Monday, October 9----Veteran documentary director Barbara Kopple will be honored with the Maverick Award at the Woodstock Film Festival, which opens on Thursday. She will be honored at a special Awards Ceremony on Saturday evening, with actress-turned-documentarian Rosie Perez giving Kopple her award honors. Perez co-directed her first documentary film this year, the autobiographical I'M BORICUA, JUST SO YOU KNOW!

Rosie Perez

Kopple, a double Oscar winner for her films HARLAN COUNTRY USA and AMERICAN DREAM, will also be presenting her latest film at the Festival, THE DIXIE CHICKS: SHUT UP AND SING. The film closes the Festival next Sunday evening.

The Dixie Chicks In Concert

Other important work in her career includes the films FALLEN CHAMP: THE UNTOLD STORY OF MIKE TYSON, AMERICAN STANDOFF and WINTER SOLDIER. Kopple is also being honored for her television work, which includes THE HAMPTONS, A CONVERSATION WITH GREGORY PECK and episodes of the series OZ and HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET. Her recent film portrait of the reclusive Woody Allen in the well-received WILD MAN BLUES, was a career highlight.

Woody Allen and Barbara Kopple

Past recipients of the Woodstock Film Festival’s Honorary Maverick Award include Steve Buscemi, Woody Harrelson, Tim Robbins, D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, Les Blank, and Mira Nair.

Kopple has won a slew of awards over her thirty year career, including the Human Rights Watch Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Award, National Society of Film Critics Award, the SilverDocs/Charles Guggenheim Award, New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award, the Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Award, and the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, Filmmakers Trophy & Audience Award. Ms. Kopple currently serves as a board member for the American Film Institute and the American University Center for Social Media, and actively participates in organizations that address social issues and support independent filmmaking.

Meira Blaustein, Woodstock Film Festival executive director and co-founder said, “The Maverick Award was derived from its symbolic meaning to the Woodstock arts colony, representing an individual whose life and work is based on creativity, independent vision, and social activism. Barbara Kopple has made a tremendous contribution to the filmmaking community that she influences, to the audiences who appreciate her work and to the many individuals whose lives are directly touched by her vision.