Annual Woodstock Film Festival kicks off this week

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. – The ninth annual Woodstock Film Festival this week will feature appearances by filmmaker Kevin Smith, ’60s troubadour Donovan and more than 120 films.

The festival runs Wednesday through Sunday at venues in Woodstock and nearby Kingston, Rosendale and Rhinebeck. Honorary awards will be presented to Smith, cinematographer Haskell Wexler and veteran writer-producer James Schamus, chief executive officer of Focus Features.

Festival director Meira Blaustein said 124 films will be screened this year, about half of them full-length features and documentaries. She said participants will be coming to this famous artists’ colony north of New York City from all over the world.

“This area is going to be buzzing with filmmakers,” she said.

Smith’s new movie, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” will be featured on closing night. Opening night will feature “Pride and Glory,” “Happy-Go-Lucky” and “Flash of Genius.”

In a nod to Woodstock’s history and the eponymous 1969 concert, the festival routinely features music along with the movies. Donovan, best known for ’60s standards like “Mellow Yellow,” will perform and appear on a panel. Bela Fleck will perform in an opening-night concert with Abigail Washburn and The Sparrow Quartet.

For the first time, the festival is opening its awards ceremony to the public. The admission fee for the ceremony and after-party is $50.

Sounds like $50 quite well spent to us – For those of you who attend any of the festival events this weekend, we’d love to hear from you.