10th anniversary september 30 - october 4 2009 · the ﬁ lms themselves, and not just movie stars...

5 “We were all so moved by the beau-ty and the cheer and hospitality - and thank you again for the best award I have ever won! ”

Mira Nair, 2004 Maverick Award recipient

“Now in it’s fi fth year, the WFF is coming into its own as a cultural haven, weekend getaway for Gotham industry insiders and a signifi cant event on the fi lm calendar.”

Anthony Kaufman, Variety

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4“The idea here is to get together with the community. It’s like being in a friend’s kitchen. If it’s not, Woodstock should be on the National Register for real Americana towns. With this festival, it’s sticking its head above the surface.”

David Strathairn Academy-Award® nominated actor

2003

2004

1 6“For over a hundred years, Wood-stock has been a place of dreams and magic. It was a place of dreams for visual art, for crafts, for music, for popular music, for theater, for political philosophy, for alternative lifestyles and it is entirely fi tting that Woodstock should become a place of dreams and magic for fi lms at this time.”

Elmer Bernstein, 14 time Academy Award® nominated composer

“Thank you for giving us the opportunity to screen our fi lm at Woodstock. It could not have had a better experience. The commu-nity, fi lm festival and the industry supported us 100%... It’s people like you that make a difference

for independent fi lm. Keep up the wonderful work and I promise to be back at Woodstock whether with a fi lm or just to support your incredible festival!”

Paola Mendoza–director, Autumn Eyes

2005

2 7“The Woodstock Film Festival stands for what humanity should strive for…Get out there and use your art to express good, human things and denounce and expose all the lies and deceptions that have become a part of our life.”

Haskell Wexler, Academy-Award® winning cinematographer

“ The people who attend the fes-tival are real lovers of cinema... They are really passionate about the fi lms themselves, and not just movie stars who surround the fi lms. Considering that the festi-val has been around such a short

time, the festival organizers have been able to achieve something phenomenal.”

Jonathan Sehring–president, IFC Entertainment

2006

8“The lush mountainous ter-rain is a natural oasis for beleaguered New Yorkers eager for aweekend getaway. So the Woodstock Film Fes-tival is quite a draw, and its solid line-up attracts a broad spectrum of the New York fi lm community to the enclave that one participant called “the world’s most famous small town.””

Indiewire (2002)

“Every year the festival attracts a shockingly strong number of outstanding fi lms, fi lmmakers and panelists of the highest caliber. It is so important to have these festivals as outposts of our most vital art forms. But above all, it

is the intimacy and relationships developed between fi lmmakers and within the industry that makes Woodstock so special.”

Jason Kliot, Open City Films

2007

9“There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of regional fi lm festivals. Woodstock stands out for its commitment to in-dependent fi lmmaking and for the fact that it’s in Woodstock, which people associate with a particular spirit and attitude.”

James Schamus, Focus Features

2008

“The Woodstock Film Festival is that rare gem where community is not only found, but blossoms fully. Your appreciation grows, your passion is reinforced, your connections strengthened, and the recognition of why you love movies is rejuvenated -- it’s why people have gardens, it’s our backyard garden of fi lm culture.” Ted Hope, 2009 Trailblazer Award recipient

10

2001

2 0 0 9

SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 4 2009

10TH ANNIVERSARY

2000

FEATURES 10TH ANNIVERSARY

2 WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL 2009

All events are subject to change. For latest updates, visitwww.WoodstockFilmFestival.com

World Premiere

2B Directed by Richard KroehlingUSA / 2009 / 92 minutes

Bearsville Theater Fri Oct 2 • 7:30PM

New York, soon. Technology’s expo-nential growth is fast and furious. Human life is in the process of being transformed. Mankind stands on the verge of reengineering its biology—merging with the incredibly intelligent machines it has created. Mia 2.0, the world’s fi rst ‘Transbe-man’ and her inventor, the eccentric Dr. Tom Mortlake, conduct a bold political experiment designed to prove that human reliance on the fragile fl esh body is over and ‘eternal life‘ is at hand.

Set in the near future, 2B portrays a familiar decaying world on the cusp of great transformation and awesome won-ders. The script is based upon real science and evolving technologies. The ‘technohu-man’ conundrum is the hottest and most controversial topic of this century. This fi lm is an entertainment designed to jump-start the conversation about the moral and religious questions raised by the bio-tech revolution. What if you could die and live forever?

Dear Lemon Lima Directed by Suzi YoonessiUSA / 2009 / 87 minutes

PRECEDED BY Q&A

Upstate Films I Sat Oct 3 • 4:00PM Tinker Street Sun Oct 4 • 11:00AM

Being thirteen is not easy, as Vanessa Lemor (newcomer Savanah Wiltfong), a quirky Alaskan girl, could certainly attest

to. Her daydreams of a life fi lled with candy hearts, rainbows and ice cream cones come to an end when her beloved Philip breaks up with her. Given a special scholarship for Eskimo students to attend Nichols Academy, she is immediately declared a “fubar,” the worst position in the school’s caste system. Ness decides that the best way to win Philip’s heart back is to enter the school’s Snowstorm Survivor competition, gathering up a group of misfi ts to be on her team. As she trains for the competition, bonds with her team,

and confronts unexpected challenges, Ness fi nally begins to embrace her Yup’ik heritage. With strong performances from the entire cast, including WFF friend and Academy Awarded nominated actress Me-lissa Leo, the fi lm is just as sweet as the ice cream cones Vanessa and her mother sell at their stand. Teenage girls will both relate to and be inspired by Vanessa as she learns to embrace her individuality.

–Emily Suttmeier

Against The Current Directed by Peter Callahan USA / 2009 / 95 minutesPRECEDED BY Ice Sailing on the Hudson River & Light House Keeper

Bearsville Theater Thur Oct 1 • 6:00PM Upstate Films I Fri Oct 2 • 6:15PM

Struggling with a tragic past, Paul (Joseph Fiennes) is determined to swim all one hundred and fi fty miles of the lower Hudson River. He recruits his best friend Jeff (Justin Kirk), and Liz (Elizabeth Reaser), a teacher with nothing better to do during her summer break, to come with him. Paul begins his swim in Troy, with Jeff and Liz commandeering a dilapidated motorboat behind him. Biding the time laughing and joking around, the tides turn when they discover the real reason behind Paul’s journey With each stroke, director Peter Callahan brilliantly showcases the gorgeous landscapes of the Hudson Valley. The fi lm features stellar performances from Mary Tyler Moore, Michelle Trachten-berg and the entire main cast. A spin on the classic road movie genre, Against the Current is sure to keep audiences engaged all the way to the fi nal strokes of Paul’s journey.

-Emily Suttmeier

Caprica Directed by Jeffrey ReinerUSA / 2009 / 93 minutes

Bearsville Theater Fri Oct 2 • 5:00PM Upstate Films II Sun Oct 4 • 8:30PM

Humanity’s storyline takes completely new twists with Caprica, which follows two rival families and their patriarchs – Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) and Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) – as they compete and thrive in the vibrant realm of the Twelve Colonies, a society recognizably close to our own. This original, standalone series will feature the passion, intrigue, political backbiting, and family confl ict in an omnipotent society that is at the height of its blind power and glory…and, unknowingly, on the brink of its fall.

COURTESY OF SYFY

Children of Invention Directed by Tze ChunUSA / 2008 / 86 minutes

PRECEDED BY A Lot of Chocolate

Tinker Street Sat Oct 3 • 11:15AM Rosendale Theater Sun Oct 4 • 3:00PM

The lives of immigrant Elaine Cheng and her two children, Raymond and Tina, are turned upside down when they are evict-ed from their home. In an honest effort to feed her family while pursuing the American Dream, Elaine begins working longer hours, falling for an illicit pyramid scam while leav-ing the children to entertain themselves in their squatted apartment. One morning, the children awake to fi nd their mother missing. After determining that she may be gone for good, Raymond and Tina devise a get-rich-quick scheme of their own with the hope of buying their old house back. Featuring some of the best child performances (including the Hudson Valley’s Michael Chen) to ever leap off an indie fi lm set, Tze Chun’s semi-autobi-ographical Children of Invention is a must-see fi rst feature that resonates with style, grace, subtlety and honesty, bottling not only the experience of a stranger in a foreign land, but also that of a family.

–Michael Lerman

East Coast PremiereCOMPETITION FINALIST


COMPETITION FINALIST

FEATURES10TH ANNIVERSARY

32009 WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL



Don’t Let Me Drown Directed by Cruz AngelesUSA / 2009 / 100 minutes In English and Spanish with English Subtitles

Upstate Films II Sat Oct 3 • 1:45PM Tinker Street Sun Oct 4 • 4:00PM

Lalo and Stefanie are two high school kids living in working class Brooklyn right after 9/11. Lalo comes from a Mexican immigrant family that struggles fi nancially. His father, formerly a janitor at the World Trade Center, now works at Ground Zero cleaning up debris while his mother tries to make ends meet. Stefanie’s Dominican family moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn after her sister was killed in the 9/11 attacks. Her father is overwhelmed by the loss and cannot control his anger.

In the midst of the family turmoil, Lalo and Stefanie meet at a birthday party, and although they start off on the wrong foot, the ice melts, and their budding friendship becomes a clandestine romance.

Don’t Let Me Drown features an el-egantly poignant story, layered characters and standout performances.

Eyes Wide Open (Einaym Pkuhot)Directed by Haim TabakmanIsrael, Germany, France / 2009 / 112 minutes In Hebrew and Yiddish with English subtitles

Bearsville Theater Sat Oct 3 • 1:45PM Upstate Films I Sun Oct 4 • 2:45PM

Husband and father Reb Aaron belongs to the insular world of the ultra orthodox where life is defi ned by ritual and prayer and codes of behavior are strictly enforced. But his ties to these ancient traditions begin to fray when he meets a young, hand-some drifter looking for work. Initially irritated by the seductive stranger, Aaron ultimately takes him on, offering work as well as lodging in a room above his butcher shop. Warned by the elders of trouble ahead, Aaron is unable to repress

the disturbing new urges Ezry arouses in him, and Rivka, Aaron’s stoic, sometimes childlike wife, is no match for the pas-sionate, hedonistic Ezry. The Mikvah, or ritual cleansing bath proscribed by Judaic law, becomes a potent symbol for sins too great to be washed away. Eyes Wide Open is an unfl inching foray into a seldom seen world; riveting, uncompromising and bound to create controversy.

–Barbara Pokras, A.C.E.

COURTESY OF Regent Releasing

Easier with Practice Directed by Kyle Patrick AlvarezUSA / 2008 / 93 minutes

Town Hall Fri OCT 2 • 8:30PM Rosendale Theater Sat Oct 3 • 6:30PM

In an attempt to promote his un-published novel, Davy Mitchell sets out on a road trip with his younger, looser brother Sean. However, the idealism of being on the road wears off quickly as the trip proves to be a lonely and unfulfi lling experience for Davy, whose discordant relationship with his brother seems impossible to reconcile. One night in a motel room, he gets a random phone call from a mysterious woman named Nicole who wants Davy to have phone sex with her. They start a sexy, funny and intimate affair, which leaves Davy happier than he has been in years. Hoping there can be more to the relationship than vir-tual sex and a phone bill, Davy decides he wants to meet Nicole. Ultimately, he will have to face the truth about their relation-ship, and himself.

