I have been attending this festival for years, as a filmmaker, actor and audience member, and it remains one of my favorites in the country. The curation, professionalism, and above all audience interest make it a great destination for independent films.

Woodstock Film Festival was an incredible experience for all attendees. The curation of films was fantastic -- fascinating, diverse, thought-provoking. The festival organizers created an atmosphere of inclusivity, community, and connectivity throughout the weekend. The logistics were seamless, from ticketing to screening schedules and events. Excited to attend again in the future!

You'll find the best staff and audiences at the Woodstock Film Festival. True film lovers of independent cinema.

I have been going to the festival for years and it is one that it not to miss. The film curation, the ease of communication and the opportunities for networking in a relaxed down to earth and beautiful (!) environment make it truly a community of filmmakers for filmmakers. The festival has an enormous industry draw which makes panels, events and conversations top quality.

This year’s festival was so wonderful, from the impactful films I watched to the inspiring and informative panels, to the warm and celebratory events. The intimate nature of the festival really gives you an opportunity to have meaningful conversations with filmmakers and the industry. The town of Woodstock is the perfect fall backdrop for this fiercely independent festival. I’m looking forward to the upcoming anniversary year festival in 2024.

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.

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.

I have a special place in my heart for the Woodstock Film Festival…once you come, you just keep coming back.

This is my first time at the Woodstock Film Festival; I’m so excited to be here. It was great; we had such a great audience, people so appreciated the film and I really wanted to come here for so long because I have so many friends who just love this film festival.

Woodstock is my absolute favorite festival because it has everything; a beautiful and relaxing setting, a wonderful artistic community, and a powerfully curated selection of the finest-crafted films. It’s a love fest for film lovers.

Events like the Woodstock Film Festival are some of the few places where films aren’t viewed as units of sale, judged on their value of commerce. The community building, idea sharing, and celebration of film as a medium that the Woodstock Film Festival fosters is invaluable to the lifeblood of the film community. I’ve been to many festivals all around the world, but this is one of my favorites.

Woodstock is the place with the plan for the creative arts, so welcome and stay here and keep it happening!

The Woodstock Film Festival is that rare and wonderful celebration that joins folks who make movies with folks who love movies in a glorious community around great storytelling. It’s a spirit that has flourished forever in this corner of the Catskills and WFF is giving new generations the chance to say, ‘Oh yeah, I was at Woodstock!’.

For the 2017 edition of the self-declared 'fiercely independent' fest, the programming was eco-friendly, class-conscious, gender-aware and racially sensitive — a fitting environment for the handful of host towns surrounding the area.

Honoring the young and the old, endorsing community, advocating inspiration and lauding humanitarian gestures — all sentiments that sum up Woodstock and its 'Fiercely Independent' film festival quite well.

I've always heard such amazing things about the Woodstock Film Festival and now, having finally been there, it ranks among my favorite festival experiences--the crowds, the energy, the staff, the lack of pretentiousness, and the beauty of the town all made it a magical experience.

The Woodstock Film Festival is a haven for those who love independent and challenging cinema.  The spirit of the Namesake of the festival is in the very fiber of the festival itself - freewheeling, experimental, searching and visionary.

It was an incredible experience - truly magical in so many ways! We are truly appreciative of the community you and your team create - and the amount of support and love that you share with all of the film teams who are lucky enough to participate.

It's a great festival... It's what a film festival should be, which is really independent films and showcasing the work of filmmakers you might not know about, I love that, and Woodstock is a town that goes hand and hand with that. I can't think of another place that seems better suited to have an independent film festival than Woodstock.

The Woodstock Film festival is among the finest of a dying breed: a festival that isn't trying to sell you anything, but simply and beautifully celebrating the art & craft of filmmaking.

The Woodstock Film Festival continues to be the best! It encompasses all that is great about film festivals: New and cutting-edge talent, enthusiastic and engaged audiences, and a warm and welcoming vibe – all with the gorgeous Hudson River Valley as a backdrop. It's a must for filmmakers.

Had a blast and can't wait to come back. Woodstock Film Fest is not a place to buy or sell films… it’s just a great place to watch them and talk about them with other indie film fans. It’s really pure in that way.

I can't begin to thank you for being so kind and supportive to the whole Cold Brook 'band of no goods! Whatever journey the movie takes from this day forward I'm so proud to say that it all began in Woodstock. To say that we had a great time would be a massive understatement. This will not be the last time that I attend the Woodstock Film Festival.

I’m still high from the weekend. Such an incredible time, incredible people and a special place. I’ll never forget it!

