This marks the third year that short films winning at The Woodstock Film Festival in the categories of Best Short Narrative, Best Animated Short, and Best Short Documentary will automatically be eligible to be nominated for an Academy Award in their respective categories.

The festival continues to feature a robust selection of short films in the program with this year’s selections including works from Kim A. Snyder, Cynthia Wade, Nadia Hallgren, Bill Plympton and Candy Kugel.

Highlights from the shorts program include:

– Death By Numbers, by Kim A. Snyder, U.S., 2024

– Alok, by Alex Hedison, U.S., 2024

– Good Enough Ancestor, by Cynthia Wade, U.S., 2024 – East Coast Premiere

– I Am Ready, Warden, by Smriti Mundhra, U.S., 2024 – East Coast Premiere

– Dancing Palestine, by Lamees Almakkawy, Palestine, U.K., 2024 – NY Premiere

– And Still, It Remains, by Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah, Algeria, U.K., 2023 – NY Premiere

– The Yellow, by Maika Monroe and Simone Faoro, U.S., 2024 – East Coast Premiere

– Duckville, by Bill Plympton, U.S., 2024 – World Premiere

– Market Of Hate, by Candy Kugel, U.S., 2024 – World Premiere

– The Brown Dog, by Nadia Hallgren, Jamie-James Medina, U.S., 2024

– Don’t Be Late, Myra, by Afia Serena Nathaniel, Pakistan, U.S., 2024 – World Premiere

– Ya Hanouni, by Sofian Chouaib and Lyna Tadount, France, 2024 – NY Premiere

– Mashed Potatoes, by Suha Araj, U.S., 2024 – World Premiere

The Woodstock Film Festival is committed to supporting local film production in New York’s Hudson Valley, and to nurturing and supporting emerging and established filmmakers worldwide by sharing their creative voices to promote culture, diversity, community, educational opportunities and economic growth in its community. 23 of the films in this year’s expansive program were produced or directed primarily in the region by filmmakers from the Hudson Valley burgeoning creative community.

The Woodstock Film Festival is proud to participate once again in a cultural collaboration with the Leiden International Film Festival in the Netherlands. The program entails a reciprocal exchange of films, enhancing cultural awareness and international exposure for both Dutch and American independent cinema. This year the festival brings us Jippie No More by Margien Rogaar, Hardcore Never Dies by Jim Taihuttu and Torch Song by Jeroen Houben, which is in association with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

The festival will feature stimulating panels with distinguished filmmakers and industry mavericks including:

– THE FUTURE OF DOCUMENTARY
Sponsored by Netflix

With Sandi DuBowski, Yance Ford, Benjamin Ree, and Barbara Kopple moderated by Jessica Edwards.

Amidst the softest distribution market in decades, at the peak of its popularity, documentary filmmaking has reached an inflection point. In this wide-ranging conversation with some of the most prolific filmmakers in the industry, we take a “bird's-eye” view of the challenges and opportunities. Addressing audience engagement and career sustainability while contextualizing our current climate in broader documentary history, the panel discusses how docs will survive and thrive into the future.

– STATE OF THE INDUSTRY AND HOW TO BREAK INTO IT
Co-presented by Chronogram

With William Horberg, Blair Breard and Gill Holland moderated by Chronogram’s editorial director Brian Mahoney.

Join a group of accomplished veteran filmmakers as they discuss the state of the film industry today, and the projects they are currently working on. Some of the in-depth conversation will focus on the why and how their recent projects were getting done – from concept and funding, to production, post production and distribution. The conversation will also focus on the humble beginnings of the panelists' careers, with an eye toward advising aspiring filmmakers how to get into the film and media industry in today’s ecosystem.

– THE WOMEN IN THE DRIVER SEAT
Co-presented by NYWIFT (New York Women in Film & Television)

With Yvonne Russo, Christine La Monte, Heidi Ewing, Rebecca Miller, Nancy Abraham and Ondi Timoner moderated by NYWIFT’s executive director Cynthia Lopez.

Today’s women filmmakers are calling the shots, whether with a movie camera on their shoulder, a pen in their hand, an idea in their head, or a computer and a desk at their feet. In this conversation co-presented by New York Women in Film & Television, meet some of today’s most inspiring filmmakers, all current participating filmmakers or alumni of the Woodstock Film Festival, as they discuss the trajectory of their careers.