The Eclipse Directed by Conor McPhersonIreland / 2009 / 88 minutes

Rosendale Theater Thur Oct 1 • 8:00PM

In what seems almost a holy ritual set to melancholy music, silent servers set the stage in an elegant dining room in preparation for the Cobh Literary Festival held in a lovely Irish seaside town. It is in this insular world of the festival that Michael Farr, a widower, father and wood-working teacher serves as a volunteer as-signed to shepherding best selling author Lena Morelle to various events. Her book, The Eclipse, a novel of the paranormal, is woven throughout with ghostly appari-tions. Such otherworldly visions have lately begun to haunt Michael, still reeling from the death of his wife. Also in attendance is Lena’s one time lover, the philander-ing novelist Nicholas Holden, played with perfect pitch by Aidan Quinn as an ar-rogant and cynical alcoholic still in pursuit of Lena. Lush cinematography, brilliant performances and a haunting score deftly balance the truly scary moments with a delicacy seldom found in fi lms dealing with the supernatural. –Barbara Pokras, A.C.E.

Entre Nos Directed by Gloria La Morte, Paola MendozaUSA / 2009 / 80 minutes In Spanish with English subtitles

Upstate Films I Fri Oct 2 • 3:30PM Bearsville Theater Sun Oct 4 • 4:15PM

Abandoned by her husband in a new country with no money, Colombian im-migrant Mariana and her two small children suddenly fi nd themselves in the fi ght of their lives. Soon, life spirals downwards. Long nights on benches and under bridges, and collecting cans for money turn into a daily routine.

In Entre Nos (Between Us) determina-tion and love are the tools necessary to over-come hunger and neglect, as Mariana and her children desperately try to survive. Inspired by Director Paola Mendoza’s true story and co-directed by the talented fi lmmaker Gloria La Morte, Entre Nos takes us down to the lowest lows where love and family’s unrelent-ing hope for the American dream conquers, one soda can at a time. Beautifully shot in NYC’s outer boroughs, the fi lm’s honest por-trayal of extreme poverty and the fi ghts to overcome life’s harshest adversities opens a window to the struggles still faced by many, every day, all around us.

-Gabriel Meyers

US Premiere

East Coast Premiere

COURTESY OF Magnolia Pictures




Harlem Aria Directed by William JenningsUSA / 2009 / 100 minutes

Tinker Street Fri Oct 2 • 4:30PM Rosendale Theater Sat Oct 3 • 12:45PM

Anton isn’t like the other kids in Harlem. He’s twenty-eight years old and a little slow, but has a heart of gold and an extraordinary singing voice. Because of his defi cit, Anton’s never had a chance to realize the dream that sets him apart in his working class neighborhood: to become a world class opera singer.

One night, Anton lights his bedroom like a stage, dresses in a tuxedo, and per-forms the aria Vesti La Giubba. While some neighbors are touched and amazed by Anton’s phenomenal voice, two teenagers throw rocks through his window, shattering the fantasy and leaving Anton cowering in his room.

Auntie, frightened for his safety, de-mands that Anton abandon his ‘opera fool-ishness.’ Rather than give up his dream, he runs away from home, still dressed in his tuxedo, determined to fi nd his rightful place in the world.

The Messenger Directed by Oren Moverman USA / 2009 / 112 minutes

Tinker Street Thur Oct 1 • 6:30PM Tinker Street Thur Oct 1 • 9:30PM

”No such thing as a satisfi ed cus-tomer,” says Captain Tony Stone to his rookie partner, Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery, and indeed, the horrors of war are brutally

understated when seen through the eyes of these two unlikely partners serving togeth-er as a “Casualty Notifi cation Team.” Their job? To personally deliver the devastating news of a loved ones’ death to the next of kin. A bullet to the chest seems no less powerful than the anguish of such news.

In a riveting performance, Ben Foster as Will Montgomery, a war hero with three months left to serve, perfectly expresses the pain and anger of a soldier scarred inside and out as he takes his fi rst tentative steps toward healing. Woody

Harrelson is at the top of his game as the gruff and demanding Tony Stone, and Steve Buscemi appears as a bereaved father lashing out. Samantha Morton is remarkable as Olivia, a widow raising a child, who must now struggle with the ambivalence of death. This is a brilliant fi lm, destined to be a classic, in which the darkest side of war is depicted without a single shot being fi red.

– Barbara Pokras, A.C.E.

Harmony and Me Directed Directed by Bob ByingtonUSA / 2009 / 75 minutesPRECEDED BY Christopher Dispossessed

Town Hall Fri Oct 2 • 1:45PM Upstate Films I Sat Oct 3 • 6:30PM

Remember that feeling, the unbear-ably lost feeling after a relationship has ended? Writer/director Robert By-ington has cleverly taken that feeling and pulled and stretched it as though it were salt water taffy, coming up with an engag-ing, funny and surprisingly sweet fi lm, Harmony and Me. Justin Rice is Harmony, a guarded puppy-faced twenty-something at the end of his rope. He’s not a train wreck; instead he’s a slow moving train with no tracks beneath it. The documentary style camera work follows him as he wanders in and out of daily life recounting to all who will listen how “she is still breaking my heart.” But this low budget fi lm is not a bummer nor is it self-indulgent; in fact, Byington does an excellent job of telling Harmony’s age old dilemma-- “how do you stop loving a person who no longer loves you”-- in an intelligent, entertaining and even delightful way.

-Katie Cokinos

Me and Orson Welles Directed by Richard LinklaterUSA / 2009 / 109 minutes

Tinker Street Fri Oct 2 • 7:15PM Rosendale Theater Sat Oct 3 • 3:30PM

In 1937, a teenager brimming with passion yet directionless stumbled upon Orson Welles on the streets of New York. He is miraculously cast as Lucius in Welles’ Mercury Theater production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar – the play that would catapult the twenty two year old Welles to Broadway and later Hollywood fame.

“I wasn’t going to do this fi lm if I didn’t have an ‘Orson’,” Richard Linklater states about his latest movie. It’s a chal-lenge, but sometimes movies about famous historical fi gures do hit their mark; Peter O’Toole still is T.E. Lawrence, ditto Warren Beatty’s portrayal of Jack Reed, and now we have Christian McKay as Orson Welles. But equally captivating is Zac Efron as protago-nist Richard Samuels. Based upon author Robert Kaplow’s real life experience, this is a coming of age story set amidst the dramas of the theater, both on and off stage.

Fast paced, funny and inspired, Me and Orson Welles is both intimate and epic.

-Katie Cokinos

The Men Who Stare at Goats Directed by Grant HeslovUSA / 2009 / 100 minutes

Tinker Street Fri Oct 2 • 10:00PM Upstate Films I Sat Oct 3 • 9:00PM

In a comedic look at real life events that are almost too bizarre to be-lieve, a reporter discovers a top-se-cret wing of the U.S. military. Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a shad-owy fi gure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is chang-ing the way wars are fought. A legion of “Warrior Monks” with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy’s thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Now, the pro-gram’s founder, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), has gone missing and Cassady’s mission is to fi nd him. Bob tags along, tracking Django to a clandestine training camp run by renegade psychic Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey). In order to survive this wild ad-venture, Bob will have to outwit an enemy he never thought possible.

OPENING NIGHT FILMEast Coast Premiere


COURTESY OF Magnolia Pictures COURTESY OF Overture Films

COURTESY OF Oscilloscope Laboratories

US Premiere

FEATURES10TH ANNIVERSARY



Motherhood Directed by Katherine Dieckmann USA / 2009 / 90 minutes

Tinker Street Sat Oct 3 • 1:45PM Upstate Films I Sat Oct 4 • 5:30PM

Eliza wants it all – motherhood, a writing career, an egalitarian mar-riage. Her search for identity presents as a faceless woman beginning her day. When fi nally we meet Eliza “head on,” it’s at high speed, a pace which generally typifi es Eliza’s daily life in the West Village walkup she shares with husband Avery (Anthony Edwards) and their two young children. A “writing career” translates into a few scat-tered moments blogging to other mothers, but the blogging also offers the potential to become a paid position if the deadline can be met.

The accumulation of minor crises, familiar to any urban dweller, is perfectly expressed by Uma Thurman’s frantic, fragile and frustrated Eliza. Newly separated, very pregnant single mom Sheila (Minnie Driver) serves as witty counterpoint, and Jodie Foster is hilarious in a brief cameo. A wise, warm and gentle comedy, Mother-hood has much to teach about fi nding meaning and passion.

Ricky Directed by François Ozon France, Italy / 2009 / 90 minutes In French with English subtitles

Tinker Street Thur Oct 1 • 1:15PM Upstate Films I Fri Oct 2 • 9:00PM

Love is “in the air” in this charming French fable of two working class lovers who produce an extraordinary child. Sparks fl y when single mother Katie and Spanish co-worker Paco meet in the sterile factory where they both work. Soon they are living together as Lisa, Katie’s seven-year-old daughter, struggles to fi nd her place in this new family. Lisa’s feeling of abandonment escalates with the birth of Ricky, a child quickly changing in the most amazing ways. Accused of harming the baby and tiring of fatherhood, Paco leaves,

only to return when Ricky’s “abnormalities” create a media frenzy.

But “love has wings,” and loss has the power to unite. Director François Ozon blends mystery with magic, humor and irony, while maintaining the reality of the story. Finely crafted performances make “Ricky” less a fantasy than exploration of the complexities of love and family, and what it means to be “different.”

–Barbara Pokras, A.C.E

The Overbrook Brothers Directed by John Bryant USA / 2009 / 92 minutes

Upstate Films I Fri Oct 2 • 1:00PM Tinker Street Sun Oct 4 • 1:30PM

Bringing sibling rivalry to a whole new level, Jason (Nathan Harlan), an earnest aspiring author and his brother Todd (Mark Reeb), an obnox-ious, lascivious bully, act more like fi ve year olds than the thirty-some-things they are. When the two converge for Christmas dinner at their father’s house in Colorado, tempers fl are and fi sts fl y, resulting in a revelation that will send the two on a rather unconventional road trip to uncover their pasts. As the over-com-petitive brothers trek to Texas, they fi ght, harass, tease and eventually bond with one another through unfortunate, often hilari-ous, circumstances.

Writer-director John Bryant crafts a touching, surprising and hugely entertain-ing tale of sibling rivalry, family bonding, and uncovering one’s past. With terrifi c performances and a hilarious script that creatively blends road movie, coming-of-(middle) age story, comedy and adventure, The Overbrook Brothers is not to be missed.

– Emily Suttmeier and Alexander Silverberg

The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll Directed by Scott D. RosenbaumUSA / 2009 / 91 minutes

Rosendale Theater Fri Oct 2 • 9:30PM Bearsville Theater Sat Oct 3 • 7:30PM

A pair of longtime friends channel their talent and passion for music into a cross-country road trip that brings them face to face with their past, pres-ent, and future. A world famous musician, whose debut album is a huge hit, retreats to his hometown after his sophomore effort fl ops. There he reconnects with his long lost best friend and fellow musician, the son of a punk rock guitar legend, who became a middle school music teacher. The reunion forces the two to recall their youthful ambitions and reexamine the choices they’ve made. Accompanied by a raucous crew of musicians, they set off on a cathartic journey along historic Route 66.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Directed by Rebecca MillerUSA / 2009 / 100 minutes

Upstate Films I Thur Oct 1 • 7:30PM Tinker Street Sat Oct 3 • 4:15PM

From all outward appearances, Pippa Lee (Robin Wright Penn) leads a charmed existence. She is the de-voted wife of an accomplished publisher (Alan Arkin) thirty years her senior, the proud mother of two grown children, and a trusted friend and confi dant to all who cross her path. But as Pippa dutifully fol-lows her husband to a new life in a staid Connecticut retirement community, her idyllic world and the persona she has built over the course of her marriage will be put to the ultimate test.

In truth, looks are deceiving, and this picture-perfect woman has seen more than her fair share of turmoil in her youth. Embarking on a bittersweet journey of self-discovery, accompanied by a new, strange and soulful acquaintance (Keanu Reeves), Pippa must now confront both her volatile past and the hidden resentment of her seemingly perfect life in order to fi nd her true sense of self.

