The 24th Annual Woodstock Film Festival Recap
Steve Buscemi & Matthew Modine. PANEL: ACTORS WHO DIRECT. 2023 Woodstock Film Festival. Photo by Jay Ballesteros
The 2023 Woodstock Film Festival unfolded as a celebration of storytelling, creativity, and the art of filmmaking. The festival, wrapping up its 24th year, welcomed cinephiles and industry professionals alike to an immersive experience that transcended the boundaries of traditional cinema.
While it is a treat to celebrate independent cinema as a community for five full days, we look forward to the growth the festival brings each year we operate. Enjoy a recap of this year’s fest, and don’t forget to join us for an even bigger and better event next year for our 25th Anniversary!
As always filmmakers had amazing things to say about this years festival!
“I’ve been coming here for many years and the audiences here are just amazing. The Q&A’s are always so interesting and I love a festival where independent films get showcased and the audiences are interested. It’s great to see independent films up on screen because that’s a rarity now.” — THE LISTENER director, Steve Buscemi
Chelsea Bo and Ava Acres, NO RIGHT WAY, WOODSTOCK PLAYHOUSE 2023. Photo by Caleb Beecher
“My experience at the Woodstock Film Festival was nothing short of magical. Not only does Woodstock curate the most incredible films but I also got to meet and befriend many of the talented filmmakers who championed those films. I loved how every film I attended had a filmmaker there to represent their film. The filmmaker parties were always a great vibe and brimming with great conversations and cool people. One of my favorite memories was the round table with Ted Hope which was the most inspirational and moving lectures I’ve ever attended. Congratulations Meira and the Woodstock team for putting on such an wonderful festival. Independent filmmaking is far from easy and I appreciate the support and recognition your festival gives to independent filmmakers.” — Chelsea Bo (Director, NO RIGHT WAY)
“This thing that we do, all of us, and what we’re celebrating here at the Woodstock Film Festival is something that really has no intrinsic value but is invaluable to our culture. It’s a tool that allows us to be more compassionate and to be more forgiving.” — Mathew Modine, Actor / Filmmaker
SPECIAL EVENTS
Rod Argent & Colin Blunstone, HUNG UP ON A DREAM: THE ZOMBIES DOCUMENTARY PERFORMANCE. 2023 Woodstock Film Festival. Photo by Mike Cheski
True to Woodstock’s rich musical tradition, the Woodstock Film Festival once again highlighted music in film and this year’s lineup featured live exceptional performances from The Zombies, Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Imperioli, Kishi Bashi, Linda Richards, and Emily Sprague. Javon Jackson, the composer of WITH PETER BRADLEY, performed songs from the spectacular jazz score prior to the screening. The Maverick Sextet, featuring Lori Singer on cello, performed a live classical performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op. 4 following the screening of FIORETTA.
“Argent and Blunstone performed a rousing four-song set beginning with a super slowed down and extra bluesy “She’s Not There” and concluding with an extended version of “Time of the Season,” with Argent rolling out long legato solos like a rock-n-roll Art Tatum” - Sal Cataldi, NYS Music
Other special events included the Stronger Together Small Farm Resiliency Fundraiser and Community Gathering which took place after the screening of FEEDING TOMORROW at the beautiful White Feather Farm. The goal of this community gathering was to help raise critical funds to help NY local small-scale farmers. It was an incredible evening of community, delicious local cuisine, storytelling, and reimagining the future of small-scale farming.
MAVERICK AWARDS CEREMONY
For the first time, our Maverick Awards Ceremony took place at SPAF in Saugerties, NY. The evening started off with opening remarks from Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder & Executive Director Meira Blaustein and continued with a glittering cast of filmmakers and prominent industry figures presenting and being honored with awards.
The Gigantic Pictures Award for Best Feature Narrative: RACHEL HENDRIX directed by Victor Nunez
The Leon Gast Award for Best Feature Documentary: BEYOND UTOPIA directed by Madeleine Gavin
World of HA Change-Maker Award: RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE directed by Katja Esson
Gray Schwartz Ultra Indie Award: NO RIGHT WAY directed by Chelsea Bo
For a full list of this year’s Maverick Awards winners click HERE
BEYOND UTOPIA. The Leon Gast Award for Best Feature Documentary. Maverick Awards. 2023 Woodstock Film Festival. Photo by John Mazlish
James Ivory & Matthew Modine. Maverick Awards. 2023 Woodstock Film Festival. Photo by John Mazlish.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to renowned filmmaker James Ivory by actor Matthew Modine and film critic Thelma Adams. 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.
