Woodstock Film Festival 2010 Preview

Return to the Fantasy Factory

by Jay Blotcher, August 27, 2010

That orgy of cool, the Woodstock Film Festival, returns later this month for five days of exhilarating but calculated excess: 150 films, concerts, panels, and parties throughout the region. Anchored by its commitment to indie films, music, and progressive politics, the annual event has become an autumn tradition: For a few days, the tie-dyed local flower child gets to wear high-priced shades and strut about like a Hollywood insider.

To commemorate the 11th year of this Mid-Hudson Valley tradition, Chronogram has expanded its special preview coverage of WFF. Festival co-founder Meira Blaustein is quizzed about how she makes this low-budget event fly by the seat of its pants and still makes it soar. The men behind three WFF films with local connections are interviewed. Also interviewed is director Bruce Beresford, recipient of the 2010 Maverick Award, who recently set up camp in our backyard for a film starring Jane Fonda and Catherine Keener.

While everyone else has been romping in the summer sun, I have again eschewed daylight for a marathon screening of new films slated for the festival schedule. Traditionally, the opening and closing night films are not made available to me in advance. They tend to be big-screen commercial works that will be in your cineplex within a few weeks.

However, I duly absorbed 37 WFF feature films in 40 days. This was the number made available to me. (To be accurate, I was actually loaned 40 films. However, an Israeli narrative film was pulled from competition after I had screened it and two additional narrative films were screened past deadline.)

My reviews are intentionally idiosyncratic, perhaps even, at times, cranky or combative. They should not dissuade someone from viewing a film. Rather, I welcome a dissenting view. Spirited disagreement is healthy for the film community.

If you place any store by my taste, then you will want to head to www.chronogram.com for companion WFF coverage. There, I have named the WFF films that I feel deserve the title of Best Documentary and Best Narrative Film. (To see if the Festival judges are as sober and discerning as I, be sure to attend the WFF Awards ceremony on Saturday, October 2 at Backstage Studio Productions in Kingston.)
The Woodstock Film Festival runs September 29-October 3, 2010. For schedules for films, panels, concerts, and special events, as well as for ticket orders:
www.woodstockfilmfestival.com; (845) 679-4265.