US Premiere

New York PremiereCOMPETITION FINALIST

East Coast Premiere

COURTESY OF IFC Films

COURTESY OF Screen Media Films

East Coast Premiere

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THE PERFECT AGE OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL BLUES BANDCheck concert listings for ticket info or purchase tickets online at: www.woodstockfi lmfestival.com Saturday, October 3, 10pm at The Colony Café in Woodstock.




Splinterheads Directed by Brant SersenUSA / 2009 / 94 minutes

Tinker Street Fri Oct 2 • 11:30AM Rosendale Theater Sun Oct 4 • 5:30PM

For Justin Frost (newcomer Thomas Middleditch in a breakthrough role), a typical day is rolling out of bed at one, practicing improvised karate, and mowing grass for his best friend’s landscaping business. But when a traveling carnival lands in his small town, Justin falls for a sexy con artist and wakes up to the life he has yet to begin living. Splin-terheads also stars Rachael Taylor (Trans-formers), Christopher McDonald (Happy Gilmore), Lea Thompson (Back to the Future), Dean Winters (HBO’s OZ), Frankie Faison (HBO’s The Wire) and Jason Rogel as Wayne Chung.

(Untitled) Directed by Jonathan ParkerUSA / 2009 / 96 minutesPRECEDED BY Christopher Dispossessed

Tinker Street Sat Oct 3 • 7:00PM Upstate Films I Sun Oct 4 • 5:45PM

In this smart, satirical comedy, a brooding avant-garde composer falls for the gorgeous owner of a trendy New York art gallery and the quirky worlds of contemporary art and music are set on a hilarious collision course.

Adam Goldberg (2 Days in Paris) plays the composer, whose work calls for paper crumbling, glass breaking and bucket kicking. Marley Shelton (Grindhouse) plays the gorgeous Chelsea ‘gallerist,’ whose lat-est show features an artist, played by Vin-nie Jones (Snatch), who employs taxidermy and household pbjects. Further complicat-ing the affair is the composer’s brother, played by Eion Bailey (Band of Brothers), whose highly commercial art work - the fi nancial backbone of the gallery - is sold to corporate clients discreetly out of the gallery’s back room.

White On Rice Directed by Dave BoyleUSA / 2009 / 93 minutes

Tinker Street Fri Oct 2 • 2:00PM Upstate Films II Sun Oct 4 • 12:30PM

Recently divorced, forty year-old Jimmy left his home in Japan and now shares a bunk bed with his ten year-old nephew at his sister Aiko’s house in the States. Aiko coddles Jimmy, who has no clue how to take care of himself on his own, but her husband Tak is fed up with his freeloading. Despite his awkward demeanor, Jimmy is confi dent that he can start over and fi nd a new wife, so when Tak’s beautiful niece Ramona moves in, Jimmy immediately tries to win her over in the most ridiculous ways pos-sible. Hilarity ensues.

Audiences are sure to love Dave Boyle’s offbeat comedy and the charac-ters he’s created. Featuring outstanding performances from the entire cast, Hiroshi Watanabe shines as Jimmy, brilliantly cap-turing his overly-optimistic and incredibly socially awkward mannerisms. White On Rice is a heartwarming comedy about fi nd-ing love, learning to embrace one’s family, and starting over in a new country.

– Emily Suttmeier

Youth in Revolt Directed by Miguel Arteta USA / 2009 / 90 minutes

Tinker Street Sat Oct 3 • 9:30PM Rosendale Theater Sun Oct 4 • 8:00PM

Youth In Revolt is an outrageous and heartwarming tale of Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) and his quest to win the heart of Sheeni (newcomer Portia Double-day) and hopefully lose his virginity along the way. Based on C.D. Payne’s cult-hit novel of the same name, Youth In Revolt is directed by Miguel Arteta and features an all-star ensemble cast including: Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, Justin Long, Jean Smart, Ari Graynor, Fred Willard, Zach Gali-fi anakis, Mary Kay Place and more.


COURTESY OF Samuel Goldwyn Films COURTESY OF Dimension Films

East Coast Premiere

S U P P O R T W F F With your help we can continue to

offer the world’s premier inde-pendent fi lms, highlight emerging talent and present intimate panel discussions and workshops for adults and students.

With your help we can also contin-ue to support our region’s econom-ic base, along with the local fi lm and artistic community.

The Woodstock Film Festival has become a vibrant part of the Hudson Valley / Catskills community, igniting a new wave of artistic achievement and development in fi lm and the arts. The sense of community and heightened social and political consciousness created by the festival is truly palpable. And while our reputation for excellence continues to grow, the challenges of creating a fi rst-rate organization have also grown. Unlike the major fi lm festivals that receive great sums from municipalities and corporate sponsors, the Woodstock Film Festival relies heavily upon private support for survival.

We hope that you will consider making a tax-deductible gift to support our efforts.

Payments via Pay Pal, Visa, Mastercard or American Express can be made online at www.woodstockfi lmfestival.com.Please mail check or money order to: Woodstock Film Festival, PO Box 1406, Woodstock, NY 12498

DOCUMENTARIES10TH ANNIVERSARY



21 Below Directed by Samantha BuckUnited States / 2008 / 91 minutes

Rosendale Theater Fri Oct 2 • 2:00PM

21 Below’s poignant portrayal of real life family drama is completely unequaled in other documentary. Sharon left her dysfunctional family ten years ago and has never looked back. However, when Maya, her sister’s 14 month old daughter, is diagnosed with Tay-Sachs and given months to live, Sharon feels compelled to return home to Buffalo, NY despite repressed painful memories. When she arrives, Sharon fi nds a lot has changed. Sharon’s youngest sister, 21 year old Karen, is pregnant with her third child and living with the father, 29 year old, African-American, former gang member Courtney. Sharon’s mother, Peggy, is barely on speaking terms with Karen because of Karen’s life choices. No one has spoken to Sharon’s father, who left the family several years ago and everyone is distraught by Maya’s terminal condition.

In this heartfelt documentary, direc-tor Samantha Buck beautifully depicts the modern middle class family: troubled, vola-tile, constantly in danger of breaking apart and desperately trying to stay together.

-Gabriel Meyers

Cropsey Directed by Joshua Zeman, Barbara BrancaccioUSA / 2009 / 84 minutes

Bearsville Theater Sat Oct 3 • 10:00PM

Growing up on Staten Island, fi lm-makers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio had often heard the legend of Cropsey. For the kids in their neighborhood, Cropsey was the escaped mental patient who would come out

late at night and snatch children off the streets. Later, as teenagers, the fi lmmak-ers assumed Cropsey was just an urban legend. That all changed in the summer of 1987 when a 13-year-old girl with Down syndrome, named Jennifer Schweiger, disappeared from their community, and the kids from Staten Island discovered that their urban legend was real.

Now, as adults, Joshua and Barbara have returned to Staten Island to create Cropsey, a documentary that delves into the mystery behind Jennifer and four

additional missing children. The fi lm also investigates Andre Rand, the real-life boogeyman linked to their disappearances. Embarking on a mysterious journey into the underbelly of their forgotten borough, these fi lmmakers uncover a reality that is more terrifying than any urban legend.

After the Storm Directed by Hilla MedaliaUSA / 2009 / 90 minutes

Upstate Films II Fri Oct 2 • 1:30PM Bearsville Theater Sun Oct 4 • 2:00PM

What happens when thirteen teens with nothing left but devastated homes and lost dreams meet up with three Broadway vets in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward? After the Storm takes you on an inspirational journey as New York actors travel to New Orleans to work with local teens on a production of Once On This Island, a Broadway musical echoing the real life events of Katrina. The fi lm follows the musical’s young actors as they rehearse their lines, practice their songs, and work out how to deal with life after the storm. We watch in awe as a Community Center transforms from a broken down building to a magical stage, where the young actors learn the value of storytelling.

Hilla Medalia’s poignant documen-tary proves that just as a hammer and nails can help rebuild houses, art can help revitalize the passion of a community.

– Emily Suttmeier and Lindsay Michael

Big River Man Directed by Scott D. RosenbaumUSA / 2009 / 91 minutes PRECEDED BY Rocking the Boat & Shad Fishing

Bearsville Theater Sat Oct 3 • 11:00AM Upstate Films I Sun Oct 4 • 12:00PM

A fi lm like no other, Big River Man is the story of Martin Strel, the four-time world-record-holding endurance swimmer, and his insane attempt to be the fi rst person to swim the world’s most hostile and dangerous river, the mighty Amazon.

Part world class sporting event, part circus sideshow, we follow the eccentric and celebrated Slovenian 3,375 miles over sixty six days on history’s longest and most perilous swim. Overweight, a heavy drinker, and pushing fi fty-three years old, Strel is an unlikely superman. His hand-picked crew of faith healers, outsiders and drunks watch him battle his many demons as he swims day after day, mile after mile, drawing mostly on sheer willpower while battling madness. Framed by the crisis ridden, spectacular Amazonian Rain Forest, Big River Man is a hilarious and psychologi-cal thrill ride that simultaneously surprises and enlightens.

Convention Directed by AJ SchnackUSA / 2009 / 95 minutes PRECEDED BY Unbelievable 4

Upstate Films II Sat Oct 3 • 6:45PM Bearsville Theater Sun Oct 4 • 11:15AM

August 24th, 2008. Denver, CO. Before it even started, the Democratic National Convention was sure to be a turning point in the course of American politics. By the morning of the 25th, the city of Denver had exploded with thousands of police, government offi cials, protesters, reporters and citizens, each with their own separate hopes for the result of this huge event. In this breathtaking documentary, a team of uniquely talented cinematographers, pro-ducers, and directors, led by accomplished documentary fi lmmaker AJ Schnack, assemble together in an unprecedented effort to cover the behind the scenes per-spectives of this landmark moment in our country’s history. Through the intertwining stories of several protesters, reporters from the Denver Post, the Mayor of Denver and his staff, the convention planners, and many more, Convention delivers a complex, beautiful and completely unique portrayal of this historic event.

– Gabriel Meyers

East CoastPremiereCOMPETITION FINALIST

New York Premiere


DOCUMENTARIES 10TH ANNIVERSARY



Garbage Dreams Directed by Mai IskanderUSA / 2009 / 82 minutes in Egyptian with English subtitles

PRECEDED BY Royal Nightmare

Upstate Films II Thur Oct 1 • 8:00PM Town Hall Sat Oct 3 • 12:00PM

Garbage Dreams follows three teen-age boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest gar-bage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is the home to 60,000 Zaballeen, Arabic for ‘garbage people.’ Far ahead of any modern ‘Green’ initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.

Junior Directed by Jenna RosherUSA / 2009 / 77 minutes

Upstate Films II Fri Oct 2 • 4:00PM Town Hall Sun Oct 4 • 3:15PM

Junior is Eddie Belasco, a 75-year old San Francisco native who epitomizes the old school Italian. Eddie’s child-hood was straight out of a Martin Scorsese fi lm. And like most young Italian-American boys he had the utmost respect for his ‘Ma,’ Josephine Belasco, a hard-working accountant who knew how to keep little Junior in check. Still, sixty-fi ve years later, things haven’t changed. Now with his kids all grown up and three failed marriages be-hind him, Eddie is left to face his future as a retiree. We watch as he stumbles through this process, but not alone. His 98-year old mother Josie is there to remind him of the beauty of life. Simple and sweet with no regrets.

Filled with good food and rich memories. Junior explores the one thing we as a society fear most...growing old.

Mighty Uke Directed by Tony ColemanCanada / 2009 / 78 minutes

Bearsville Theater Fri Oct 2 • 2:45PM Rosendale Theater Sun Oct 4 • 12:30PM

Mighty Uke travels the world to discover why so many people of different nations, cultures, ages and musical tastes are turning to the ukulele to express themselves, connect with the past, and with each other. From the Redwoods of California through the gritty streets of New York, from swinging London through Tokyo’s highrise canyons to Hawaii, ukers tell the story of the people’s instrument: The Mighty Uke.

