Woodstock Film Festival
Audience Award Winners Announced for Woodstock FF
Wednesday, October 18----The 7th Woodstock Film Festival, which wrapped this past Sunday, has announced its Audience Award winners for this year. Two virtual ties for the 2006 Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary saw the awards go to four films instead of two this year.
The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature was shared by AFTER THE WEDDING, a Danish film that was the Festival's Centerpiece Film and FORGIVENESS, an Israeli film by Udi Aloni.
AFTER THE WEDDING is the latest film from director Susanne Bier, the respected helmer of such international arthouse hits as OPEN HEARTS and BROTHERS. It follows the fictional story of Jacob Petersen, who has dedicated his life to helping street children in India. When the orphanage he heads is threatened by closure, he receives an unusual offer. A Danish businessman offers him a donation of $4 million dollars, under the condition that he take part in the wedding of the businessman's daughter. The film, which has been chosen as Denmark's Official Entry for the 2007 Academy Awards, is to be distributed by IFC Films.
AFTER THE WEDDING
FORGIVENESS, by Israeli director Udi Aloni, is the story of one man's attempt to come to terms with guilt and grief in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The story centers on a catatonic patient in a Israeli mental institution, who is consumed by guilt over the shooting of a young Palestinian girl when he was in the Israeli Army. The film follows the former soldier as he confronts his guilt after he returns to his normal life. Israeli actor Itay Tiran gives an emotionally devastating performance, for which he was nominated as Best Actor at the Israeli Film Academy Awards.
FORGIVENESS
Two documentary films shared the Audience Award prize. SHUT UP AND SING by director Barbara Kopple (recipient of this year's Maverick Award) covers the recent career of the country/western group The Dixie Chicks, who went from national darlings to national pariahs when lead singer Natalie Maines made an infamous anti-Bush comment at a concert in London in 2003. The fallout from that controversy plus the group's desire to break free of the artistic restrictions of the traditional country/western format, makes for compelling viewing. The film will be released theatrically later this month by the Weinstein Company, and seems a leading contender for Best Documentary Oscar honors next year.
The Dixie Chicks In Concert
The second winner was the (...)
Woodstock FF Announces Maverick Awards
Best Documentary Winner BEYOND ERUV
Sunday, October 15---The "fiercely independent" Woodstock Film Festival announced the winners of its Maverick Awards at a special ceremony on Saturday evening at the Colony Cafe. Eleven awards were given out to films in competition, as well as special tribute awards to distinguished honorees.
The Maverick Award for Best Feature Film was awarded to director Julia Loktev, for her provocative DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT. The film tells the story of a 19-year old girl, who conspires with three masked men, as they prepare her for a suicide mission. The men tell her precisely what to do, how to do it and then drop her off in the middle of New York City's Times Square with a bomb strapped to her back.
DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT
The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Prix Regards Jeune in the Directors' Fortnight section. It has since been screened to great acclaim at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. At the moment, the film does not have a distributor, but this and other awards may help it find interest from an arthouse company.
An Honorable Mention was given to the film SWEDISH AUTO, directed by Derek Sieg and starring Lukas Haas. Jurors for the Best Narrative prize included film critic John Anderson, IFC Entertainment VP of Acquisitions Arianna Bocco and veteran film executive Bingham Ray.
SWEDISH AUTO
The compelling BEYOND ERUV, directed by John Mounier, won the Festival's Maverick Award for Best Feature Documentary. The film examines the life of a young Hasidic man who's chosen to leave behind the only world he's known, the ultra-orthodox community. The film is, at its heart, about transformation and the challenges that Moshe faces as he departs from his familiar community and enters into an unknown world and culture, a secular society. Documentary competition jurors included IndieWire editor in chief Eugene Hernandez, director Rachel Grady and film executive Molly Thompson.
BEYOND ERUV
Two short films were winners. UNIVERSAL MOVEMENT MACHINE: MESHELL MELVIN, directed by Kirby Hammond, won the top prize for Best Documentary Short. THE SHOVEL, directed by Nick Childs, won top honors as Best Short Narrative.
The Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography went to David Morrison (...)
Professional Seminars Bring Industry Pros to Woodstock
Saturday, October 14----Aside from all the films, the parties, the music concerts and other special events, the Woodstock Film Festival offers local filmmakers and visiting film talents an intensive education on all aspects of the filmmaking and distribution process through an exhaustive series of professional seminars. Drawing mainly on film executives, film critics and film mavens from Manhattan (only 100 miles to the south), the Festival offers a rare opportunity to get the lowdown on the state-of-the-art in independent filmmaking, without having to go to film school.
