MAY 2004 Newsletter

WEATHER UNDERGROUND,  WALLACE, GROMIT AND JULIANNA,  LOCAL GRAD BECOMES PRESIDENT OF DISNEY-ABC TV, LOCAL PRODUCTION NEWS, THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS CONQUERS GENIES, NEVERLAND NEVERMORE, 10 FILMS TO SEE AT TRIBECA, RICHARD SANDLER RETROSPECTIVE, GO FURTHER OPENS IN CANADA, SUPERSIZE ME, NEW ON DVD, ON THE SMALL SCREEN,
AN EVENING WITH PHILIP GLASS, CALL FOR ENTRIES - 26th ANNUAL IFP MARKET, SPONSOR NEWS, MARKERTEK OPEN

NEW SPONSORS

EARLY DEADLINE COMING UP

The fifth anniversary celebration of the fiercely independent Woodstock Film Festival, October 13-17, 2004 celebrates new voices of independent filmmakers with great films, seminars, workshops, concerts, parties and good people. Awards are presented for  Best Feature,  Best Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Student Film,  Best Cinematography (The Haskell Wexler Award), Best Film Score (The Elmer Bernstein Award) and Best Animation (Awarded by Bill Plympton).  Entry fee ranges from $25 - $50. The early deadline is May 15. Final deadline is June 28. For additional info visit www.woodstockfilmfestival.com

For info about music events, visit FOCUS ON MUSIC.

The Academy Award nominated doc by Bill Siegel and Sam Green was distributed theatrically by Shadow Distribution in association with Rhinebeck’s Upstate Films. Canadian distribution was handled by Ron Mann’s Film We Like. Domestic DVD distribution is being handled by Docurama, which is co-owned by advisory board member Steve (New Video) Savage.

One of the top documentaries of the year, this Academy Award nominee interweaves extensive archival material with modern-day interviews to explore the incredible story of THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND,  one of America's most notorious modern revolutionaries.

Julianna was so motivated to land the position, that she moved to Bristol, UK where studio Aardman Animations is located. She was one of five-hundred applicants in the world wide search to fill seven animator job openings.

LOCAL GRAD BECOMES PRESIDENT OF DISNEY-ABC TV

On April 22, Former Kingston resident and 1975 Coleman High School graduate Anne Marie Sweeney, was promoted to co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television.

"Under this new structure, the combined strength of the creative content and resources in both cable and broadcast television will allow Disney to build on its reputation as a leading provider of world-class, high-quality entertainment, news and sports programming," Sweeney said in a written statement released by Disney. "The ABC Television Network is an incredibly important and valuable asset for Disney and is a leader in daytime entertainment, sports and news programming, and I look forward to working with the great team there as we return ABC to its leadership position in prime time."

LOCAL PRODUCTION NEWS

On Saturday April 18th Woodstock resident and NYU Film School senior Josh Telson wrapped production on a 10-day film shoot in and around Woodstock for his thesis film, tentatively titled EMPTY. A final print of the film should be completed by mid-August, keep an eye out for plenty of local screenings! Josh would like to thank everyone who helped make the production a success the Woodstock Film Commission, Ned Houst, Barbara and Walter DeBaun, Joe and Rochelle McDonough, and Marsha Feigenbaum for generously allowing them to shoot on their property; and everyone who contributed moral and/or financial support. Much thanks from Josh! See Woodstock Film Commission for more news.

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS CONQUERS GENIES

Denys Arcand’s THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS (WFF 2003) won six major awards, including best film and best director at the 2004 Genie Awards held in Toronto Saturday night. The honors for the best in Canadian film, were also presented to lead actor, Remy Girard, and supporting actors, Stéphane Rousseau and Marie-Josée Croze.

The film about a group of aging Quebec intellectuals reminiscing with a dying friend about their hedonistic past won an Academy Award earlier this year as best foreign-language film, and a screenwriting  and performance award (for Marie-Josée Croze) at Cannes. The DVD is available.

NEVERLAND NEVERMORE

“Due to a conflict” Rhinecliff director Robert Stone has changed the name of his award-winning documentary NEVERLAND: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SYMBIONESE LIBERATION ARMY.  The new title is GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST. With GUERRILLA, filmmaker Robert Stone takes full advantage of the unique intimacy of cinema to bring into sharp focus the mood of the early 1970s, a mood that inspired the formation of the first radical domestic terrorist cell to become a media sensation in the United States, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). For details, visit their website.

LATE WATCH

BEREFT

HOMEWORK

ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY

COFFEE & CIGARETTES

LIPSTICK & DYNAMITE

SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER

10 FILMS TO SEE AT THE TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

Check out our ad in the program and the following 10 films with Hudson Valley or WFF connections.

