Celebrating it’s 6th year Wednesday, September 28th through Sunday, October 2nd, this years’ Woodstock Film Festival program will include a collection of over 150 films, panels, concerts and special events in Woodstock, NY and the neighboring towns of Rhinebeck, Hunter and Rosendale.
The roster of international films includes eight (8) world premieres, twelve (12) U.S. premieres, four (4) East Coast premieres and twenty-four (24) New York premieres. There was a 33% increase in submissions this year, including a substantial increase in world cinema and music oriented entries, bringing the total number close to 1500. Participating industry leaders include Picturehouse, THINKFilm, The Weinstein Company, Warner Bros., Roadside Attractions, Magnolia Pictures, IFC Films, Wellspring Media, Zeitgeist, Apple Corps., 7th Floor, Emerging Pictures and IDP. Attendance has been steadily growing over the past few years, with over 10,000 visitors expected this year throughout the five-day span of this year’s festival.
Opening Night Films: There are two simultaneous opening night films. On Wednesday, September 28th, the US Premeire of “Winter Passing,” written and directed by first time feature director Adam Rapp and starring Zooey Deschanel, Will Ferrell, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, will screen at Woodstock’s Tinker Street Theatre at 7:30 PM. The film follows actress Reese Holden (Deschanel) who has been offered a small fortune by a book editor if she can secure for publication the love letters that her father (Harris), a reclusive novelist, wrote to her mother, who has since passed away. Returning to Michigan, Reese finds that an ex-grad student and a would-be musician (Ferrell) have moved in with her father, who now cares more about his new friends than he does about his own health and well-being.
“Dead Man’s Shoes,” written and directed by Shane Meadows (“24 7: Twenty Four Seven,” “Once Upon a Time in the Midlands”) which will screen at Upstate Films Theatre in Rhinebeck at 7:00 PM, is a thriller starring Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Jo Hartley and Seamus O’Neill, “Dead Man’s Shoes” is a genre-defying film blending horror, supernatural elements, comedy, and social realism. Set in a Midlands village, it explores the underbelly of contemporary rural Britain in communities where crime is unchecked and drugs, intimidation, and power games are blandly accepted as the fabric of daily life.
Closing Night Films: The festival has two featured closing night films. Lonesome Jim, directed by Steve Buscemi and starring Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Mary Kay Place and Seymour Cassel will screen on Sunday, October 2nd at 4:30 PM at Woodstock’s Bearsville Theatre. Casey Affleck plays Jim, a young man who, after deciding he can’t make it on his won, moves back to his hometown in Indiana – under his parents’ roof. He’s saved from his family’s dysfunction by a local woman and her son.
Director Atom Egoyn’s “Where The Truth Lies” which stars Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth will also close the festival by screening its US Premiere on Sunday, October 2nd at 6:00 PM at Woodstock’s Tinker Street Theatre. The film, from ThinkFilm and Serendipity and based on the novel by Rupert Holmes, is a surprising, suspenseful whodunit that explores – and explodes – 1950’s Hollywood’s mythmaking machine. Bacon and Firth portray Lanny Morris (Bacon) and Vince Collins (Firth), the most beloved entertainers in America. That is, until a dead beauty turns up in their hotel suite and threatens their success.
Centerpiece Film: Directed by Lajos Koltai (“Being Julia”) “Fateless” (the HIgarian nominee for the 2006 Oscars) is a historical drama based on Nobel laureate Imre Kertesz’s novel about Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. The 2005 Woodstock Film Festival will present the US Premiere of this film on Saturday, October 1st at 8:45 PM at Woodstock’s Tinker Street Theatre.
NARRATIVE FEATURES:
212 Directed by Anthony Ng ^ “Automatic” Directed by Jonathon Walls ^ Cavite Directed by Neil Dela Llana and Ian Gazon ^ “Dead Man’s Shoes” Directed by Shane Meadows ^ “Duane Hopwood” Directed by Matt Mulhern ^ “Fateless” Directed by Lajos Koltai ^ “Lonesome Jim” Directed by Steve Buscemi ^ Mutual Appreciation Directed by Andrew Bujalski ^ “My Tiny Universe” Directed by Glen Scantlebury and Lucy Phillips ^ “Nine Lives” Directed by Rodrigo Garcia ^ “Police Beat” Directed by Robinson Devor, The Puffy Chair Directed by Jay Duplass ^ “Room” Directed by Kyle Henry ^ The Roost Directed by Ti West ^ “Runaway” Directed by Tim McCann ^ “Somersault” Directed by Cate Shorland ^ Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2 Directed by William Greaves ^ Tennis Anyone…? Directed by Donal Logue ^ “Transamerica” Directed by Duncan Tucker ^ “Ushpizin” Directed by Gidi Dar ^ and “Winter Passing Directed by Adam Rapp
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES:
“The American Ruling Class” Directed by John Kirby ^ “Anytown USA” Directed by Kristian Fraga ^ “Be Here To Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt Directed by Margaret Brown ^ The Boys of Baraka Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady ^ “Bruce & Me” Directed by Oren Siedler ^ “The Devil’s Miner” Directed by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani ^ “Favela Rising” Directed by Matt Mochary ^ “Instrumental” Directed by Gabriel Shalom ^ “Learning to Swallow” Directed by Danielle Beverly ^ “Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream Directed by Stuart Samuels ^ New York Doll Directed by Greg Whiteley ^ Our Brand is Crisis Directed by Rachel Boynton ^ “The Outsider” Directed by Nick Jarecki ^ “Press On” Directed by Gillian Grisman ^ Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic Directed by Liam Lynch ^ Shakespeare Behind Bars Directed by Hank Rogerson ^ “State of Fear” Directed by Pamela Yates ^ “Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth” Directed by Philip Di Fiore ^ “Zizek” Directed by Astra Taylor
For more info, visit the Woodstock Film Festival website.
