*For Immediate Release*
Woodstock Film Festival Announces Its First Month-Long Filmmakers Residency / Incubator at White Feather Farm
Mentors Include Award-Winning Filmmakers Mira Nair, Matty Rich, Julie Anderson, Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís
Woodstock, NY (March 8th, 2021) The Woodstock Film Festival announced today its inaugural Filmmakers Residency / Incubator Program in collaboration with White Feather Farm Foundation. The residency will be held throughout the month of May 2021 at White Feather Farm’s new residential property in Woodstock, New York, minutes down the road from the organic farm’s operation. It will serve four filmmakers of diverse and underrepresented backgrounds who are in the midst of developing their respective full-length narrative and documentary films, each addressing social justice themes. Organizations including Film Fatales, Sundance Co//ab, the Jacob Burns Film Center, and individual filmmakers advised on the selection of the residents. This initiative is a natural extension for the Woodstock Film Festival’s long history of supporting and nurturing independent filmmakers who are passionate about socially relevant storytelling. Each project will fit within the mission of the residency of artistic vision and social responsibility, resting upon four pillars:
Racism
Climate Change
Food Insecurity
Immigration
"This initiative has been a long time coming given the Woodstock Film Festival's history of championing visionary storytellers who strive to make our world a better place," said Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder and Executive Director Meira Blaustein. "We are thankful for the opportunity to bring the fellows, mentors, staff and community at-large together and look forward to seeing these promising filmmakers hone in their creative voices."
Mentors include renowned filmmakers Mira Nair, Julie Anderson, Matty Rich, Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis. The mentors will provide residents with insight, inspiration, knowledge, and guidance towards developing their projects.
Fellows include filmmakers Eunice Lau, Set Hernandez Rongkilyo, Brooke Pepion Swaney and Maba Ba.
Filmmaker and Educator Alex Smith was tapped as the residency's Artistic Director. Editor Sabine Hoffman serves as the residency's Artistic Consultant at Large. Tina Saienni is the residency’s Coordinator. Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder / Executive Director Meira Blaustein is the Founder and Director of the residency. Coordinating on the side of White Feather Farm Foundation are its Executive Director Marc Scheff and Operations Director Elizabeth Cuthbert.
As part of the residency, fellows can partake in a variety of nature-related activities, from working in the fields and greenhouse to taking care of happy chickens, all the while enjoying the literal and figurative fruits of living connected to a working farm.
*Following the residency the fellows will be invited as guests to the 2021 Woodstock Film Festival.
ABOUT THE MENTORS:
Mira Nair is an Academy Award nominated director best known for her visually dense films that pulsate with life. Her debut feature, SALAAM BOMBAY! (1988) won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes, followed by the groundbreaking MISSISSIPPI MASALA, the Golden Globe & Emmy-winning HYSTERICAL BLINDNESS (2001) and the international hit MONSOON WEDDING (2001), for which she was the first woman to win Venice Film Festival’s coveted Golden Lion.
A fiercely independent filmmaker, she then made VANITY FAIR (2004), THE NAMESAKE (2006), THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST (2012), and QUEEN OF KATWE (2016).
Nair's recent limited series for BBC/Netflix is an adaptation of Vikram Seth’s epic tale, A SUITABLE BOY (2020), a sprawling tale of identity and love in a newly independent India. In 2021, Nair will direct the feature film AMRI, on Amrita Sher-Gil, India’s great modernist painter. Future projects include an Amazon Series with Sister Pictures, THE JUNGLE PRINCE OF DELHI. Years in the making, Nair’s MONSOON WEDDING, THE MUSICAL, opens in India, in 2022.
An activist by nature, Nair founded Salaam Baalak Trust for street children in 1989, and the Maisha Film Lab in East Africa to train filmmakers on the continent in 2004. In 2012, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honor.