Woodstock resident Barbara Sicuranza stars in LATE WATCH, a witty character-driven comedy, in which writer-turned-security guard Travis Hall hopes his new job will enable him to pay the bills and give him time to finish his novel. The problem? He has to make it through his first night. A look inside a nocturnal world where grown men wear clip-on ties and get paid to stare at blank walls for hours on end.

WFF Advisory board member Aidan Quinn stars in CAVEDWELLER, Lisa Cholodenko's third film (High Art, Laurel Canyon). Kyra Sedgwick shines as a rock singer who returns to her Georgia hometown to regain custody of the two daughters she left with her abusive ex-husband (Quinn).

Tim Blake Nelson appears in Tim Daly and J. Clark Mathis' BEREFT. After her fiancé's fatal hit-and-run, amateur photographer Molly refuses to travel by car. Yet in many other ways she becomes dangerously careless while grappling with life without love in her once-comforting Vermont town.
 
WFF advisory board member Sabine Hoffman is the editor of BROTHER TO BROTHER, Rodney Evans film about a New York artist grappling with his aesthetic and personal identity, and his friendship with an elderly veteran of the Harlem Renaissance. The older man's reveries lead them both on a surreal journey into black America's artistic past. Winner, Special Jury Prize at Sundance '04. Presented in association with IFP/New York (www.ifp.org).

In HOMEWORK, a visually arresting journey of self-discovery from first-time writer/director and upstate New York native Kevin Asher Green, Sara is a young ballet dancer living in a comfortable and controlled world where nothing makes her happy. That all changes when she meets Jean, an older modern dancer who helps her explore emotional and sexual desires. The film is produced by Anthony Katagas (This So Called Disaster)
 
ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY by 2001 Honorary Maverick Award winners D.A.Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus is an enthralling portrait of Broadway legend Elaine Stritch. Combining the on-stage performance from her Tony Award-winning one-woman show with behind-the-scenes footage of Ms. Stritch at liberty in the world, the film chronicles the venerable entertainer's tumultuous life.
 
Jim Jarmusch returns to his "early, funny" black-and-white roots with COFFEE & CIGARETTES, an inspired assemblage of absurdist vignettes, shot over the course of two decades. The titular addictions serve as the threads connecting 10 scenes, which unfold over steaming cups and smoldering ashtrays. Things keep moving via Jarmusch's eccentric mélange of a cast including Tom Waits, Steve Buscemi, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Iggy Pop, The White Stripes, Wu-Tang Clan, and many others.
 
Anne Hubbel is co-producer of LIPSTICK & DYNAMITE, PISS & VINEGAR: THE FIRST LADIES OF WRESTLING. In the 1940s, carnival promoters looking to boost attendance lured strapping teenage girls from logging camps and farms to join their traveling wrestling shows. Sixty years later, the first ladies of wrestling are still speaking out and kicking butt. This engaging documentary uses interviews, archival footage of classic matches, and B-movie clips to re-create a fabulous, forgotten world.

Former WFF volunteer and staff Hannah Lewis-Rosenblum worked as a 2^nd unit director on SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER from director Jeff Lieberman. A naive young boy believes he is living in his favorite video game Satan's Little Helper. But as he assists the dark master on Halloween, he is unknowingly helping the town's serial killer who is dressed up like Satan. Cult fave Jeff Lieberman crafts a scarily funny black satire that finely transitions a subtle critique of pop culture and the nuclear family into a gory screamfest.
 
In HEIR TO AN EXECUTION, Produced by Marc Levin (Godfathers and Sons) director Meeropol deftly pieces together a family history that rethinks decades-old public perceptions by asking herself a simple question: What cause was so great that her grandparents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, would keep their silence about being branded communist traitors all the way to the execution chamber, leaving behind those who loved and needed them?

For times and dates, visit http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org

IN THEATERS

Ron Mann’s GO FURTHER opened April 30^th in theaters across Canada.

The has received rave reviews including four stars from The Toronto Star. Film reviewer Peter Howell wrote, “Like Michael Moore's gun-lust commentary Bowling For Columbine and Morgan Spurlock's fast-food fatwa Super Size Me, Mann uses humor to make a cogent statement about how humans are turning the Earth into a desert of clear-cut forests and poisoned rivers. In an era of blackouts, greenhouse gases and political hot air, the message couldn't be timelier or more necessary."

The film which also features an outstanding soundtrack with musicians including Bob Weir, Anthony Kiedis, Natalie Merchant, Michael Franti, Medeski, Martin & Wood, String Cheese Incident, and Dave Matthews is set for a summer release in the USA. Theater owners and college campus programmers interested in booking the film, should contact Richard@Abramorama.com

SUPERSIZE ME, Morgan Spurlocks irreverent look at obesity in America and one of its sources - fast food corporations - opens nationally on May 7th. Hudson Valley / West Park resident Hans Ten Broek was responsible for all the Audio Post-Production work including sound design and final mix.

