The Woodstock Film Festival is happening September 27 - October 1, 2023. This is the 24th annual and the festival poster by Bill Plympton reads Fiercely Independent. The festival is to be presented at venues throughout the bucolic Hudson Valley towns of Woodstock, Rosendale and Saugerties, and online.
This year's Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to renowned filmmaker James Ivory. Ivory was the directing partner with the legendary producer Ismail Merchant in their independent company Merchant Ivory Productions. In the forty-eight years, they worked together as a team, usually accompanied by the writer and novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala; they created 28 feature films, including the classics A Room With a View, Maurice, Howards End, and The Remains of the Day. Ivory also wrote the screenplay for Call Me By Your Name, for which he received an Academy Award in 2018. A tribute screening of Ivory's film, The City of Your Final Destination, will take place on Saturday, September 30, followed by a conversation with Ivory and novelist Peter Cameron.
OPENING NIGHT FILM:
FAIR PLAY by Chloe Domont | Starring Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan. Emily and Luke's relationship is pushed to the brink when a new promotion at their financial firm causes challenges both in and out of the office. As the power dynamics shift, they're left to face the price of success and the limits of ambition.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM:
FINESTKIND by Brian Helgeland | Starring Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Tommy Lee Jones. Finestkind tells the story of two half-brothers (Ben Foster and Toby Wallace), raised in different worlds, who are reunited as adults over a fateful summer.
SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDE: James Ivory, Sofia Coppola, Steve Buscemi, Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Imperioli, Matthew Modine, Tim Blake Nelson, Brittany Snow, Mary Stuart Masterson, Thomas Sadoski, Ondi Timoner, Victor Nunez, Ramin Bahrani, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Kristi Jacobson, Barbara Kopple, Pawo Choyning Dorji, Sheila Nevins, and Neil Gaiman.
A unique addition will be live musical performances to follow 8 films. Look for diverse panels, and most films having filmmaker Q&A sessions after films.
THE FOLLOWING EVENTS ARE STANDBY ONLY:
ACTORS WHO DIRECT at Broken Wing Barn at White Feather Farm on Oct 1, 2023, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
HUDSY - Shorts at Woodstock Community Center on Oct 1, 2023, 10:00 AM - 12:05 PM
With Peter Bradley & Javon Jackson Jazz Performance at Upstate Films (Saugerties): Orpheum Theatre 1 on Sep 29, 2023, 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Tickets may be available via the standby line. For standby tickets, please arrive 30 minutes before the start of the event. Standby tickets will be released 5 minutes before showtime.