Highly regarded as one of the pioneers of black filmmakers, Matty Rich burst onto the Hollywood scene in the early 90’s, gaining major recognition as a 19-year-old acclaimed writer/ director/ producer with his award-winning film STRAIGHT OUT OF BROOKLYN. As fate would have it, mega directorJonathan Demme discovered Matty Rich and STRAIGHT OUT OF BROOKLYN during an editing session for SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.
Demme immediately took him under his wing and STRAIGHT OUT OF BROOKLYN went on to be a huge success, winning the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize Award. Samuel Goldwyn Films distributed the movie theatrically. The film would go on to win the Independent Spirit Award, the NAACP Image Award and The Producers Guild Award. Shortly thereafter, Matty was inducted into the Directors Guild of America (DGA) by African American Hollywood icons Sidney Poitier and Bill Duke.
Matty signed a three-picture deal from studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg at Disney where he directed the summer splash, THE INKWELL, which to date is a black film classic. Other credits include development of several television projects including: RED HOOK as writer/creator for Warner Brothers/Fox Network, the Tupac Shakur biopic for HBO, and SUBWAY SCHOLAR with Whitney Houston for Showtime Network to name a few.
Staying true to his pioneering spirit, in the mid 2000s Matty accepted an offer from video game giant Ubisoft to serve as their Creative Director/Artistic Director for the video game 187 Ride or Die. Rich packed his bags and headed for Paris. During this time, Matty traveled back and forth between Hong Kong and Seoul, Korea where he would write and direct cinematics.
Returning to his filmmaking roots, Matty wrote, directed and acted in a 10-minute teaser for his upcoming supernatural television series C-U-R-E. The teaser had a private screening at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and received rave reviews. With the promise to deliver the grittiness that made him famous, Rich recently teamed up with Rapper T.I. to star in his upcoming thriller CALLER 100.
Known for doing his homework, Matty prepared to use his skills in television directing by shadowing director/actor Don Cheadle on an episode of Showtime Network’s HOUSE OF LIES and director Eriq Lasalle on CBS Network’s CSI CYBER. In the middle of all this, with his creative juices flowing, Matty somehow found time to author a civil rights novel titled BEV which was published by Simon & Schuster.
Currently, Matty Rich serves as a screenwriting faculty member for the American Film Institute (AFI) and a writing/directing advisor for the Sundance Film Festival Co//ab online platform.
Julie Anderson is an Academy Award nominated documentary film producer, director and development executive. She has created programming for ESPN, HBO Sports, HBO Documentary Films, PBS, CNN, CBS Sports, ABC Sports and BET.
In 2020, Julie produced a four-part documentary for ESPN’s 30 FOR 30 series, and she executive produced WE ARE THE DREAM for HBO Documentary Films.
Julie was the director of documentary development for HBO Documentary Films and produced the Academy Award nominated documentary GOD IS THE BIGGER ELVIS. She was the Senior Producer for the launches of Emmy award winning magazine shows OUTSIDE THE LINES (ESPN), REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL (HBO) and E:60, (ESPN.)
She was also Executive Producer of Documentary Development at PBS, where she executive produced the Emmy, Peabody and Dupont Journalism award-winning series THE AFRICAN AMERICANS, MANY RIVERS TO CROSS with Henry Louis Gates, as well as Gates’ series FINDING YOUR ROOTS
Pamela Yates is the Creative Director and Paco de Onís is the Executive Director of Skylight, a human rights media not-for-profit that combines cinematic arts with the quest for justice to inspire the defense of human rights.
Their most recent film 500 YEARS had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, launched theatrically, was broadcast on PBS and was chosen to stream world-wide as part of the Amazon Festival Stars program.
At Skylight, Pamela and Paco share their model of catalyzing collaborative networks of artists and activists through the SolidariLabs program. Their current documentary film in production is BORDERLAND.
ABOUT THE RESIDENTS:
As a descendant of immigrants displaced by conflict, Eunice Lau is drawn to stories about the journey of the immigrant and the profundity of hyphenated identities. It’s this inheritance that makes her cognizant of injustice, and her storytelling personal.