Thank you so much for having us at the festival.  It was so much fun!  It was an honor to be a part of it. We had a fantastic time.  All your people were so cool and the vibe of the whole festival was inclusive, unpretentious, loving and supportive!  It was the best.

I love the fact that there is in Woodstock a film festival and I love the fact that it's now been for 16 years. And what it does is it opens the door to this art and probably to others as well...

Our screening of Cold November at your festival was one of the most magical screenings for any film that I've ever had. There really is no other way to describe it other than magical. I cried in new places at my own movie that I have seen over 100 times. Thank you.

Fiercely Independent means that you are permitted to make the film that you want to make, that you don't have to listen to the confines of a studio system or have other interests impose their vision over the kind of film you're making. It means that you and a bunch of spirited collaborators can go out and just share the story that you wish to put together...Without film festivals such as the Woodstock Film Festival, the level of filmmaking would just keep going down...[it's] what's keeping the spirit of indie filmmaking alive...

It was a very inspiring night. All the independent spirit that was here touched me and inspired me. So thank you, Woodstock, for that, and I go home with some new energy.

I've been very fortunate and lucky...I have an Oscar, I have an Emmy, I have a couple of Sundance things and I pushed them over and I put that [Woodstock Film Festival] Maverick Award right in the middle!

I want to tell you how impressed, proud, amazed, inspired and invigorated I am by my experience at the festival this year. Over the last decade you have built this into a truly great festival which I say both by putting in the context of all the festivals out there, but also in terms of how it stands on its own, what it means to and reflects upon the community it serves, what it means to and reflects upon the artists and the art it serves and what it means to and reflects upon the filmmaking community as a whole. It's just a straight up, wonderful event that you should be very proud of.

What a lovely weekend, and great event. I've been to lots of film festivals and yours now tops the list! Can't believe it took me 11 years to get there (we'll blame international travel!).

The Woodstock Film Festival is always a pleasure to attend, and the talent that is showcased always amazes me. It's a wonderful and important showcase for any independent filmmaker.

There are a lot of film festivals but I think that the Woodstock Film Festival really champions independent film and that's why I like it. For some films, festivals like this are the only way an audience will actually see it. I'm always honored when the Woodstock Film Festival includes any film that I'm in.

The Woodstock Film Festival is a delight for the creative spirit. It has all the energy of the big time show biz spectacles while remaining full of true integrity.

For over a hundred years, Woodstock has been a place of dreams and magic. It was a place of dreams for visual art, for crafts, for music, for popular music, for theater, for political philosophy, for alternative lifestyles and it is entirely fitting that Woodstock should become a place of dreams and magic for films at this time.

Salaama, Nikki, Meira and Joan and the rest of the smiling gang thank you for hosting me and three generations of family - we were all so moved by the beauty and the cheer and hospitality - and thank you again for the best award I have ever won! Love,

This is the place to be to show your movie.

It's a wonderful festival.

It's an honor to have a film show at the Woodstock Film Festival because obviously this place has a very important reputation and a very important history in the arts. To have a movie show here is an honor entirely appropriate and I would try to bring any movie here.

Congratulations again on a stellar festival. You guys never disappoint in bring to my attention films that awe, inspire and move. Add that to a forum so conducive to meeting good people with similar interests and you have the formula for a truly great event.

The Festival was a powerhouse. A lot of good connections were made for Markertek.

Thank you for another astounding film festival. Every film, reception, event we and our friends attended was absolutely astounding. We look forward to a continued involvement in sponsoring and supporting (as well as attending) the Woodstock Film Festival. Thank you for giving us something to be extremely proud of as residents of the Hudson Valley. There is a wealth of gifted, talented, sensitive, hardworking, caring people and the Woodstock Film Festival has done so much to bring these elements and people together. You both have much to be proud of.

Woodstock and film and music are just a natural fit if you think about the history of this place and the reputation that it has.  It's so cool that this festival exists.  I love coming here!

In an ideal world (and Woodstock's denizens specialize in Utopian visions), these all-too-common celluloid celebrations shouldn't just give out-of-towners a chance to schmooze; they should reflect and enhance the communities that spawn them. And in that respect, as it nears the five-year mark, Woodstock is becoming one of the most distinctive festivals on the circuit.

The festival really shows a lot of heart and passion and that is something that's really unique in the festival business and I really felt at home here. I had a wonderful time and I hate to leave.

"Gravitas picked up the movie after it showed at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2022. I can't emphasize enough how grateful I am for the show in Woodstock. Without it I don't think Gravitas would have reached out.” - Constant Van Hoeven, RON ENGLISH: LIVING IN DELUSIONVILLE