Friday's panels kicked things off with a session on Entertainment Law, which featured respected attornies Andrew Hurwitz, Ira Schrek, Steven Beer and Robert Seigel. IndieWire editor-in-chief Eugene Hernandez then led a lively discussion on the art of producing, with a host of prolific producers, including Jason Kliot (CHUCK AND BUCK, BUBBLE), Peter Saraf (AFFLICTION, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) and Scott McCauley (RAISING VICTOR VARGAS, SAVING FACE).
Today's panel series includes a BMI-sponsored look at the legal and creative uses of music in film and a high powered panel of women executives who examine the changing opportunities for women both behind and in front of the camera. Leading the discussion is film critic Thelma Adams,who welcomed fellow film critic Karen Durbin, producer Diane Weyerman and talent agent Arianna Bocco.
Film editors are often the behind the scenes miracle workers who can turn a promising project into an accomplished piece of work. Their role and the art of film editing is explored with a panel that includes such accomplished cutters as Craig McKay (REDS, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), Susan Litttenberg (13 GOING ON 30), Brian Kates (SHORTBUS, LACKAWANNA BLUES), James Lyons (FAR FROM HEAVEN, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES), Suzy Elmiger (BIG NIGHT, SHORT CUTS) and Sabine Hoffman (PERSONAL VELOCITY, THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE).
A discussion on the current state of distribution and the challenges of releasing independent films is the focus of a pnael this afternoon led by film critic John Anderson. Panelists include industry executive Bingham Ray, entertainment attorney John Sloss, producer Lemore Syvan (SHERRY BABY) and director Allen Coulter (HOLLYWOODLAND).
An intimate look at the fine art of acting will be held on Sunday morning, with Academy Award winner Timothy Hutton (ORDINARY PEOPLE) and Oscar nominee David Strathairn (GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK) leading the discussion.
In the small town atmosphere of Woodstock, one never knows if the person you are standing next to on a movie or capuccino line may be the one who can turn your film dream into a film reality. Such is the alchemy of film festivals......
Sandy Mandelberger
Festivals Director
THE MITCH SHOW mixes film and comedy
Saturday, October 14----One of the more unusual and highly anticipated programs of the Woodstock Film Festival will be tonight's special event, THE MITCH SHOW, a retrospective of comedic short films spanning the oeuvre of Hollywood-based filmmaker Mitchell Rose. The program includes several audience-participation segments, humorous performance pieces and short comic gems by this professional wisenheimer.
Highlights of the program include MODERN DAYDREAMS, a suite of four Chaplinesque films that see a man and a 22-ton John Deere excavator dance a dance of discovery, fulfillment, and eventually, loss; ELEVATOR WORLD, an essay on the spatial politics of elevator riding; and CASE STUDIES FROM THE GROAT CENTER FOR SLEEP DISORDERS, a hilarious faux-scientific investigation of sleep disorder that features "rare" archival footage from the renowned (but fictitious) clinic of the same name.
Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Rose was a New York-based performance artist. The New York Times has called him "a rare and wonderful talent ... Woody Allen, with more than a dash of Abbie Hoffman thrown in." His mix of comedy, pathos with a hint of social criticism is reminiscent of the works of Chaplin, Keaton and Tati.
Sandy Mandelberger
Festivals Editor
Friday Highlights At Woodstock Film Festival
Friday, October 13----With the fall foliage in full regalia, the town of Woodstock, nestled in the Catskill Mountains region of New York State, is in full flower (of reds, oranges and greens). The Woodstock Film Festival, which opened last evening, adds even more color as it unspools a group of provocative films.
Friday highlights have included the North American Premiere of the Canadian drama STEEL TOES, a provocative legal drama starring Academy Award nominee David Straithairn, who plays a Jewish lawyer who is chosen to defend a teenage skinhead who has killed an Indian man in a vicious hate crime. Based on the stage play by David Gow, which has been a success internationally, the film delves into the emotions behind racism and the meeting of minds between the guilt ridden lawyer and the tough and troubled youth.
David Strathairn
Screening as an East Coast Premiere is the Sundance sleeper FLANNEL PAJAMAS, directed by distributor turned filmmaker Jeff Lipsky. The film tells the truthful tale of a marriage that goes sour, despite its promising beginnings. Shot entirely in New York, and evoking relationship films from Woody Allen, Robert Benton and others, the film is being released theatrically later this year.