MIGHTY UKE CONCERT featuring John Bramanto benefi t the Killian Mansfi eld Foundation

Check concert listings for ticket info or purchase tickets online at:www.woodstockfi lmfestival.com

Friday, October 2, 8pm at The Colony Café in Woodstock.

More Than A Game Directed by Kristopher BelmanUSA / 2008 / 102 minutes

Tinker Street Thur Oct 1 • 3:45PM

Five talented young basketball players from Akron, Ohio star in this remarkable true-life coming of age story about uncommon friendship in the face all too common adversities. Coached by a charismatic but inexperi-enced player’s father, and led by future NBA superstar LeBron James, the “Fab Five’s” improbable seven-year journey leads them from a decrepit inner-city gym to the doorstep of a national high school championship. Along the way, the close-knit team is repeatedly tested—both on and off the court—as James’ exploding worldwide celebrity threatens to destroy everything they’ve set out to achieve together. More Than a Game combines a series of unforgettable one-on-one inter-views with rare news footage, never-be-fore-seen home videos and personal family photographs to bring this heart-warming and wholly American story to life.



COURTESY OF Lionsgate Entertainment

World Premiere

Music We Are Directed by Mirav OzeriUSA / 2009 / 25 minutes

Town Hall Sat Oct 3 • 9:30PM

This short documentary provides a rare look into the creative process of legendary jazz drummer Jack De Johnette, Danilo Perez and John Patitucci as they create their latest album. A combina-

tion of original music and one relatively obscure Latin cover, the album Music We Are brings three friends together for a recording that, hopefully, signifi es the beginning of a longer-term partnership.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with 2008 Grammy award winning musician Jack De Johnette.

World Premiere

DOCUMENTARIES10TH ANNIVERSARY



Neil Young Trunk Show Directed by Jonathan DemmeUSA / 2009 / 120 minutes

Bearsville Theater Sat Oct 3 • 4:30PM Upstate Films I Sun Oct 4 • 8:00PM

A showcase of Neil Young’s soul in the musical and spiritual sense. Young is featured in the middle of the stage full of personal icons, at times alone in the center of a circle of his beloved acoustic guitars, at others in the midst of much-beloved musicians including Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Ralph Molina, Anthony Crawford and wife, Pegi Young. We follow the assembling and presenting of a concert in an intimate fashion, catching lighter moments backstage and between songs with Neil, the band and the crew.

October Country Directed by Michael Palmieri, Donal MosherUSA / 2008 / 80 minutes

Town Hall Sat Oct 3 • 7:15 pm Upstate II Sun Oct 4 • 3:15 pm

October Country is a beautifully ren-dered portrait of an American family struggling for stability while haunted by the ghosts of war, teen pregnancy, foster care and child abuse. This vibrant and intimate documentary examines the forces that unsettle the working poor and the violence that lurks beneath the surface of American life.


US Premiere

East Coast Premiere

The Tiger Next Door Directed by Camilla CalamandreiUSA / 2009 / 86 minutes

Rosendale Theater Fri Oct 2 • 4:30PM Community Center Sat Oct 3 • 9:15PM

For 20 years, Dennis Hill has fed his obsession for tigers by breeding and selling them to other “collectors” in a largely hidden and unregulated mar-ket for captive bred wild animals.

Recently, however, Hill, a former biker and meth addict, had become overwhelmed by the day to day responsibilities of caring for his brood of twenty four tigers, six leopards, three bears and a cougar. The U.S.D.A. pulled his federal license and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources ordered him to downsize within thirty days. The countdown has begun. Is Hill a devoted animal lover or self-deluded animal hoarder? Ironically, he says, “It’s about freedom” while committing these magnifi cent creatures to a life of unnatural

confi nement. Shockingly, Hill’s story is not unique. Experts estimate that there are now more tigers in private captivity in the USA than there are roaming wild in the world. Disturbing questions arise as this riveting fi lm explores the shocking under-belly of wild animal exploitation. Inves-tigative fi lmmaking at its best. (Barbara Pokras, A.C.E.)

– Barbara Pokras, A.C.E.

Racing Dreams Directed by Marshall CurryUSA / 2009 / 95 minutes

Rosendale Theater Fri Oct 2 • 7:00PM Town Hall Sun Oct 4 • 12:30PM

Hands gripped to the steering wheel, feet light and quick on the peddles, eyes fi xed on the track, and hearts pumping out of their chests, Annabeth, Josh, and Brandon whiz past the fi nish line and into our hearts in Marshall Curry’s Racing Dreams. The racers, ages 11-13, are competing in the World Karting Associa-tion’s National Championship, with dreams of becoming professional NASCAR drivers one day. Marshall’s lens captures both the thrill of the races and the ups and downs his subjects deal with off the racetrack: the giddiness brought on by young love, the tears of a boy whose father can’t seem to get it together, and the struggles of parents and guardians trying to fi nd the funds to support their child’s dream. Winner of the Best Documentary award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, the fi lm is sure to delight and inspire audiences of all ages.

– Emily Suttmeier and Julie Mariel Anzovino

Shooting Beauty Directed by George KachadorianUSA / 2009 / 62 minutes PRECEDED BY Annie Leibovitz - So, There You Go

Town Hall Fri Oct 2 • 4:15PM Upstate Films II Sat Oct 3 • 4:30PM

Fashion photographer Courtney Bent grew up with preconceived notions of beauty. All that changed when curios-ity led her to accept an invitation to visit a facility for persons severely disabled by cerebral palsy and other serious disabili-ties. Sensing her initial photos refl ected her own fears and prejudices, Courtney resolved to explore the world of the disabled through their own eyes. Adapt-ing cameras in ingenious ways produces photos refl ecting the world in a wheel-chair and introduces us to a population of extraordinary, unforgettable characters: Ernie the “charmer;” E.J., the “bad dude;” and a host of others more challenged, but otherwise no different from ourselves. Al-ternately poignant and uplifting, Shooting Beauty celebrates love, humor, frustration and intelligence. Shooting Beauty has the power to transform the way we see the dis-abled and forever challenge our concepts of beauty. – Barbara Pokras, A.C.E

COMPETITION FINALIST New York Premiere

Phot

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ourt

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DOCUMENTARIES 10TH ANNIVERSARY



Those Who Remain (Los que se quedan) Directed by Carlos Hagerman, Juan Carlos RulfoMexico / 2008 / 96 minutes In Spanish with English subtitles

Bearsville Theater Thur Oct 1 • 1:00PM Upstate Films II Fri Oct 2 • 9:30PM

Those Who Remain shines a light on the families left behind by loved ones who have traveled North for work, while also illuminating the rich glow of the Mexican spirit.

With great balance and sensitiv-ity, this intimate documentary follows a number of families who each share their stories, ranging from the American Dream to heartbreakingly tragedy. Examining the emotional cost of long-term estrangement, directors Juan Carlos Rulfo and Carlos Hagerman fi nd rich cinematic metaphors in the deserted, newly constructed homes on the highway, their empty rooms a powerful reminder of the absence of loved ones at otherwise joyous occasions like communions and graduations. Despite this void in their communities, many of those profi led emerge as colorful characters with boundless vitality and wonderful senses of humor.

The Time of Their Lives Directed by Jocelyn CammackUK / 2009 / 70 minutes

PRECEDED BY Unbelievable 4

Bearsville Theater Thur Oct 1 • 3:45PM

From the quiet bedrooms of the Mary Feilding Guild, a residential home in suburban London that prides itself in housing “active elderly people,” the voices of Hetty, Rose and Alison can be heard across the globe. Among the Guild’s oldest residents, the dynamic trio boasts not only a collective age of three hundred, but also some of the strongest political voices today. Making her feature debut, television director Jocelyn Cammack presents us with a series of hilarious and touching portraits of three of the world’s most inspiring women as they continue their longstanding activism careers in the twilight of their lives. You’ll be moved to tears and cheers as Hetty, Rose and Alison engage in everything from anti-war dem-onstrations to public speeches to journal-ism, all in an effort to make a difference. Bursting with vibrant characters and unfor-gettable moments, The Time of Their Lives shares life lessons well worth learning.

– Michael Lerman

Trimpin: The Sound of Invention Directed by Peter EsmondeUSA / 2008 / 77 minutes

PRECEDED BY Last Dragon Kingdom

Bearsville Theater Thur Oct 1 • 8:30PM Upstate Films II Sat Oct 3 • 9:30PM

German-born artist/composer Trimpin uses extraordinary mechani-cal and electrical inventions to cre-ate music that is both wild and truly unique. In this seamlessly edited docu-mentary, Peter Esmonde explores Trimpin’s life and work to uncover the roots of this eccentric MacArthur Fellow’s genius. This lively fi lm tracks the artist/inventor/com-poser’s creative investigations as Trimpin builds a 60-foot tornado of automatic electric guitars; devises a ‘perpetual mo-tion’ sculpture; and collaborates with the Kronos Quartet on a world premiere for toy and homemade instruments.

Like its quirky subject, Trimpin: The Sound of Invention engages and amuses, taking viewers on a kinetic, musical funhouse ride. The fi lm’s exploration of the challenges, pitfalls, and sheer joys of creative experiment will leave audiences in awe of its peculiar beauty.

When You’re Strange: A Film About The DoorsDirected by Tom DiCilloUSA / 2009 / 87 minutes

Bearsville Theater Fri Oct 2 • 10:00PM Rosendale Theater Sat Oct 3 • 9:15PM

Award-winning writer-director Tom DiCillo’s riveting fi lm uncovers historic, previously unseen foot-age from the illustrious rock quartet and provides new insight into the revolution-ary impact of their music and legacy. The creative chemistry of four brilliant artists - drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Kreiger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and singer Jim Morrison - made The Doors one of America’s most iconic and infl uential rock bands. When You’re Strange is the fi rst feature documentary to tell their story. Using no actors and only footage shot between their formation in 1965 and Mor-rison’s death in 1971, it follows the band from the corridors of UCLA’s fi lm school, where Manzarek and Morrison met, to the stages of sold-out arenas. Taking its title from the cabaret-tinged Doors hit “People Are Strange,” the fi lm chronicles the creation of The Doors’ six landmark studio albums in just fi ve years, as well as their electrifying live performances.

East Coast Premier New York PremiereCOMPETITION FINALIST

William Kunstler, Disturbing the Universe Directed by Emily Kunstler, Sarah KunstlerUSA / 2009 / 85 minutes

Bearsville Theater Fri Oct 2 • 12:15PM Upstate Films I Sat Oct 3 • 1:30PM

In William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, fi lmmakers Emily and Sarah Kunstler explore the life of their father, the late radical civil rights

lawyer. In the 1960s and seventies, Kunstler fought for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. and represented the famed “Chicago 8” activists who protested the Vietnam War. When the inmates took over Attica priso n, or when the American Indian Movement stood up to the federal government at Wounded Knee, they asked Kunstler to be their lawyer.

To his daughters, it seemed that he was at the center of everything important that had ever happened. But when they were growing up, Kunstler represented

some of the most reviled members of society, including rapists and assassins. This powerful fi lm not only recounts the historic causes that Kunstler fought for; it also confronts a man that even his own daughters did not always understand, a man who believed that, however unpopu-lar, justice should serve all.

COURTESY OF Arthouse Films© Da

vid

Fent

on

New York Premiere


DOCUMENTARIES & SHORTS10TH ANNIVERSARY


KICK OF EVENT

JUST ANNOUNCED

SHORTS

World Premiere

Without a Home Directed by Rachel FleischerUSA / 2009 / 74 minutes

PRECEDED BY No Good Reason

Upstate Films II Fri Oct 2 • 6:45PM Town Hall Sat Oct 3 • 4:45PM

In the City of Angels, Skid Row, with its homeless population of around 10,000, seems void of any celestial presence. Enter fi lmmaker Rachel Fleis-cher. Fueled by her passion for helping the homeless, Fleischer takes to the streets of her native city, armed with only a camera. Over the course of four years, she connects with several homeless individuals, taking the time to listen to each of their stories and documenting them on her camera. Often appearing in front of the camera herself, we watch as Fleischer shifts from listening to her subjects talk about their lives to allowing herself to become an integral part of them.