It’s widely believed that the film is responsible for McDonalds decision to phase out Supersize fries and drinks from its menus. Coincidentally, the fast food giant has also introduced Adult Happy Meals, featuring salad, bottled water, and a pedometer (see film). 

RICHARD SANDLER AT TWO BOOTS

On May 5^th at the The pioneer theater, 155 east 3rd street, catch Richard Sandler’s two NYC documentaries, BRAVE NY at 7pm, and THE GODS OF TIMES SQUARE (WFF 2000) at 9pm. BRAVE NEW YORK (2004), culled from twelve years of daily video shooting in the East Village, focuses on the wisdom and play of street philosophers and artists and their views of the “dominant culture.” THE GODS OF TIMES SQUARE (1999 and 2001), is a documentary about religious zealots in Times Square and it’s traditional function as a place of free speech. Shot from 1992 until 1998, it chronicles an era of radical social change therein.

ON DVD

THE EVENT (WFF 2003) Thom Fitzgerald’s gut wrenching inquiry into one man’s death, starring Olympia Dukakis and Parker Posey, is now available on DVD. If you didn’t get a chance to see it in the theaters please check it out and tell all your friends.
 

ON THE SMALL SCREEN

GET TO KNOW: BILL PLYMPTON

This May, the Sundance Channel dives into the weird and wonderful world of maverick animator Bill Plympton with "Get to Know: Bill Plympton." Spanning the course of his career, "Get to Know: Bill Plympton" presents the animated features THE TUNE (1992) and MUTANT ALIENS (2001), as well as a range of new and vintage shorts including YOUR FACE, 25 WAYS TO QUIT SMOKING, and his most recent short PARKING. Don't miss it.

Saturday, May 15, 8pm at the Bearsville Theater, Philip Glass will perform for a benefit concert in support of the KTD Monastery. Other guest performers include Hasu Patel, Baird Hersey and Prana, Choyang Tibetan Horns. Tickets and information are available by calling (845) 679-5906 x12.

CALL FOR ENTRIES - 26th ANNUAL IFP MARKET

Seeking financing for your script? Completion funds for your work-in-progress? Trying to sell your doc? Looking to expand your contact list?

IFP Market is a great place to begin: the only  place in the U.S. to introduce new work to an industry-only audience of sales companies, festival  programmers, distributors, TV buyers, producers, and agents from the U.S. and abroad.

An essential networking opportunity, IFP Market connects you with the industry reps you need to know to get your work financed, completed, and distributed. $150,000 in awards, including two $10,000 awards for African-American filmmakers.

SPONSOR NEWS

The Woodstock Film Festival is thrilled to have the continued support and sponsorship of AmeriBag®, Inc. in 2004! 

Known worldwide as the Home of the Healthy Back Bag® tote, AmeriBag®, Inc. continues to lead the way with innovative, ergonomic (we love that word!) designs, constructed of the finest grades of natural and synthetic materials available.  Combining style with cleverly configured pockets, AmeriBags® are available in dozens of styles, colors, sizes and materials to choose from, so whoever you are and whatever you do there is an AmeriBag® for you! For more information, please visit http://www.ameribag.com

Kodak is back on board as a 2004 festival and award sponsor. In March Kodak sponsored a lovely dinner with legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler prior to the joint WFF/WAMC presentation of Haskell groundbreaking film MEDIUM COOL. For info about KODAK products including 35mm, super 16 and 16mm film, digital cameras and supplies, check out http://www.kodak.com

MARKERTEK OPEN

The 7th Annual Markertek Open charitable golf tournament will be held at noon, on Saturday July 12 at the beautiful Hudson Valley Resort and Spa.

The beneficiary of the 2004 Markertek Open is the Regional Food Bank of the Hudson Valley.

The HV Food Bank is a branch of the larger Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which together serve over 900 charitable, member agencies. Each year, the regional Food Bank provides over 18 MILLION pounds of food to emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, rehab, day care and senior centers

To support the Markertek Open & the Food Bank through sponsorship, raffle prizes or donations, please contact Victoria Langling or Patricia Lieske at Markertek 1.800.522.2025 or email victoria@towerpower.com or pat@towerpower.com

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

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

2004 sponsors: Markertek.com, Catskill Mountain Region Guide, Ruder Finn, Schieffelin & Somerset, I Love NY, Kodak, Ameribag

The Woodstock Film Festival newsletter is compiled and written by Laurent Rejto. If you would like to contribute a story idea, email Laurent@woodstockfilmfestival.com.

HOME
Year Round Events | Newsletters | Entry Form
Sponsors | Advisory Board | Travel Info | Souvenirs & Gifts | About Us
Woodstock Film Commission

Copyright, 2000-2004 - Woodstock Film Festival, Inc.