View the full list of jury award winners and nominations here. The entire 2023 Maverick Awards ceremony is also available to watch on our YouTube channel.
2023 Woodstock Film Festival Panels
Panels at the Woodstock Film Festival are often revered by our guests, who love to sit in as prominent industry figures discuss the intricacies of the filmmaking process in the intimate barn setting at White Feather Farm.
In addition to the outstanding lineup of films, the Woodstock Film Festival offers a high-level series of conversations featuring some of the industry's most influential figures covering various topics, all taking place in the bucolic setting of White Feather Farm.
The sold-out panel ACTORS WHO DIRECT with Steve Buscemi and Matthew Modine in a conversation led by Mary Stuart Masterson was a big hit not surprisingly.
Addie Morfoot wrote a great piece in Variety titled Cinetic Media CEO John Sloss Talks Dire Need for Indie Films' Theatrical Distribution about the “Current and Future State of Independent Cinema” panel with Bob Berney, CEO of Picturehouse, John Sloss, founder and CEO of Cinetic Media, and Eugene Hernandez, director of the Sundance Film Festival and head of public programming. The panel was moderated by the award-winning producer of docs and feature films, Wendy Ettinger.
“I have 70 films in my office that pay overages, which is not an insignificant amount. Then Netflix came in and it was really a conflict because they were paying so much money. From everyone’s standpoint, it was like, ‘Do I stick up for the theatrical and all the media and the possibility of making money on the back end and betting on myself, or do I just take this windfall and give it to them for perpetuity?'” — John Sloss
At THE PICKET LINE: A ROAD TO PAY EQUITY AND SUSTAINABILITY Panel Presented by New York Women in Film and Television, panelists Neil Gaiman, Dana Weissman, and Jo Miller in a conversation led by Thelma Adams, discussed how the creative industry has been radically transformed in the last several years due to economic turmoil, advances in digital technology, and production efficiencies. Yet, creators of content, writers, actors, and many others who are instrumental to media development are still struggling to ensure economic sustainability.
At another one of the stand-out panels, A Conversation With Sheila Nevins & Barbara Kopple multiple Oscar, Emmy, and Peabody awards winner Sheila Nevins talked about her legendary documentary filmmaking career with two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple. We are excited to also have this available on Apple Podcasts for the first time this year. Listen/Subscribe here.
Q&A HIGHLIGHTS
Every year our Filmmaker Q&As take screenings to another level and this year was no exception as we had wonderful Q&As with many filmmakers including Sofia Coppola, Andrew Durham, and Alysia Abbott of FAIRYLAND, James Ivory and Peter Cameron of THE CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION, Sean Ono Lennon, Dave Mullins, and Brad Booker of WAR IS OVER!, and many more.
“What an honor to have our NY Premiere at Woodstock. This is such a special festival with deeply meaningful films, panels, Q+As, roundtables, and programming. Everything was organized so well, the team was warm, supportive, and professional. The joyful filmmaker atmosphere is one of a kind.” — Elizabeth Baudouin, Filmmaker
WOODSTOCK FILM FEST LIVE STREAM
This year was our very first live stream! The Let’s Talk Film Podcast! was launched almost six months ago and is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other platforms. Hosts Katy Mejia and Adam Schartoff connected with the filmmakers, producers, and actors who attended this year's festival to discuss their filmmaking process + much more. All three live streams are available to watch now on our YouTube channel.
Special thanks to our guests!
Jodie Childers & Dan Messina of DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE
Brooke Berman & Kristen Vagonas of RAMONA AT MIDLIFE
Robert Kolodny & Steve Loff of THE FEATHERWEIGHT
Bill Plympton & Daniel Neiden of SLIDE
Ibrahim Nash’at of HOLLYWOODGATE
Jane Weinstock & Andrea Miller of THREE BIRTHDAYS
Augustus Bernstein & Julia Newman of AT THE GATES
Remy van Heugten of FORTUNATE SON
Laura Gabbert of FOOD AND COUNTRY
Djaka Souaré and Anthony Lalor of CUT ME IF YOU CAN
And many more!