Fleischer gives her audience an intimate look into the lives of a population that is largely ignored. Truly inspirational, Without a Home demonstrates how a big heart, an open ear and camera lens can change lives. – Emily Suttmeier

Woodstock: Now and Then Directed by Barbara KoppleUSA / 2009 / 88 minutes

Bearsville Theater Wed Sept 30 • 8:00PM

Woodstock: Now & Then is a feature-length documentary that takes a look back at the historic event and traces the Woodstock spirit through to today’s generation of artists, musicians and political fi gures. The fi lm features brand-new interviews with Woodstock’s major players, never-before-seen footage, photographs, and illustra-tions of the event, and a special tribute performance. The documentary is produced and directed by two-time Academy Award® winning director Barbara Kopple and is executive produced by Michael Lang.

East Coast Premiere

AnimationCommunity Center Fri Oct 2 • 10:15PM Town Hall Sat Oct 3 • 2:30PM

BackwardsDirected by Aaron HughesUSA / 2009 / 4:30 minutes In the 21st Century, relationships just aren’t what they used to be.

BirthDirected by Signe BaumaneUSA, Italy / 2008 / 12 minutesGiving birth is scary.

Cosmic HoneymoonDirected by Ondrej RudavskySlovakia, USA / 2008 / 1:25 minutesUS PREMIEREEver wonder how aliens consummate their marriage?

DahliaDirected by Michael LanganUSA / 2009 / 3 minutesA moving portrait of the bustle and permanence of a city.

DiversDirected by Paris MavroidisUSA / 2009 / 3 minutesInspired by Busby Berkeley, mass gymnastics and experi-mental cinema from the 20s and 30s.

Hunger Like The WolfDirected by Eun-Ha PaekUSA / 2009 / 1:25 minutesA fi lm about werewolves and heartbreak.

Incident at Tower 37Directed by Chris PerryUSA / 2008 / 10:48 minutesThe battle between man and creature continues.

MachineDirected by Rob ShawUSA / 2009 / 3 minutesUS PREMIEREJust when you think you have it all, greed gets the best of you.

The Man In The Blue GordiniDirected by Jean-Christophe Lie France / 2009 / 10 minutesA radical clothing revolution to over-throw monochromic orange totalitarian-ism is launched.

Mother’s DayDirected by David Lobser USA / 2008 / 2 minutesSome lessons need to be learned the hard way.

Santa: The Fascist YearsDirected by Bill PlymptonUSA / 2009 / 3:25 minutesThis short fi lm uncovers Santa’s fl irtation with politics and greed.

The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9!Directed by Jake ArmstrongUSA / 2009 / 5:45 minutesNothing is as it seems, especially in space.

Unnatural History of WallstreetDirected by Gary LeibUSA / 2008 / 1 minutesNew York high fi nance vs. human nature in a minute of saxophone frenzy.

KICK OFF EVENT

The screening will be followed by a Q&A and a kick-off event for the Woodstock Film Festival, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the fest and the 40th anniversary of the Wood-stock Music and Arts Festival, honor-ing its originator, Michael Lang.

Redlight Directed by Guy Jacobson, Adi Ezroni SA / 2009 / 74 minutes Bearsville Theater Sun Oct 4 • 7:00PM

Narrated by Lucy Liu, “Redlight” is a powerful feature documentary about child sexploitation, an epidemic hap-pening in every country around the world.

Filmed over a four year period, “Redlight” focuses on the personal stories of young Cambodian victims and two remarkable advocates for change: grass-roots activist

Somaly Mam and politician Mu Sochua. Both have since been nominated for the Noble Peace Prize. The fi lmmakers Guy Jacobson and Adi Ezroni won the presti-gious Global Hero Award for their work in Cambodia.

SHORTS 10TH ANNIVERSARY



FlakCommunity Center Fri Oct 2 • 5:15pm

Love IsCommunity Center Sat Oct 3 • 2:15pm Town Hall Sat Oct 4 • 6:00pm

Out of Our MindsWeiss Theater Fri Oct 2 • 7:00pm Community Center Sat Oct 3 • 7:00pm

Nursery CrimesCommunity Center Fri Oct 2 • 3:00pm Community Center Sun Oct 4 • 11:30am

LifeTown Hall Fri Oct 2 • 6:30pm

A Time ComesDirected by Nick Broomfi eldSUNY PURCHASEUK / 2009 / 19:27 minutes US PREMIEREOn a road trip in search of the spirit of direct action!

FlakDirected by Ron MannNYU - Tisch School of the ArtsCanada / 2009 (1976) / 30 minutesUS PREMIEREMade by Ron Mann when he was sixteen and fi nished in 2009, Flak is a gritty improvised drama that was infl uenced by John Cassavetes’ Shadows, Michelangelo

Antonioni’s The Red Desert and above all, Robert Kramer’s classic fi lm Ice.

Mann’s working title was Viva La Dynamite, a phrase borrowed from Anaïs Nin. But Flak isn’t about blowing stuff up,-it’s about inaction. The fi lm empha-sizes boredom, inertia, and our tendency to talk about problems while being un-able or unwilling to act.

A Horse Is Not A MetaphorDirected by Barbara Hammer USA / 2008 / 30 minutes This hopeful, multilayered experimental fi lm with music by Meredith Monk offers a fi rst-person account of surviving—and thriving—with cancer.

BirthDirected by Signe BaumaneUSA, Italy / 2008 / 12 minutesGiving birth is scary.

SuspendedDirected by Kimi TakesueUSA / 2009 / 8:22 minutesA documentation and recontextualiza-tion of the experience and perception of suspended time.

AdelaideDirected by Liliana Greenfi eld-SandersU S A / 2009 / 12 minutesAdelaide is looking for love in all the wrong places.

First Time Long TimeDirected by James DemoUSA / 2008 / 13:41 minutesNEW YORK PREMIEREWhat goes up must come down...right?

KindnessDirected by Jeffrey Calen PriceUSA / 2009 / 9 minutesNEW YORK PREMIEREThis was not how Alice pictured her fi rst day in New York City.

Lost ParadiseDirected by Oded Binnun, Mihal BrezisFrance, Israel / 2008 / 10 minutesNEW YORK PREMIEREA modern twist on Adam and Eve.

StoogeDirected by Mickey BreitensteinUSA / 2009 / 8:30 minutesWORLD PREMIEREThree men sharing their thoughts on rela-tionships, monogamy, and infedelity.

UnmooredDirected by Marie Brown, Yari WolinskyUSA / 2009 / 13 minutesNEW YORK PREMIEREJames is dead. Sarah stole his ashes. They’re both gonna have a long day.

The BellDirected by Erik S. Weigel USA / 2009 / 3 minutes WORLD PREMIEREBased on the poem “The Bell” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Limbo (Limbus)Directed by Jörg FockeleGermany / 2008 / 15:40 minutesIn German with English subtitlesNEW YORK PREMIEREA fi lm about abandonment and grow-ing

Miracle FishDirected by Luke DoolanAustralia / 2009 / 18 minutesWORLD PREMIEREJoe will never forget his eighth birthday.

Morning EchoDirected by Hope Dickson LeachUK / 2009 / 15 minutesNEW YORK PREMIEREToday, it’s Christmas everywhere, except the Moffatt household.

tripoli, QUIETDirected by Rania Attieh, Daniel GarciaLebanon, USA / 2009 / 15 minutesIn Arabic with English subtitlesWORLD PREMIERE In Tripoli, a loud and bustling city, some-times it pays to be quiet.

(OOOM) Out of Our MindsDirected by Tony Stone USA / 2009 / 28 minutesThree time periods, one connection: Blood. The central characters are a woman and her car.

The Grass is GreenerDirected by Molly Donovan, Michael Vincent USA / 2009 / 14:30 minutes WORLD PREMIEREWhat’s your favorite color?

KillerDirected by Adam Leon, Jack Pettibone USA / 2008 / 9:32 minutes The rush of adrenaline, and the reckless-ness of adolescence.

SHORTS10TH ANNIVERSARY



PathsCommunity Center Sat Oct 3 • 4:30pm Community Center Sun Oct 4 • 6:00pm

Teen FilmsCommunity Center Fri Oct 2 • 7:30pm

SinnerCommunity Center Fri Oct 2 • 1:15pm Community Center Sun Oct 4 • 4:00pm

Road RageCommunity Center Sat Oct 3 • 11:30am Community Center Sun Oct 4 • 1:45pm

The 4th of July ParadeDirected by Miranda RhyneSUNY PURCHASEUSA / 2009 / 25:30 minutesWORLD PREMIEREOn a road trip in search of comfort and love, a mother endangers her only salvation.

Knife PointDirected by Carlo Mirabella-DavisNYU - Tisch School of the ArtsUSA / 2008 / 26:22 minutesKindness between strangers can some-times have unintended consequences.

Path LightsDirected by Zachary SluserUSA / 2009 / 20 minutesWORLD PREMIEREA thought provoking, comedy-noir that puts a human spin on the tradition of detective hero fi lms.

ArmyDirected by Avery Edelman, Jonathan Mason, Aaron MonesUSA / 2009 / 2:08 minutes WORLD PREMIEREIt’s not easy to save the world when you’re only two inches tall!

Bon VoyageDirected by Allyssa Kaiser USA / 2008 / 2:18 minutesA suitcase takes a trip to France.

The Donkey and the BicycleDirected by Raine O’Kelly RodriguezUSA / 2009 / 10:24 minutesIt’s never too late for a dad to teach his daughter to ride a bike.

Dumb LuckDirected by Bret KervenUSA / 2008 / 4:05 minutes THE SUMMIT SCHOOLIt’s not easy to save the world when Against all odds, Jesse fi nally passes a test.

First DateDirected by Sabrina JaglomUSA / 2008 / 7:54 minutesFirst dates don’t get much more awkward than this.

FollowingDirected by Jericho Houben and Tessa MorelliUSA / 2009 / 3:57 minutesFollow the feet.

Hello MoonDirected by Sonia RuscueUSA / 2009 / 2.15 minutesWhen you can’t sleep, talk to the moon.

OnteoraGrand PrixDirected by Onteora High School TV ProductionUSA / 2009 / 2:16 minutes WORLD PREMIEREStart your engines!

Sir David & the DragonDirected by Christopher PerrellaUSA / 2009 / 1:10 minutesIf you can’t kill the dragon, befriend him

SquabbleDirected by Evan BergerUSA / 2009 / 3:48 minutesTHE SUMMIT SCHOOLL-O-V-E vs. H-A-T-E

StrayDirected by David CeronUSA / 2009 / 8 MINUTESWhen your parents could care less, you have to learn how to survive on your own.

WednesdayDirected by Joseph GerbinoUSA / 2008 / 14:27 minutesA boy fi nds an unlikely friend who leads him on a wild adventure.

Zonderlinge PijlinktvisDirected by Jericho ZilkeUSA / 2009 / 5:37 minutesAn abstract fi lm with a dark take on adolescence.

PinhasDirected by Pini TavgerTel Aviv UniversityIsrael / 2008 / 30 minutes In Hebrew and Russian with English subtitleNine-year-old Pinhas must decide between family and religion.

SinnerDirected by Meni PhilipMinshar for ArtIsrael / 2008 / 27:35 minutesIn Hebrew with English subtitles A short fi lm about love, trust and dead animals.

EikoDirected by Christoph KuschnigAustria / 2008 / 13:46 minutesEAST COAST PREMIEREAn itinerant handyman on the road develops a relationship with a mysterious young girl.

