Festival mainstays include industry executives, television anchors, network and cable executives, magazine and newspaper editors, record label executives, writers, painters, models, entertainment lawyers, producers, critics, and publishers.

The advisory board is made up of top industry reps including Judy Arthur, Eamon Bowles, Ellen Chenoweth, Griffin Dunne, Martha Frankel, Leon Gast, Ethan Hawke, Stephen Hays, Sabine Hoffman, Gill Holland, Michael Lang, Jeremiah Newton, Annie Nocenti, Ron Nyswaner,  Sarah Plant, Bill Plympton, Aidan Quinn, Bingham Ray, Peter Saraf, Steve Savage, Zachary Sklar, John Sloss, Fisher Stevens, David Strathairn, and Lemore Syvan. (Click here for advisory board bios)

Major press coverage has included Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The Daily News, Time Out, New York Magazine, Esquire, Playboy, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Moviemaker Magazine, indiewire, Associated Press, NPR, Bloomberg Radio, CNN, WNBC-TV, WCBS-TV, and more.. (For more info, visit press)

Events, productions, sponsors and filmmakers are also promoted through the monthly e-newsletters, which has become a staple in the independent film industry, even getting kudos in the Wall Street Journal's desktop traveler. When going to other festivals, including Sundance, Miami, Austin, Woodstock Film Festival representatives judiciously get the word out through word of mouth, literature and advertising. (Visit e-newsletters)

Special events, such as screenings, productions and workshops, take place year-round in NYC, Albany, and across the Hudson Valley. Special screenings have included films like We are What We Are, The Brass Tea Pot, Dear Governor Cuomo, Francine, Rhymes With Banana, Taking Woodstock, Adam, The Cake Eaters, Against the Current, Body of War, The Painted Veil, Little Miss Sunshine, The Ballad of Jack & Rose, The Illusionist, and Sherrybaby, to name just a few.

The Hudson Valley Film Commission work has spurred local economic development with productions featuring luminaries including Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Robin Williams, David Strathairn, Melissa Leo, Mary Stuart Masterson, Timothy Hutton, Debbie Harry, Tilda Swinton and others.

Since its inception, the Woodstock Film Festival has been committed to youth and education as a means to positive development, conflict resolution and growth opportunity.

In addition to providing classes and internships for local schools, the Woodstock Film Festival has presented special workshops and seminars designed to stimulate and to provide resources not readily available in the local area. Additionally, local film production opportunities, made available through the Woodstock Film Commission have provided career opportunities.

WFF also presents Career Day at the annual festival. This career day style event allows middle and high school students from the region to learn about filmmaking in one-on-one open exchanges with leading industry members. Past participants have included actors Timothy Hutton and Lori Singer (Footloose), United Artists president, late producer Bingham Ray; Academy Award winners cinematographer Haskell Wexler (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), composer Elmer Bernstein (To Kill a Mockingbird), documentary filmmaker Leon Gast (When We Were Kings), filmmaker Brett Morgen (On the Ropes), screenwriter Zachary Sklar (JFK); and Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia); and other representatives from diverse fields including casting, editing, producing, and more.

In addition to providing these outstanding opportunities for students interested in film and media, the WFF screens films by high school students as part of the festival's Youth Initiative. For additional info, visit the Youth Initiative.

The Hudson Valley Film Commission is fully prepared to act as a conduit for preproduction, production, and postproduction for filmmaking in the Hudson Valley and Catskill region. HVFC attracts filmmakers from around the world to the region and provides support throughout the year to studio features, independent features, print, new media, short films, and television shows and ads.

Films that have been shot locally include Rhymes With Banana, First Winter, Francine, We Are Who We Are, Michael Clayton, War of the Worlds, American Gangster, Peace, Love & Misunderstanding, Rocksteady, Bitter Feast, Whisper Me a Lullaby, The Cake Eaters, Stephanie Daley, Racing Daylight, The Northern Kingdom, The Thing About My Folks (starring Paul Reiser and Peter Falk), Down to the Bone (2004 Sundance Award Winner, 2004 Woodstock Film Festival Winner), Patch (starring Melissa Leo and Deborah Harry), Personal Velocity (2002 Sundance Award winner), Wendigo, Pagans, and many more.

For more info, visit www.hudsonvalleyfilmcommission.org