Two documentary films are making their East Coast premieres at the Festival. TALES OF THE RAT FINK is the story behind the legendary animator who created the anarchic character of "Rat Fink", a television staple of the 1960s, with actor John Goodman providing the voice for Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.
UNAUTHORIZED AND PROUD OF IT is the chronicle of Todd Loren, the publisher of unauthorized comic book biographies of rock stars. Among the famous faces featured in the film is proto rocker Alice Cooper.
Rock music is, of course, synonymous with the Woodstock ethos. To honor those roots, the Festival is presenting a number of live concert events. This evening, New York group The Rosewood Thieves rocked the house with their rhythmic house music.
Things are just getting started at the Woodstock Film Festival, which runs through Sunday.
Sandy Mandelberger
Festivals Editor
Interview with Festival Director Meira Blaustein
Meira Blaustein
Thurday, October 12----As the 7th annual Woodstock Film Festival kicks into gear this evening with the avant premiere of Douglas McGrath’s INFAMOUS, Festivals Editor Sandy Mandelberger sat down with Festival Director Meira Blaustein to get her thoughts on this year’s edition.
Sandy Mandelberger (SM): What is new this year that you might be experimenting with?
Meira Blaustein: Most of the new elements are more of the inner structure and perhaps not so visible. In terms of the programming, the quality is getting much better and the audience interest is peaking, not only for the bigger films but also for the specialty films that we are showing.
SM: You were able to get some advance premieres from distributors. Are you finding that more films that already have distribution are coming to the Festival before they open?
MB: We are developing closer relationships with the independent distributors, from Miramax to Focus Features to Fox Searchlight, both during the Festival and for programming during the year. Our relationship is growing with all those companies and it is very important to have those films included. However, our reputation as being a “fiercely independent
Jonathan Sehring Of IFC Entertainment To Be Honored
Jonathan Sehring
Wedneday, October 11---Jonathan Sehring, the President of IFC Entertainment and a longtime supporter of the independent film movement, will be honored at the Woodstock Film Festival with this year's Trailblazer Award. Sehring will receive the award from Oscar-nominated actor Matt Dillon, the star of IFC Films' FACTOTUM, at a special Awards Ceremony on Saturday evening.
Matt Dillon
Sehring has been a prime mover in the contemporary renaissance of American independent film. Via the Independent Film Channel, a nationwide cable television network that presents original programming and the best in indie films totally uncut and uninterrupted by commercials, and IFC Films, a producer and distributor of quality independent and international features and documentaries, Sehring's independent labels have brought many thrilling films to the screen, both large and small.
Sehring is one of the most well-respected film executives in New York and considered a maverick among his peers for his innovative ways of bringing independent films to a larger audience. With the cable network, production and distribution arms, and now the IFC Film Center, a state-of-the-art three screen complex in lower Manhattan, Sehring is expanding the possibilities for indie films to reach a broader public.
Jonathan Sehring At IFC Film Center
IFC is also one of the leaders in the new strategy of day-and-date openings of films in both theaters and on television. Via the new distribution label IFC FIRST TAKE, selected films are available both theatrically and on demand television, a revolutionary new approach that is counter to the industry's long held tiering system. It remains controversial, but so far has increased the visibility and box office takes of films that may have floundered otherwise.
Since its creation in 1997, IFC Entertainment has been a leader in the independent film world, producing and distributing such groundbreaking films as MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, the Oscar winner BOYS DON'T CRY and international film hits including Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, MONSOON WEDDING and TOUCHING THE VOID.
The company has hit box office gold with the recent films FAHRENHEIT 911, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW and TRANSAMERICA. Sehring has hmself executive produced more than 20 feature films in the past 10 years, including such well regarded works as BOY'S DON'T CRY, GIRLFIGHT, MEN WITH GUNS, WAKING LIFE, MONSOON WEDDING, PERSONAL VELOCITY and ME AND YO (...)
Barbara Kopple To Receive Maverick Award
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 meanin (...)
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AFTER THE WEDDING is Festival Centerpiece
Saturday, October 7----The Woodstock Film Festival, which opens this coming Thursday, has announced that its Centerpiece Film will be the latest work from acclaimed Danish director Susanne Bier. AFTER THE WEDDING will be screened as a US Premiere on Saturday evening, October 14 at the Tinker Street Cinema. The film will be released later this year by arthouse distributor IFC Films.