Love and RoadkillDirected by John AllenUSA / 2008 / 13:52 minutesNEW YORK PREMIEREA short fi lm about love, trust and dead animals.

MasoDirected by Ariane CordeauFrance / 2009 / 9:30 minutesUS PREMIEREWhat will one woman do to get to her meeting on time?

Quality TimeDirected by Colin MarshallUSA / 2008 / 15 minutesEAST COAST PREMIEREEstranged brothers, road rage, fast food and death...

Road To Tel-AvivDirected by Khen ShalemIsrael / 2008 / 15 minutesStereotypes are put to the test.


CONCERTS 10TH ANNIVERSARY


Killian Mansfi eld was a 16-year-old ukulele wiz from Woodstock, NY who passed away on August 20, 2009 from an ad-vanced and rare form of cancer. Killian started violin lessons at age 3. By age 9, Killian had established himself as an out-standing advocate and dedicated musician. Killian was diagnosed with Synovial Sarcoma at age 11. Throughout his medical journey, Killian refused to be defi ned as “a kid with cancer,” wishing instead to be known for his ar-tistic achievements. “I’ve played a lot of string instruments, but I’m crazy about ukulele—it’s so inviting… The Killian Mansfi eld Foundation is a not for profi t entity created to support and promote the use of integra-tive therapies for children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. For more information,

or to make a donation, visit the Killian Mansfi eld Foundation online at www.killianmansfi eld.org

Jon BramanDubbed the “Father of ukulele hip hop” by the Washington City Paper in 2006, Jon Braman is a rapper-songwriter with a story to tell. A three-time regional fi nalist in the Mountain Stage New Song contest (in both mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions), Jon is a songwriter at heart. It just happens that his sound of choice is an organic funk centered around a baritone ukulele he found in the garbage, and his delivery of choice is a fl ow of rhymes about growing up, love, injustice, and eco-cataclysm. On stages from NYC to the Big Island of Hawaii, Jon has shocked and awed audiences with his one-of-a-kind blend of acoustic, melodic grooves and the hardhitting,

political rhymes of a conscious MC.

For more information about Jon, and to listen to his tunes, visit www.myspace.com/jonbraman

MIGHTY UKE CONCERT FEATURING JON BRAMAN, and special guests

The Mighty Uke Concert will celebrate the world premiere of Tony Coleman’s Mighty Uke and benefi t the Killian Mansfi eld Foundation

Colony Cafe • Fri Oct 2 • 9:00pm

CONCERT: The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll Blues BandColony Cafe • Sat Oct 3 • 10:00pm

The Woodstock Film Festival will be treated to a special performance celebrat-ing the roots of American blues and rock music. The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll Blues Band will be performing at The Col-ony Cafe, reuniting them for the fi rst time since their appearance in the fi lm, The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll. All veteran members of the two “titans of the blues,” Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, the fi lm represents the fi rst time these musicians have ever united. The band’s appearance in the fi lm has spawned a forthcoming tour, focusing on a central theme of the fi lm; with the band performing the blues hits that became rock ‘n’ roll classics. Check documentary listings for info about The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Hubert Sumlin - Howlin' Wolf's legendary guitar-

ist. Many artists, including Eric Clapton, Keith

Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jimmy Page,

credit Sumlin as a major infl uence. Jimi Hendrix

used to say that Hubert Sumlin was his favorite

guitar player.

Pinetop Perkins, 96 years young, is one of the

last great Mississippi bluesmen still performing.

He began playing blues around 1927 and is widely

regarded as one of the best blues pianists. Perkins

is best known for holding down the piano chair

in the great Muddy Waters Band for twelve years

during the highest point of Muddy's career. Perkins

helped shape the Waters sound.

Sugar Blue, Grammy Award-winning harmonica

virtuoso, has played and recorded with musicians

ranging from Willie Dixon and Stan Getz to Frank

Zappa, Johnny Shines and Bob Dylan. After moving

to Paris in 1976, Blue hooked up with members of

the Rolling Stones, who instantly fell in love with

his sound and invited to join them in the studio.

Before returning stateside in 1982, he cut a pair of

albums, Crossroads and From Paris to Chicago.

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith was born in Helena, Ar-

kansas, in 1936. At age 17, he ventured to Chicago

where he heard Muddy Waters for the fi rst time-an

experience that got him hooked on the blues and

persuaded him to stay in Chicago. In 1957, Smith

joined Little Hudson's Red Devil Trio and switched

from harmonica to drums. After gigs or between

sets, he started sitting in on drums with Muddy Wa-

ters' band. Muddy liked what he heard, and invited

Smith to play drums on a 1959 recording session.

Bob Margolin began playing in local Boston rock

bands at an early age. He followed the path of

Chuck Berry's inspiration back to the Blues, being

especially taken by the music of Muddy Waters. Fate

smiled upon Margolin when Waters lost long-time

guitarist Sammy Lawhorn, hiring Margolin as his

replacement. Margolin was a part of such notable

events as the 1975 recording of the Grammy®

Award-winning Muddy Waters Woodstock Album, his

last with Chess Records, featuring Paul Butterfi eld,

and Levon Helm and Garth Hudson from The Band.


PANELS10TH ANNIVERSARY


Panels take place at Utopia Studios in Woodstock.Programs and panelists are subject to change.Please make sure to visit woodstockfi lmfestival.com for the most up-to-date info.

Panelists: Ray Kurzwell is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers and futurists, with a twenty-year track record of accurate predictions. Called “the restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal, and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes magazine, PBS included Kurzwell as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America”. Ray has written fi ve books, four of which have been national best sellers, among them The Age of

Spiritual Machines and The Singularity is Near.

Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D, MBA,is a lawyer, author and entrepreneur. She is the founder of numerous companies, including Sirius Satellite Radio and United Therapeutics. She has cyberscripted pioneering websites including endracism.org. Her company Terasem Media and Films produces independent narrative and documentary fi lms that raise public awareness and understanding of innovations in human life extension through the geo-ethical application of cyber consciousness and biotechnologies.

Wendell Wallach is a lecturer and consulta nt at Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. He is recognized as one of the leaders in the new fi eld of Machine Ethics and the co-author of Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong. The book he is presently writing examines what what humans might become through emerging technologies: Cybersoul: Self-Understanding in the Information Age.

q Redesigning Humanity – the New FrontierUtopia Studios • Fri Oct 2 • 4:00pm

In a period of exponential technological change, human life is in the process of being irreversibly transformed: in the next 50 years, artifi cial intelligence, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and other technologies will allow human beings to transcend the limitations of the body. Is this evolution inevitable? Will “humanity” survive? Is the prospect of virtual eternal life something mankind should embrace? Transhumanism has been described as the world’s most dangerous idea as well as the movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations of humanity. This panel will look at the perils and promise of a transhuman future.

Moderator: James J. Hughes, Ph.D., is the Associ-ate Director of Institutional Research and Planning at Trinity College in Hartford, where he teaches Health Policy. As the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, he also produces the syndicated weekly public affairs radio talk show program Changesurfer Radio. He is the author of Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future.

w Syfy Channel Presents:Screenwriting – Science Fiction and other Genres Utopia Studios • Fri Oct 2 • 2:00pmSponsored by the Syfy Channel

Panels are brought to you in part thanks to a grant from

e Amazing Women in Film Utopia StudiosSat Oct 3 • 10:00am

Women in the fi lm industry continue to carve a strong and meaningful path in a world that used to be traditionally dominated by men. With more women sitting in the Director’s Chair and holding top positions as executives, producers and administrators, has the balance fi nally shifted to a point of equality? Join us as a diverse group of powerful women discuss their work and the state of the fi lm industry, from the woman’s perspective.

Moderator:

Us Weekly fi lm critic Thelma Ad-ams, who has twice served as the New York Film Critics Circle Chair. She has written for The New York Times, The New York Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, The Huffi ngton Post, Interview, and More. She has appeared on CNN, E!, NBC’s The To-day Show, among many others. In 1993, she earned an MFA from Columbia University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley in 1981.

Panelists:Pam Koffl er is the co-founder and principle of Killer Films. The company has produced some of the most respected indepedent fi lms, which have been nomi-nated for 8 Academy Awards® and 20 Emmys.

Katherine Dieckmann’s third feature fi lm as writer-director, Motherhood, stars Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards and Minnie Driver. She also directed Diggers (2007), wrote and directed A Good Baby (2000), and was the originating director on Nickelodeon’s groundbreaking live action children’s serial, The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Dieckmann is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, where she teaches screenwriting.

Signe Baumane

Barbara Hammer

r The Changing Face of Independent Filmmaking A look at the state of contemporary Independent Filmmaking as a new decade draws nearUtopia Studios • Sat Oct 3 • 12:00pm

The world is changing all around us. Borders between countries and cultures blur as globalization deepens. Social networking sites grow in popularity and com-munication across the world is at the click of a button. Technology is advancing, creating easier opportunities for everyday people to express themselves through fi lm. Filmmakers can pick up a lightweight camera and create a movie instantly, editing it on their laptop. Independent fi lm is changing as old business models die and new ones are born. How have all these developments changed what we have come to know as “independent fi lm”? And what new forms will independent fi lm take in the future?

Moderator:

Scott Macaulay is the Editor of Filmmaker Magazine and a producer with his partner Robin O’Hara in the New York-based production company Forensic Films. He is also the co-editor of Focus Features’ FilmInFocus website. Among his producing credits are Raising Victor Vargas, Gummo, julien donkey-boy, the Sundance Grand-Prize winning What Happened Was..., Idlewild, Saving Face, and Off the Black.

Panelists: Richard Linklater After a few years working on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, Linklater relocated to Austin TX and founded the Austin Film Society. His fi rst fi lms were Woodshock and It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books. Linklater’s subsequent Slacker is considered a landmark in insightful fi lmmaking that follows characters instead of plot. He has wooed audiences with witty “Rohmeresque” dialogue in Before Sunrise

and Before Sunset. Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly impressed with their unique visual voice. Linklater’s other fi lm credits include Heads I Win/Tails You Lose (1991), Suburbia (1997), The Newton Boys (1998), Tape (2001), Live From Shiva’s Dance Floor (2003), School of Rock (2003), $5.15/Hr. (2004), Bad News Bears (2005), Fast Food Nation (2006), Inning By Inning: A Portrait of a Coach (2008), and Me and Orson Welles (2009).

.John Sloss is the founder of Cinetic Media and the digital sales initiative Cinetic Rights Manage-ment, which recently launched its branded VOD channel, Cinetic FilmBuff. He is also a managing partner and founder of the entertainment law fi rm Sloss Eckhouse Brennan Law Co LLP, all of which are based in New York City.

Ira Sachs is a fi lmmaker living in New York City. His work includes Married Life (2007), The Delta (1997), and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning Forty Shades of Blue (2005). An Adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of Film, Sachs is presently working on a new feature, The Goodbye People, co-written with Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Married Life), and adapted from the fi ction of screenwriter and novelist Gavin Lambert.

Sponsored by Terasem Media and Films

Produced by Sabine Hoffman

See www.woodstockfi lmfestival.com for up-to-date information

PANELS 10TH ANNIVERSARY



t Music in Film Utopia StudiosSat Oct 3 • 2:00pm

Join us for BMI’s annual frank and lively discussion about the creative and aesthetic aspects of music in fi lm, the composer/director relationship, and the unique concerns of music oriented documentaries.

Moderator:

Doreen Ringer-Ross is Vice-President of Film/ TV Relations at BMI. She has worked in the music industry for over two decades and currently specializes in outreach to the fi lm and music communities.

