Django Studios of Amsterdam, Holland to pen the biggest budgeted Dutch animation project ever. The Pixar-like feature film will revolve about and around myths of Christmas. Richardson has worked in England, France and the United States over the past fifteen years, shepherding many projects to the screen including Oscar winners SHINE, KOLYA. In addition to the Dutch project, he is developing a local project TBA with Blondie founder Chris Stein. |
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BLACK MARKET MUSIC SCORES
SONY DREAM Black Market Music just completed a score for Elma Garcia's contribution to the Sony & Young & Rubican's Dream Project. Her four minute film using a Sony 24P HD camera will be screened in New York City at the Ziegfield theater on March 15th and in Los Angeles on March 23 at the DGA Theater. This year's films are based on the theme, "Magic." Ms. Garcia's film follows a legally blind baby from Bombay, India whose fortitude and strength of mind help him overcome great obstacles. He is adopted, moves to Wisconsin, becomes the first teenager from the United States to live with a guide dog...and even sings the national anthem before a Green Bay Packer's game. The film uses this true story to project a very personal aspect of true magic. The Black Market score employs tambora and tabla to represent India, celeste to represent purity and violin, with guitar and bass, as a soulful core. Marc Black from Black Market Music and Ms. Garcia have been working on commercials together for more than ten years. The opportunity to go beyond the normal thirty seconds to four minutes was great magic for both of them. |
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Madstone Films is
opening
ACTS OF WORSHIP as part of its Premiere Pics series. This truly
independent film (WFF 2002) will be showing in the following locations
during March and April, so if you have family and friends in the
following cities, please spread the word.... Ann Arbor, Michigan - Salt
Lake City, Utah - Cary, North Carolina - San Diego, California -
Atlanta, GA, and Denver, Colorado. Also opening at Madstone Theaters is
not to be missed Western Cowboy Space Alien Musical Comedy
THE
AMERICAN ASTRONAUT (WFF 2002). [Assisted Living] will connect with audiences tired of Hollywood's sentimental portrayals of growing old. . . will also draw inevitable comparison to 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'." Variety |
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Rory Kennedy's A BOY'S LIFE, which won the best documentary award at the 2003 Woodstock FIlm Festival, will premiere on HBO Wednesday, March 24th at 7:30pm ET/PT. For additional showtimes, click here . The doc chronicles the challenges of raising a special needs child and the struggle between a grandmother and mother for what's in his best interest. April 6 at 10pm, EVERY CHILD IS BORN A POET (WFF 2003) will be broadcast on PBS as part of the series INDEPENDENT LENS. Combining poetry, documentary and drama, Jonathan Robinson's EVERY CHILD IS BORN A POET explores the life and work of Piri Thomas, the 75-year-old Afro-Cuban-Puerto Rican poet and author of Down These Mean Streets. A landmark of modern American literature, this 1967 autobiographical novel continues to be taught in schools for its groundbreaking bilingual style and its realistic portrayal of youth, imprisonment and search for racial identity. |
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SUPERSIZE ANTIDOTE In the Tradition of THE TOFU TOLLBOOTH, Nikki Goldbeck (an invaluable WFF staff member), and David Goldbeck present their new book, HEALTHY HIGHWAYS: THE TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO HEALTHY EATING. With this innovative guide, travelers are no longer limited to "gas and go" road stops, but instead can make informed choices about where to find a healthy snack, meal or cooler provisions. Over 1,900 natural food stores, plus vegetarian and health-conscious restaurants throughout the USA. Every listing includes address, phone number and hours plus a checklist of features, including dining style, salad bars, fresh juice, wheelchair access, vegetarian/vegan friendly, organic outlook and alcohol availability. MOST IMPORTANT -- each listing is keyed to state maps, along with local driving directions. The Goldbecks, authors of best-selling vegetarian cookbooks and nutrition guides, make healthy eating easy, enjoyable and help you realize sustainable weight loss. Enjoy nutritionist Nikki Goldbeck's free health column and recipes. Learn all about YoChee - yogurt cheese - a natural, fat free substitute for sour cream, cream cheese, mayonnaise, etc. with enormous culinary potential. YoChee is simple to make using a yogurt cheese maker, available here. Online discounts on cookbooks and books on nutrition, kitchen design, environmental issues, pregnancy, bodycare and kid's cooking. Experience the Goldbeck approach of "good food that happens to be healthy."