Her documentary ACCEPT THE CALL aired on PBS Independent Lens, after screening at premiere festivals such as Human Rights Watch and Woodstock.
Her work is supported by Tribeca Film Institute, ITVS, and Chicken & Egg Pictures. She has been featured in publications including The New York Times, Variety, and Filmmaker Magazine. She received an MFA in Film Directing from New York University.
PROJECT SYNOPSIS:
David Buckel strived to change the world through grassroots composting and created the largest hand-powered compost site in New York City. Nine years later, he committed political self-immolation in the name of climate change. SON OF THE SOIL explores what drove the former civil rights lawyer-turned-environmentalist to the edge, and the legacy he left behind.
Set Hernandez Rongkilyo is an undocumented immigrant filmmaker and community organizer, whose roots come from Bicol, Philippines. As part of the Disruptors Fellowship, Set is developing a TV pilot about the undocumented experience.
They have directed/produced many short documentaries, including the award-winning COVER/AGE (2019) about healthcare expansion for undocumented immigrants. They served as Impact Producer for IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020) by renowned artists Cassils and rafa esparza, and for PJ Raval’s CALL HER GANDA (Tribeca, 2018).
They are the co-founder of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective, which advances equity for undocumented immigrants in the media industry.
PROJECT SYNOPSIS:
UNSEEN is a multi-platform documentary project that follows the story of Pedro, an aspiring social worker who happens to be a blind, undocumented immigrant. Using diegetic sound and experimental cinematography, the “audio-based” film reimagines the accessibility of cinema for audience members that cannot see, while exploring the issues of immigration, disability, and mental health. Beyond the film, the project also has an “audio play” and immersive VR component, in order for it to be as accessible as possible to audiences with disabilities.
Brooke Pepion Swaney works to tell Native stories. Her first feature documentary DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD (Vision Maker Media/CPB) is beginning its festival circuit. Most recently and notably she made the Blacklist’s Inaugural Indigenous List with TINDER ON THE REZ along with her co-writer Angela Tucker.
When not making films, Brooke teaches at the Institute of American Indian Arts in their low-residency MFA screenwriting program. She is an enrolled citizen of the Blackfeet Nation and a Salish descendant of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes. Brooke lives in her homelands with her mom and special needs dog Schoko.
PROJECT SYNOPSIS:
A fed-up tribal cop takes justice into her own hands when her cousin is killed by a pair of white supremacists. She teams up with an unlikely partner - her nerdy cousin. The pair set off to deliver a traditional indigenous sentence against the perpetrators by banishing them from the community. They decide to put the racists on a boat back to Europe, which takes them on a cross country odyssey through other Indigenous communities. But in the end, does she do it or have the idiots learned something, changed and can be forgiven?
Maba Ba is a filmmaker from Senegal. After studies in Computer Science at Old Dominion University, he turned into 3D animation and acting in NYC.
Maba is an actor, producer and writer/director with titles such as #WARGAMES (MGM), CHRISTMAS WEDDING BABY (Netflix) and award winning shorts such as SAMEDI CINEMA (TIFF, Venice) and MEN OR MICE (Urbanworld) to name a few.
His first feature as a producer NAFI’S FATHER won multiple awards including two Golden Leopards at the Locarno Film Festival and was the Senegalese selection for the 2021 Oscars.
PROJECT SYNOPSIS:
Daba, a Muslim agronomist fighting a food shortage crisis in a troubled and volatile country, welcomes back her estranged son, a functioning alcoholic just deported from America. As the country increasingly gets on the cusp to explode into a full on civil war, the newly reunited family must work together to save themselves and the community Daba has grown to call family. But her son is more involved in the orchestrated chaos than she knows.