Panelists:Jonathan Demme is a

NY-based fi lmmaker who has been writing, producing and directing fi lms since 1971. He went on to direct/produce two Academy Award® winning fi lms: Melvin and Howard (1981) and Silence of the Lambs (1991). He has also

produced and directed several feature fi lms over the years through his production company Clinica Estetico, most recently Rachel Getting Married. Demme has collaborated on performance features with the Talking Heads (Stop Making Sense), Spalding Grey (Swimming to Cambodia), Robyn Hitchcock (Storefront Hitchcock) and two with Neil Young, Neil Young Heart of Gold and Neil Young Trunk Show. He has also directed and produced many documentaries about inspirational fi gures, such as the Reverend Robert Castle (Cousin Bobby), Jean Dominique (The Agronomist), Nelson Mandela (Mandela Son of Africa), Beah Richards (Beah: A Black Woman Speaks), Jimmy Carter (Jimmy Carter Man From Plains) and Bob Marley (Bob Marley Stay with the Rhythm).

Tom DiCillo’s ground breaking fi rst feature in 1990 was Johnny Suede, followed by Living in Oblivion, Box of Moonlight, The Real Blonde, Double Whammy and Delirious. DiCillo’s fi lms have garnered numerous awards at Sundance, Venice, San

Sebastian and other prestigious fi lm festivals. When You’re Strange (2009) is DiCillo’s fi rst documentary.

Tze Chun’s short fi lm Window-breaker screened at the 2007 Woodstock Film Festival as well as thirty other interna-tional festivals. He was named one of Filmmaker magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2007. Chun also painted the original

artwork used in the poster for Half Nelson as well as the children’s book drawings in the fi lm. He is currently working on multiple fi lm and television projects.

Songwriter, composer and producer T. Griffi n has scored dozens of fi lm and theater projects, including Blasted!!! The Gonzo Patriots of Hunter S. Thompson, A Walk Into the Sea, My Mother’s Garden, Prodigal Sons, and Children of Invention. Griffi n was a 2008

Fellow at the Sundance Composer’s lab. He works out of his studio in Brooklyn, New York.

Moderator:

Aaron Hillis is the editor of GreenCine Daily, and has written for the Village Voice, LA Weekly, Variety, Time Out New York, Spin and Premiere Magazine. He is also the vice-president of Benten Films, a boutique distribution label run by critics and designed for cinephiles to uncover lost masterpieces and future classics.

Panelists: New York-based fi lm and new media critic Karina Longworth is the editor of SpoutBlog, a daily fi lm culture blog dedicated to appreciating the under-the-radar and defl ating the overexposed. In 2005, Longworth co-founded the

fi lm blog Cinematical, which was later acquired by AOL, and she has since contributed to Cineaste, Filmmaker, Time Out NY, Film in Focus, The Daily Beast, The Huffi ngton Post and other print and online publications. Longworth has a Masters degree in Cinema Studies from New York University.

Godfrey Cheshire is an award-winning fi lm critic, journalist and fi lmmaker. A former chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle, he has written for publications including The New York Times, Variety, New York Press, The Village Voice,

Interview and Film Comment. His fi rst fi lm as writer-director, Moving Midway, was released in 2008.

Owen Gleiberman has been a movie critic for Entertainment Weekly since the magazine’s launch in 1990. He started his career at the Boston Phoenix in 1981, became the lead fi lm critic and fi lm editor there by 1985, and left in 1989

to freelance full-time. His work has appeared in Premiere, Film Comment and American Film. Gleiberman has appeared on numerous local and national television programs as a critic for Entertainment Weekly. He became involved with movies and journalism at the University of Michigan. Originally from Ann Arbor, MI, he currently lives in New York City.

Eric Kohn is a freelance fi lm critic and entertainment journalist whose writing appears in numerous outlets, most recently indieWIRE, The Wrap, New York Press, Filmmaker, Moviemaker, Moving Pictures, Variety, New York Magazine

and Heeb, where he serves as a contributing editor. He maintains a blog, Screen Rush, where he regularly links to his published work.

S.T. VanAirsdale is a senior editor at Movieline. His writing about cinema and culture has appeared in The New York Times, the Village Voice and New York Magazine, among many other publications. He was also the founding editor of

the New York fi lm culture website The Reeler. He lives in Manhattan.

Karen Durbin is the fi lm critic for Elle magazine, where she writes a monthly two-page column. She also writes features for Elle and articles on fi lm for the Sunday Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times. Previously, she was

the fi lm critic for Mirabella magazine and its arts and entertainment editor. From April 1994 to September 1996, Durbin was the editor-in-chief of The Village Voice.

y Film Criticism and Journalism, where is it now? Today’s state of fi lm criticism and journalism with an eye towards the next decadeUtopia Studios • Sat Oct 3 • 4:00pm

Today’s changing economy, advent of technology and the new ways of disseminat-ing information to the public are dictating the path of change in fi lm criticism and journalism. As we explore the evolving role of fi lm criticism, its impact on the life of a fi lm, and the developing avenues by which critics reach their audience, we explore the current state and the potential future of both fi lm criticism in specifi c and journalism in general.

“We are approaching a ‘new normal,’ and while we have some clues, we don’t know what it will be yet. At a certain point being able to discuss this business using the met-rics of old will no longer be useful. Journal-ists discussing the fi lm business will have to know more about the business paradigms of multi-platform production and distribution. And when it comes to creative content, if trans-media projects take hold, journalists will have to be literate in discussing not only cinema but gameplay and other forms of the user experience. Being able to analyze the past will only get you so far. We want to know where we’re going from here.”

– Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker Magazine blog

2006 BMI Panel

PANELS10TH ANNIVERSARY



i Actors Dialogue Utopia StudiosSun Oct 4 • 12:00pm

J oin some of today’s most engaging actors as they chat about their work and their lives.

Moderator:

Martha Frankel has been writing about fi lm for over two decades. She has con-tributed to Details, The New Yorker, Redbook, Cosmopoli-tan and The New York Times. She is the author of Hats & Eyeglasses: A Family Love Affair with Gambling.

Panelists (as of 9/07):Vera Farmiga. An award winning actress, Vera Farmiga con tinues to cap-tivate audiences with each role she embodies. Farmiga recently wrapped produc-tion on Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, starring opposite George Clooney. She can also be seen in the upcom-

ing fi lm The Vintner’s Luck, directed by Niki Caro.

Farmiga recently starred in the dark thriller Orphan opposite Peter Sarsgaard, Carlos Brooks’ Quid Pro Quo, Miramax’s Holocaust drama The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and Rod Lurie’s political drama Nothing But the Truth. Farmiga won the Best Actress award from the Los Angeles Film Critics’ Association for her performance in the independent fi lm Down to the Bone, a revela-tory drama about a weary working-class mother trapped by drug addiction, which was fi lmed in the Hudson Valley. She also won Best Actress awards from the Sundance Film Festival and the Marrakech Film Festival and earned an Indepen-dent Spirit Award nomination for the role.

Additional fi lm credits include: Joshua op-posite Sam Rockwell; Never Forever opposite Jung-woo Ha and David McInnis; Martin Scorsese’s Os-car® winning police drama The Departed; Anthony Minghella’s Breaking & Entering and The Manchurian Candidate for director Johnathan Demme.

Lucy Liu was born and raised in Queens, New York. Liu graduated from New York City’s prestigious Stuyvesant High School and then received a BA from the University of Michigan. After graduat-ing, she pursued an acting career and is most known for her roles on television’s Ally McBeal and the fi lm blockbuster series Charlie’s Angels and Kill Bill.

Now, as both producer and narrator, Liu introduces her latest project, Redlight, exposing and chronicling the tragedies and injustices of the international child-traffi cking industry.

Appointed UNICEF Ambassador in 2004, Liu has traveled the globe to meet children and expe-rience fi rsthand UNICEF’s efforts to do whatever it takes to save a child.

u Documentaries Then, Now and Tomorrow Utopia Studios • Sun Oct 4 • 10:00am

Panelists:

Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award® winner for Harlan County, USA and American Dream. She recently com-pleted her new fi lm Wood-stock: Now & Then which examines the enduring legacy of the original Woodstock festival. She was the 2006 recipi-ent of the Woodstock Film Festival’s honorary Maverick Award, screened her fi lm Shut Up and Sing as the closing night fi lm at the 2006 Woodstock Film Festival and screened her fi lm My Generation as the closing night fi lm at the 2000 Woodstock Film Festival..

Rachel Grady is a private investigator turned fi lmmaker. She is the co-director of the Emmy-nominated documentary The Boys of Baraka, which won the 2006 NAACP award for Outstanding Independent

Film. Grady has produced and directed numerous non-fi ction fi lms for MTV, CBS, Discovery Channel, A & E and Britain’s Channel 4, and completed her second documentary feature, Jesus Camp, which was nominated for an Academy Award. In 2007 Time Magazine included Grady as one of fi ve innovators in documentary fi lm. Heidi Ewing and she are the co-owners of NYC-based production company Loki Films.

Leon Gast is best known for directing such seminal documentaries as Hell’s Angels Forever (1983) and the Oscar® winning When We Were Kings (1996).Gast recently completed the documentary No Pictures: The Unwelcome Art of Ron

Galella, about the 78 year old self-proclaimed Paparazzo Superstar, famous for intruding on the lives of decades worth of celebrities, and capturing beautiful images in the process. Gast’s next project is co-directing Live at the Fillmore with Amalie Rothschild, a fi lm that explores the modern rock business from its

idealistic roots to the cutthroat industry it is today, with a focus on Bill Graham’s Fillmore East & West. Gast studied at Seton Hall and Columbia University, working as an accom-plished still photographer during the 1960’s and 1970’s with his photos appearing in Vogue, Esquire, and Harper’s Bazaar.

Emily Kunstler runs Off Center Media, a produc-tion company that produces documentaries exposing injustice in the criminal justice system. With Off Center, Kunstlerhas produced, directed, and edited a

number of documentaries including Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War (Best Documentary, Woodstock Film Festival, 2002), Getting Through to the President (2004), which has aired on the Sundance Channel, and William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, which premiered at Sundance (2009) and will air on PBS’s POV in 2010.

AJ Schnack is the director of three nonfi c-tion features: Convention (2009), Kurt Cobain About a Son (2006) and Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns (2002). He is the founder and co-chair of the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfi ction Filmmaking and the author of the popular blog All These Wonderful Things.

o Distribution Trends in an ever changing climate.

Utopia Studios • Sun Oct 4 • 2:00pm

From the traditional multiplex platform to self distribution, VOD, online, and much more, where do trends of distribu-tion stand now, and more importantly, where would they be in the next decade.

Moderator:

Peter Bowen the editorial director for Film In Focus and Senior Editor at FilmMaker Magazine.

Panelists:

Richard Abramowitz is President of Abramora-ma, a consulting fi rm that serves the fi lm indus-try in the production, representation, marketing, and distribution of independent fi lms. A veteran of nearly 30 years, he has worked with fi lmmak-ers such as Jonathan Demme, John Turturro, Morgan Spurlock, Joe Berlinger, Tom DiCillo, John Sayles, James Ivory, Tom Stoppard and Neil Young, among many others. He is an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

As vice president of acquisitions and production for IFC Entertainment, Arianna Bocco as acquired the U.S. rights to some of the independent fi lm world’s most critically-acclaimed fi lms including: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Paranoid Park, Gomorrah, Hunger, Che, more recently, Antichrist. Prior to joining IFC, Bocco served as head of the independent feature packaging division of the Gersh Agency in New York City and also worked at Miramax Films as senior vice president of acquisitions where she

was involved in acquiring such notable fi lms such as Garden State and The Station Agent.

Emily Russo is co-founder and co-president of the New York-based distribution company Zeitgeist Films. Along with her partner Nancy Gerstman, she has released of over 170 fi lms, ncluding early fi lms by notable directors like Todd Haynes, Francois Ozon, the Brothers Quay, Atom Egoyan, Agnes Varda, and Guy Maddin. Zeitgeist is also renowned for its collection of ground-breaking documen-taries including The Corporation, Into Great Silence and Trouble the Water.