"I wouldn't go on the
road without 'Healthy Highways'." Ron Mann (Director, GO FURTHER) |
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THE CURSE OF BLONDIE You won't have to shell out more for the import anymore because this fantastic new album from Blondie is dropping in the United States on April 6th, 2004 thanks to Sanctuary records. THE CURSE OF BLONDIE. Check out the band on Letterman, March 24. Tour dates were announced for the USA and UK, earlier this month. Watch for Debbie (who was in Woodstock throughout March for production on Chris Romero's film PATCH), as she joins Cyndi Lauper and previously announced divas Patti LaBelle and Jessica Simpson on stage at this year's "VH1 Divas". The Curse of Blondie? "It's been a standing joke for years," says Debbie Harry, "Every time something weird would happen we would say, 'It's the Curse of Blondie.' A lot of people take it seriously, but it's silly. It's sort of a Vincent Price, horror movie type title. I think it's lucky." |
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SAYIN
HELLO TO THE FOLKS Shear's varied catalogue and captivating live performances have won him a devoted fan base that includes numerous fellow artists, many of whom have recorded his compositions. The latter group includes Cyndi Lauper (who scored a Top Five hit with his "All Through the Night"), the Bangles (who had a hit with his "If She Knew What She Wants"), Alison Moyet (whose cover of Shear's "Whispering Your Name" was a U.K. smash), The Band, Roger McGuinn, 10,000 Maniacs, Curtis Stigers and Jeremy Toback. Fairport Convention co-founder Iain Matthews even recorded an entire album of Shear compositions, 1988's Walking a Changing Line. |
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EPPARD PLAYS BITTER END |
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The Woodstock Film Festival is delighted to welcome new key sponsor Schieffelin & Somerset. First opened as a small apothecary in lower Manhattan in 1794, Schieffelin & Somerset Co.. has developed into one of the leading importers of premium wines and spirits in the United States. The S&S Co. portfolio includes such products as Hennessy, Dom Pérignon, Moët & Chandon, Ciroc Vodka, Chandon Estates, Tanqueray, Johnnie Walker, Grand Marnier, J&B, Pinch, Buchanan's, The Classic Malts, Ruffino and Casa Lapostolle. |
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Visit locally based Laird Telemedia at booth SL5860 at the upcoming NAB Las Vegas, April 17-22. Laird specializes in DV for Broadcast equipment including Wireless DV Monitoring Systems, Inertia - World’s Most Advanced Any Format Media Converter with DV and SDI, CapDiv Beltpack DV Recorder and 4-Channel DV Head End. Helmet Cam and Triax Tester also brand new for 2004. Professional solutions for professional broadcasters. |
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Our "early bird special" nests January 12th. All early entries will be discounted $5 through 5/15/04. The fifth anniversary celebration of the fiercely independent Woodstock Film Festival, October 13-17, 2004 celebrates new voices of independent filmmakers with great films, seminars, workshops, concerts, parties and good people. Early Bird deadline: May 15, 2004. Final deadline: June 28, 2004. Awards are presented for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Student Film, Best Cinematography (The Haskell Wexler Award), Best Film Score (The Elmer Bernstein Award) and Best Animation (Awarded by Bill Plympton). Entry fee ranges from $25 - $50. For additional info visit the WFF 2004 entry form. |
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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, and diversity. The Woodstock Film Commission promotes sustainable economic development by attracting and supporting film, video and media production. The Woodstock FIlm
Festival is made possible in part with public funds from the New York
State Council on the Arts, a State Agency |
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The Woodstock Film Festival newsletter is compiled and written by Laurent Rejto. If you would like to contribute a story idea, email Laurent@woodstockfilmfestival.com. |
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HOME Copyright, 2000-2004 - Woodstock Film Festival, Inc. |
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