'Full-blown' Woodstock Film Festival is a go, executive director says (Kingston: sale, house)
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"The Woodstock Film Festival, which morphed into a drive-in and remote event last year because of the COVID pandemic, will return to form this year with movie house screenings, in-person workshops and panel discussions, other events and celebrity guests, the festival's executive director said Thursday
“We are gearing up big-time for a full-blown festival,” Meira Blaustein said. “It’s all in the works, and we are continuing to finalize.”
The festival, now in its 22nd year, is scheduled for Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 at venues in Woodstock, Kingston and Saugerties. Passes will go on sale later this month, at prices still to be announced; and the film lineup will be announced in early September."
" The Woodstock Film Festival has announced Tuesday the full lineup of films and programming for the five-day event scheduled for Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, with special guest appearances from celebrities like Kiefer Sutherland, Steve Buscemi, Michael Imperioli and Matthew Modine, among others.
This year’s festival will include 28 feature narrative films and 26 featured documentaries as well as 107 short live-action films, documentaries, animation, panels, and live music at venues in Woodstock, Rosendale, Saugerties, and online.
The festival will also feature special guest appearances from James Ivory, Tim Blake Nelson, Brittany Snow, Mary Stuart Masterson, Thomas Sadoski, Ondi Timoner, Victor Nunez, Ramin Bahrani, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Kristi Jacobson, Barbara Kopple, Pawo Choyning Dorji, Sheila Nevins, and Author Neil Gaiman, according to Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder and Executive Director Meira Blaustein.
Blaustein said some of the special guests have applied for waivers from the Screen Actors Guild to attend the festival in the wake of the union’s ongoing strike.
“We are thrilled to continue our tradition of bringing together world-class talent from our own Hudson Valley community and extraordinary works of cinema from all over the world,” Blaustein said in a statement. “We are once again proud to amplify the work of a group of filmmakers whose ingenuity and innovative storytelling is exemplary. As the Hudson Valley establishes itself as an epicenter of artistry and industry for the creative film community in the United States, we are proud to be at the forefront of generating experiences, audiences and conversations that give directors, actors, writers and people practicing all forms of filmmaking a place to flourish.”
The opening night film will be “Fair Play,” directed by Chloe Domont and starring Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich and Eddie Marsan.
“Emily and Luke’s relationship is pushed to the brink when a new promotion at their financial firm causes challenges both in and out of the office,” a description reads. “As the power dynamics shift, they’re left to face the price of success and the limits of ambition.”
The closing night film will be “Finestkind,” directed by Brian Helgeland and starring Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, and Tommy Lee Jones.
“Finestkind” tells the story of two half-brothers (Foster and Wallace), raised in different worlds, who are reunited as adults during a fateful summer.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to filmmaker James Ivory. Ivory was the directing partner with the legendary producer Ismail Merchant in their independent company Merchant Ivory Productions. For 48 years, they worked together as a team, usually accompanied by the writer and novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. They created 28 feature films, including the classics “A Room With a View, Maurice,” “Howards End,” and “The Remains of the Day.”
Ivory also wrote the screenplay for “Call Me By Your Name,” for which he received an Academy Award in 2018. A tribute screening of Ivory’s film, The “City of Your Final Destination,” will take place on Saturday, Sept. 30, followed by a conversation with Ivory and novelist Peter Cameron.
A long-time supporter of many of today’s most talented and promising women working in the film industry, 40% of the films included in this year’s lineup feature works directed by women filmmakers.
This year the Woodstock Film Festival will participate in a cultural collaboration with the Leiden International Film Festival in the Netherlands.
“The program entails a reciprocal exchange of films and filmmakers between the two festivals, enhancing cultural awareness and international exposure for both Dutch and American independent cinema,” a press release said.
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