Industry veteran Mark Urman formed Paladin in the summer of 2009. He co-founded THINKFilm in 2001, and ran its theatrical division until last year. From 1987 to 2001 he was Co-President of Lionsgate Releasing and he also did extensive tours of duty at Columbia Pictures and United Artists earlier in his career. Urman was Executive Producer of the Academy Award® winning fi lm, Monster’s Ball as well as the Oscar® nominated documentaries Murderball and War Dance.

Documentary fi lmmaking has come a long way in the past 30 years, increasing in popularity and shaping lives. The panel will examine past and future generations of documentary fi lmmakers, featuring some of the more respected and accomplished fi lmmak-ers to some of the most emerging and promising ones. It will focus on what has changed forever in the craft of documentary fi lmmaking due to tech-nology, progression of time, societal shifts---and what will remain timeless.


PRICES• Tickets range from $8 to $20 for

screenings and panels. See the schedule online for specifi c prices. Concert prices vary.

• A handling fee of $7.95 will be added per online order or phone order that is mailed.

• Student and senior discounts are available with ID, but must be requested directly at the Box Offi ce or venue.

• We cannot honor senior discounts online or over the telephone.

• There are NO REFUNDS and NO EX-CHANGES

PURCHASING TICKETS

Internet Orders• The best way to order tickets and to

see updated schedules, fi lm descrip-tions and other festival information is online starting September 7

• From September 7 through Septem-ber 26, advance single admission tickets can be purchased through our secure website at woodstock-fi lmfestival.com.

Advance orders will be sent by USPS mail through September 27.

• Starting September 28, all online orders must be picked up at the Box Offi ce at 13 Rock City Road in Woodstock.

Walk-Up Orders• Tickets for all venues will be avail-

able for purchase at the BOX OFFICE from 10 September thru 5 October.

• Upstate Films and the Rosendale Theater will have tickets available at their respective venues. Please con-tact them to see what their status is.

Telephone Orders• The BOX OFFICE is manned by dedi-

cated VOLUNTEERS.

• They will do their best to help you with your ticket selection over the telephone.

• Please take into consideration that volunteers are simultaneously fi lling out Internet, walkup and telephone orders. The phones can get very chaotic and they tend to be busy.

• Please be patient. We are doing our best to help you.

• The last day for telephone orders is September 25th.

Day of Event• Tickets are available at the BOX

OFFICE until four hours prior to the event. All unsold tickets are then available only on the standby line at the screening venue on a CASH ONLY basis.

• Ticket holders MUST arrive 15 min-utes prior to screenings or panels to guarantee seating. Empty seats will be sold to those in the standby queue.

• Tickets will be held at the BOX OFFICE at 13 Rock City Road in Woodstock. If you have tickets at will call, you must go to the BOX OFFICE to pick them up. These tickets will NOT be sent to the venue.

• Please note all events listed as ON STANDBY will have a standby queue where any open seats fi ve minutes prior to show time will be sold on a CASH ONLY basis. Standby queues form no earlier than one hour prior to any event.

NOTE: If you have tickets for Rhinebeck or Rosendale that were ordered online or by phone, you must go to the BOX OFFICE to pick them up. These tickets will not be sent to the venues. Leave yourself plenty of time to stop in before going to your venue or order early enough so we can send them to you.

When planning your festival sched-ule, please bear in mind that the driving distance from Woodstock to Rhinebeck and Rosendale is about 30 minutes.

FULL FESTIVAL PASSES• The best way to take advantage of

everything the festival has to offer is by purchasing a Full Festival Pass. A limited number of these passes remain.

• Each pass includes guaranteed admission for one of all screenings and panels—with priority seating up until 15 minutes prior to the event; all parties; and souvenirs, including a T-shirt and cap.

• Full Festival Passes are SOLD OUT

• Full Festival Passes are nontransfer-able and include a picture ID.

• Passes must be picked up at Festival Registration. Badge pickup instruc-tions will be sent after purchase.

Passholders & ticket holders MUST arrive 15 minutes prior to the screening or panel. Empty seats will be made available to the standby line .

Box Offi ce Location:

13 Rock City RoadWoodstock, NY 12498(We are across from the

Chamber of Commerce booth)

phone#: 845.810.0131

woodstockfi lmfestival.com

Box Offi ce Hours

September 7-27 Wednesdays-Sundays 12pm-4pm

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

September 28-319am-7pm

October 1 9am-noon

For the most up-to-date information, please visit www.woodstockfi lmfestival.com

Once online, fi nd out which screenings are sold out and read updated information about events, screenings and panels.

WOODSTOCKBEARSVILLE THEATER (fi lms)

261 Tinker StreetWoodstock, NY 12498845.679.4406

COLONY CAFÉ (fi lmmaker lounge/ music)22 Rock City Road Woodstock, NY 12498 845.679.5342www.colonycafe.com

TINKER STREET CINEMA (fi lms)132 Tinker StreetWoodstock, NY 12498 845.679.6608

UTOPIA STUDIO (panels)293 Tinker StreetWoodstock, NY 12498 845.679.7600

WOODSTOCK COMMUNITY CENTER (fi lms)56 Rock City RoadWoodstock, NY 12498

ONTEORA HIGH SCHOOL (career day)4166 Route 28 Boiceville, NY 12412

TOWN HALL (fi lms)76 Tinker StreetWoodstock, NY 12498

RHINEBECK UPSTATE FILMS (fi lms)

6415 Montgomery Street Rhinebeck, NY 12572866.FILM.NUTwww.upstatefi lms.org

ROSENDALE ROSENDALE THEATRE (fi lms)

408 Main Street Rosendale, NY 12472845.658.8989

VENUES



WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE AT A GLANCEWed 9/30

Bearsville Theater 8:00 Woodstock: Now and Then

Thur 10/1 Tinker Street Cinema

1:15 Ricky 3:45 More Than A Game 6:30 The Messenger 9:30 The Messenger

Bearsville Theater 1:00 Those Who Remain 3:45 The Times of Their Lives 6:00 Against the Current 8:30 Trimpin: The Sound of

Invention

Upstate I 7:30 The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Upstate II 8:00 Garbage Dreams

Rosendale Theater 8:00 The Eclipse

Fri 10/2 Tinker Street Cinema

11:30 Splinterheads 2:00 White on Rice 4:30 Harlem Aria 7:15 Me And Orson Welles10:00 The Men Who Stare at Goats

Bearsville Theater12:15 William Kunstler,

Disturbing The Universe 2:45 Mighty Uke 5:00 Caprica 7:30 2b10:00 When You’re Strange

Town Hall 1:45 Harmony And Me 4:15 Shooting Beauty 6:30 SHORTS: Life 8:30 Easier With Practice

Community Center 1:15 SHORTS: Sinner 3:00 SHORTS: Nursery Crimes 5:15 SHORTS: Flak 7:30 SHORTS: Teen Shorts10:15 SHORTS: Animation

Utopia Studios 2:00 PANEL: SyFy Channel

Presents: Screenwriting - Science Fiction and other Genres

4:00 PANEL: Redesigning Humanity – The New Frontier

Upstate I 1:00 The Overbrook Brothers 3:30 Entre Nos 6:15 Against The Current 9:00 Ricky

Upstate II 1:30 After The Storm 4:00 Junior 6:45 Without a Home 9:30 Those Who Remain

Bard Weiss Theater 7:00 SHORTS: Out of Our Minds

Rosendale Theater 2:00 21 Below 4:30 The Tiger Next Door 7:00 Racing Dreams 9:30 Perfect Age of Rock ‘N’ Roll

Sat 10/3 Tinker Street Cinema

11:15 Children of Invention 1:45 Motherhood 4:15 The Private Lives of Pippa Lee 7:00 (Untitled) 9:30 Youth in Revolt

Bearsville Theater11:00 Big River Man 1:45 Eyes Wide Open 4:30 Neil Young Trunk Show 7:30 Perfect Age of Rock ‘N’ Roll10:00 Cropsey

Town Hall12:00 Garbage Dreams 2:30 SHORTS: Animation 4:45 Without a Home 7:15 October Country 9:30 Music We Are

Community Center11:30 SHORTS: Road Rage 2:15 SHORTS: Love Is 4:30 SHORTS: Paths 7:00 SHORTS: Out of Our Minds 9:15 The Tiger Next Door

Utopia Studios10:00 PANEL:

Amazing Women in Film 12:00 PANEL: The Changing Face of

Independent Filmmaking 2:00 PANEL: Music in Film 4:00 PANEL: Film Criticism

and Journalism, where is it now?

Upstate I 1:30 William Kunstler, Disturbing

The Universe 4:00 Dear Lemon Lima 6:30 Harmony and Me 9:00 Men Who Stare at Goats

Upstate II 1:45 Don’t Let Me Drown 4:30 Shooting Beauty 6:45 Convention 9:30 Trimpin: The Sound of

Invention

Rosendale Theater12:45 Harlem Aria 3:30 Me and Orson Welles 6:30 Easier With Practice 9:15 When You’re Strange

Sun 10/4 Tinker Street Cinema

11:00 Dear Lemon Lima 1:30 The Overbrook Brothers 4:00 Don’t Let Me Drown 6:45 Closing Night Film TBA 9:15 Closing Night Film TBA

Bearsville Theater11:15 Convention 2:00 After the Storm 4:15 Entre Nos 7:00 Red Light

Town Hall12:30 Racing Dreams 3:15 Junior 6:00 SHORTS: Love Is

Community Center11:30 SHORTS: Nursery Crimes 1:45 SHORTS: Road Rage 4:00 SHORTS: Sinner 6:00 SHORTS: Paths

Utopia Studios10:00 PANEL: Documentaries,

Then, Now and Tomorrow12:00 PANEL: Actors’ Dialogue 2:00 PANEL: Distribution Trends in an

Ever Changing Climate

Upstate I12:00 Big River Man 2:45 Eyes Wide Open 5:30 Motherhood 8:00 Neil Young Trunk Show

Upstate II12:30 White on Rice 3:15 October Country 5:45 (Untitled) 8:30 Caprica

Rosendale Theater12:30 Mighty Uke 3:00 Children Of Invention 5:30 Splinterheads 8:00 Youth In Revolt

Key Woodstock

Rhinebeck

Rosendale Bard

For the most up-to-date information, please visit woodstockfi lmfestival.comOnce online, fi nd out which screenings are sold out and read updated information about events, screenings and panels.

2009 Awards Ceremony

BSP Studios in KingstonSat October 3, 2009, 9PM

Please note that all events are subject to change. Check

www.woodstockfi lmfestixval.com to confi rm venues and times

The James Lyons Estate The Lee Marvin Estate Pamavision, NY

SILVER SPONSORS

SUPERSTAR SPONSORS

AWARDS SPONSORS

FOUNDATION SPONSORS

EVENT SPONSORS

PRINT MEDIA SPONSORS

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

FOOD SUPPORT

FEDERAL AND STATE SUPPORT

GOLD SPONSORS

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

The Perry & Martin Granoff Family Foundation

Florence Belsky Charitable Foundation The Lee & Peter Mayer Foundation

The Woodstock Film Festival and Hudson Valley Programmer’s Group event is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency

Backstage Productions

Emerson Resort & Spa

Libation, NYC

Oriole 9

3rd St. R&D Production Services

Canus Major Productions Company 3 Rock ‘n’ Roll Radios

Adam’s Fairacre Farm

Bread Alone

Bistro to GoCatskill Mountain Organic Coffee

Lucky ChocolatesOrganic NectarsSami’s Pizza

New World Home Cooking

Skytop Steakhouse & Brewery

Waste Management, Kingston

10th anniversary september 30 - october 4 2009 · the ﬁ lms themselves, and not just movie stars...

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