2005 Woodstock Film Festival Maverick Awards

Honorary Maverick Award

WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL HONORS INDIE ICON STEVE BUSCEMI
AS THE 2005 MAVERICK AWARD RECIPIENT

MAV-ER-ICK, adj. 1. Being independent in thought and action or exhibiting such independence. 2. One who refuses to abide by the dictate of a group.

(Woodstock, New York) August 31, 2005 – The 2005 Woodstock Film Festival, celebrating its sixth year September 28 through October 2, today announced that its annual Honorary Maverick Award will be presented to independent film’s most admired actor/director STEVE BUSCEMI.

“The Maverick has long been a symbol of the Woodstock arts colony, representing an individual whose life and work is based on creativity, independent vision, and social activism,” said Woodstock Film Festival Director and Co-founder Meira Blaustein. “We are so proud to honor the work of STEVE BUSCEMI. His unique, risk-taking approach to acting, directing, and producing, coupled with his long time commitment to socially relevant issues, makes him the perfect candidate for our Maverick.”

Having starred in more than eighty (80) feature films, most of which have been independent, Steve Buscemi is one of the most recognizable and impressionable faces in independent film. Buscemi has starred in The Coen Brothers’ “Barton Fink,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “Fargo,” and “The Big Lebowski,” Quentin Tarentino’s “Reservoir Dogs“ and “Pulp Fiction,” Woody Allen’s “New York Stories,” and cult hits such as “Living In Oblivion,” “Things To Do in Denver When You’re Dead,” and his feature directing debut “Trees Lounge.” Steve Buscemi directed the feature “Lonesome Jim,” which stars Liv Tyler, Ed Harris, and Amy Madigan and which will close the 2005 Woodstock Film Festival on Sunday, October 2. The film “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm,” which Buscemi produced and appears in, will screen at the festival on Friday, September 30.

Trailblazer Award

SLOSS TO RECEIVE
INAUGURAL TRAILBLAZER AWARD AT
2005 WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL

/Trail-blaz-er /: an innovative leader in a field; a pioneer

/John-Sloss /: a trailblazing visionary in film creativity, film business and film iconography

(Woodstock, New York) August 15, 2005 — The 6th Annual Woodstock Film Festival(September 28th through October 2nd), announced today that its inaugural Trailblazer Award will be presented to groundbreaking entertainment attorney/executive producer John Sloss.

“We are thrilled to present John Sloss with The Woodstock Film Festival’s inaugural Trailblazer Award. Mr. Sloss embodies the essence of the Award which is designed to honor a distinguished industry member who, through his pioneering approach, has carved new and uncharted territories in the film world,” said WFF executive director and co-founder Meira Blaustein. “To give this award to someone on the legal and business side of filmmaking says a tremendous amount about his out of the box, forward thinking.”

“I am humbled by this honor. People who do what we do are unaccustomed to having a light thrown on their efforts. Nevertheless, I feel this work is essential, and it is my hope that all of those who toil to assemble financing for films will feel ennobled by this recognition. I look forward to a wonderful weekend upstate.”

John Sloss is the principal in Sloss Law Office and a founder of Cinetic Media, a consulting firm specializing in the entertainment and media industries. He is also a partner in Independent Digital Entertainment (InDigEnt), an innovative production company dedicated to making digital features in collaboration with established filmmakers and actors.

Mr. Sloss has served as executive producer for more than 40 feature films, including “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset,” “Waking Life,” “Far from Heaven,” the Academy Award winning “The Fog of War,” “Tadpole,” “Session 9,” “Lone Star,” and “She’s the One.” He has orchestrated several of the most notable distribution deals in the last decade, including “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Super Size Me,” “Control Room,”“Capturing the Friedmans,” and “The Station Agent.” Films executive produced by Sloss in association with InDigEnt, the production company he is partnered in with filmmaker Gary Winick, include Campbell Scott’s “Final,” Ethan Hawke’s “Chelsea Walls,” Gary Winick’s Tadpole,“ Rebecca Miller’s “Personal Velocity,” which won the Grand Jury Prize and the Cinematography Award at Sundance 2002, Greg Harrison’s “November,” which won the Cinematography Awards at Sundance 2002 and “Pieces of April,” which earned Patricia Clarkson a Golden Globe nomination. Soon to be released InDigEnt titles are, Alan Taylor’s “Kill the Poor,” Mark Christopher’s “Pizza,” and Wim Wenders’ “Land of Plenty.”