– AI AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Produced by Janet Grillo

With Runway AI Creative Team member Nicolas Neubert, Philip Shane, Kris Lefcoe, and Eunice Lau moderated by Filmmaker Magazine Co-Founder / Editor in Chief Scott Macauley

AI has been making its way into many areas of society over the last two years including the creative arts and filmmaking. As a versatile tool, AI is being embraced by many artists, filmmakers, and studios to explore new ideas and bring their visions to life. These tools are already streamlining production processes and lowering budgets, while simultaneously sparking discussions about their impact on the creative industry at large. This panel of filmmakers, artists, and AI tool builders will discuss these new tools and their impact on creativity.

– ACTORS DIALOGUE: A CONVERSATION WITH AMANDA SEYFRIED

With Amanda Seyfried and Jennifer Carpenter.

A frank and in-depth conversation with actor Amanda Seyfried focusing on her storied career

– TRANS STORYTELLING

With Alex Hedison, Noah Schamus and others TBA, moderated by Kimberly Reed

Trans Storytelling will feature exciting voices in queer cinema whose authentic visions are shaping the perception of trans communities. Includes a screening of Kimberly Reed's short documentary Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr.

INDEPENDENTS DAYS

As the Woodstock Film Festival commemorates 25 years of fierce independence, we are marking our next generation by celebrating the link between today’s trailblazing filmmakers and the pioneers whose passion, ingenuity, and pure love of filmmaking inspired them. Independents Days is a unique series of talks woven throughout the festival, aimed at shining a light on the process of creating brave, distinctive art. The series pairs a new generation of filmmakers with their predecessors, with in-depth conversations between those filmmakers.

– CONVERSATION WITH HONOREE PAUL SCHRADER AND RAMIN BAHRANI | Independents Days

– CONVERSATION WITH SHEILA NEVINS AND SMRITI MUNDHRA | Independents Days

– CONVERSATION WITH CARLA GUTIÉRREZ AND ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS | Independents Days
Sponsored by Amazon MGM Studios

The festival will feature numerous world premieres and special events including:

– The world premiere of Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell's Swimsuit Issue followed by a Q&A with Director Jill Campbell, and supermodels Tyra Banks, Carol Alt and Stacey Williams. Following the Q&A, the audience is invited to a reception at Woodstock Playhouse with the film team.

– The world premiere of A Life in Rhythm: The Ray Conniff Story co-presented by BMI followed by Q&A featuring director Jonathan McHugh, producer and Ray Conniff’s daughter Tamara, and Woodstock-based composer David Kitay, moderated by BMI’s Vice President, Creative, Film, TV & Visual Media, Tracy Mcknight. Following the Q&A, the audience will be treated to live orchestral and DJ sets of Ray Conniff’s discography.

– Gun Violence & Youth Trauma in America: A special screening of Death By Numbers by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Kim A. Snyder followed by a conversation with Snyder, Death by Numbers collaborator and school shooting survivor Sam Fuentes, Sam’s teacher Ivy Schamis, and Sandy Hook shooting survivors Emma Ehrens and Abbey Clements, now the co-founder of Teachers Unite Against Gun Violence.

– Following the screening of Left Behind, a conversation on the emotional impact of dyslexia within families and the global issue of the school-to -prison pipeline moderated by Juju Chang, Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline.”

– Girls Really Listen To Me, a one woman play, written and performed by Eleanor Greene, directed by Alex Prescot Living on the Upper East Side, 16-year-old Madeline is convinced that her actions have no consequences. But when her new friend goes off-grid after a party, she’s forced to look in a harsher light at the bubble she’s grown up in.

– Following the screening of A Photographic Memory, a special post-screening conversation with Director Rachel Seed and Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) Curator Marina Chao.

– The world premiere of It’s All Gonna Break followed a special post-screening Q&A and acoustic performance with Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning and Andrew Whiteman.

Other festival highlights include the annual awards ceremony on October 19, where honors will be presented for accomplishments in multiple categories including Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Ultra Indie and Best Short Documentary.

For press materials, visit here.

For the full and updated festival program and schedule, and to purchase tickets and passes, visit www.woodstockfilmfestival.org.

Woodstock Film Festival Deluxe and Weekend passes, as well as Individual tickets are on sale online at WoodstockFilmFestival.org, and at the Box Office, open at 13 Rock City Rd, Woodstock, NY 12498.