The film tells the story of Jacob Petersen, a man who has dedicated his life to helping street children in India. When the orphanage he heads is threatened by closure, he receives an unusual offer. A Danish businessman named Jørgen offers him a donation of $4 million dollars. There are, however, certain conditions... Not only must Jacob return to Denmark, he must also take part in the wedding of Jørgen's daughter. The wedding proves to be a critical juncture between past and future and catapults Jacob into the most intense dilemma of his life. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Rolf Lassgård.
Susanne Bier, a diverse director who has helmed a mixture of feature films, shorts, music videos and commercials, is best known in the US as the director of OPEN HEARTS(2002), one of the celebrated Dogma films, and BROTHERS (2004), an intense family drama that won several international awards, including a European Film Award.
Susanne Bier at Sundance FF
AFTER THE WEDDING has been a box office sensation in its native Denmark and had its international premiere last month at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film reunites Bier with scripter Anders Thomas Jensen, with whom she collaborated on both OPEN HEARTS and BROTHERS, and lead actor Mikkelson, who also starred in OPEN HEARTS.
"AFTER THE WEDDING is already living up to Beir's other films and is gaining critical acclaim as an international audience favorite", Meira Blaustein, executive director of the Woodstock Film Festival exclaimed. "We’re pleased that the Woodstock Film Festival will be the first in the US to present this amazing film.
INFAMOUS to open Woodstock Film Festival
Friday, October 6----The Woodstock Film Festival will open next Thursday with the East Coast Premiere of the docudrama INFAMOUS, the highly ancticipated biopic of legendary writer Truman Capote.
The film, which stars British actor Toby Jones in a remarkable incarnation of the capricious Capote, was written and directed by UK director Douglas McGrath (NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, EMMA). The film, which also stars Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Peter Bogdanovich, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isabella Rossellini, Juliet Stevenson and Sigourney Weaver, opens theatrically the following day.
The film obviously represents a marketing challenge for distributor Warner Independent Pictures. Coming on the heels of last year's CAPOTE, which won an Oscar for actor Seymour Philip Hoffman, the film has the added onus of convincing audiences to revisit the Capote story, particularly the events surrounding the creation of the landmark "true fiction" IN COLD BLOOD.
Daniel Craig as one of the killers
The film, which was presented to great acclaim at the Venice, Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, differs from its predecessor by spending more screen time on Capote's forays through the elegant circles of Manhattan's sophisticated café society, as well as his strong intellectual and sexual interest in the murderers sentenced to death for the murder of a Kansas family.
Toby Jones and Sigourney Weaver
Based on George Plimpton's book "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career," the film offers a host of actors the chance to play famous Manhattanites who were part of Capote's orbit.
These cameos include Juliet Stevenson as fashion diva Diana Vreeland, Sigourney Weaver as socialite Babe Paley, Isabella Rossellini as heiress Marella Agnelli, Peter Bogdanovich as book editor Bennett Cerf and Hope Davis as Hollywood grande dame Slim Keith (Mrs. Howard Hawks). Also a standout is Gwyneth Paltrow as a sultry singer named Kitty Dean, obviously modeled on the legendary Peggy Lee.
Toby Jones And Isabella Rossellini
Sandra Bullock, acting against type as fellow writer Harper Lee, is getting some of the best reviews of her career for her understated performance in the film. Predictions are rife that the role, which has her dressed in drab clothes a (...)
Fiercely Independent Woodstock FF Launches 7th Edition
The Hippie Ethos In Woodstock, New York
Thursday, October 5---The town of Woodstock, New York, set in the majestic Catskill Mountain region of New York's Hudson Valley, is often confused with the famous rock concert that defined the 1960s. The actual Woodstock Music and Arts Festival happened 30 miles away in Bethel, NY. However, the modern Woodstock is a place where millionaires, artists, bohemians and left-over hippies rub shoulders in an eclectic atmosphere of individualism, personal expression and tolerance.
This is the perfect setting for the Woodstock Film Festival, which proudly displays its moniker of being "fiercely independent". The Festival begins next week on October 11th and runs through October 15th.For its seventh annual event, the jam-packed 5-day marathon has its most ambitious program to date....150 films, numerous information panels featuring industry big-wigs, a series of musical concerts, as well as several key special events. Films will be screened in the historic town of Woodstock, one of the jewels of the Hudson Valley region, as well as in the neighborhood towns of Rhinebeck, Hunter and Rosendale.
Over the years, the Woodstock Film Festival has established itself as one of the best independent film events in the country by premiering exceptional films, hosting the most talented emerging and established professionals in the movie industry, presenting A-list concerts, parties and panels, and creating innovative and stimulating programming year-round.
Last Year's Film Poster
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