ABOUT THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
Alex Smith is a screenwriter, filmmaker, fiction writer & educator. He and his twin brother Andrew, premiered their latest feature film, WALKING OUT at the Sundance Film Festival. WALKING OUT stars Golden Globe winner Matt Bomer, Josh Wiggins, Bill Pullman & Lily Gladstone. The film was distributed by IFC Films.
The Smith's also wrote, directed & produced WINTER IN THE BLOOD, a feature film based on the landmark First Nations novel. The film won numerous awards and was screened at the Woodstock Film Festival. They also wrote/directed Sundance darling THE SLAUGHTER RULE, starring Ryan Gosling, David Morse, and Amy Adams.
Alex has, with his brother, written over 15 professional feature film scripts and television pilots for HBO, Warner Brothers, Disney, Sony, FX and more. They adapted the graphic novel, SON OF THE GUN by cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky for Fox Searchlight. They also adapted a Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel for filmmaker Rodrigo Garcia. Alex has worked with Lars Von Trier, Jodie Foster, Robert Redford, Brian De Palma, David O. Russell and adapted Chekhov’s THE DUEL for Terrence Malick.
Alex taught Screenwriting & Filmmaking at Columbia University, NYU/Tisch, the University of Tulsa and the University of Texas, Austin, where he was the Creative Director of the UT Film Institute. He is a current mentor for the Sundance Co//ab online program. Alex is a Michener, Sundance, and Rauschenberg Fellow and is a published writer of fiction. Multiple Nicholl Fellowship/Black List screenwriters count as his students. A resident at the Byrdcliffe Artist Colony, Alex is based in Woodstock, NY.
ABOUT THE ARTISTIC CONSULTANT AT LARGE:
Sabine Hoffman, ACE is a consultant and mentor to Firelight Media, IFP, Tribeca Film and the Sundance Institute and a member of AMPAS. After studying Philosophy, Film and Theater in Berlin, she became an editor of numerous award-winning films over the past 20 years.
Credits include Rebecca Miller’s films THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE, PERSONAL VELOCITY, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE and MAGGIE'S PLAN, as well as collaborations with Kyra Sedgwick, Cherien Dabis, Richard LaGravenese and Jesse Peretz.
Sabine has also edited several documentary films including Academy Award nominated FERRY TALES and served as co-producer on CATCHING THE SUN and CODED BIAS.
Most recently, she completed Julie Taymor's THE GLORIAS (Julianne Moore, Alicia Vicander, Janelle Monae) and Rebecca Hall's PASSING (Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga).
ABOUT WHITE FEATHER FARM:
White Feather Farm is a nonprofit farm located on Mohican and Munsee Lenape land in the Hudson Valley. Their goal is to holistically share sustainable, organic agricultural practices with the community of the Hudson Valley and beyond. The White Feather Farm lands are intentionally and reverently tended, focusing on soil regeneration, cultivating biodiversity, and sequestering atmospheric carbon. They also showcase local, heirloom plants, and provide food security for members of the local community.
White Feather Farm believes that there are ways to farm that accomplish more than simply growing and selling food, and there are ways of creating that go far beyond just making and selling work. Their mission is to be an organization that seeks crucial opportunities to connect and build with people of vastly diverse lived experiences. They also acknowledge that in these spaces there are many voices that have been systematically marginalized, and plan to seek out and support these voices while offering access to their resources.
ABOUT THE WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL:
The Woodstock Film Festival, now in its 22nd year, is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to present an annual program and year-round schedule of film, music, and art-related activities that promote artists, culture, inspired learning, and diversity. Founded in 2000 as a grassroots arts organization driven by the sheer love for film and community, Woodstock has quickly become one of the premiere independent film festivals in the US.
Situated two hours north of New York City at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, the Woodstock Film Festival is a haven for emerging and established filmmakers alike. In addition to the annual film festival, Woodstock also presents a robust slate of year-round programming that includes screenings, industry talks and educational opportunities like the Summer Youth Film Lab and the virtual masterclass series.
The 22nd Woodstock Film Festival will take place September 29th - October 3rd, 2021.