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.

“Routh’s next movie, to be released Oct. 31, is “Zack and Mari Make a Porno,” in which he plays the boyfriend of a gay porn star. He said the movie is a bit raunchy.

“It’s a very funny film and actually very heartwarming,” Routh said.”

Check out a few photos a fan took from a recent Mewes appearance to get an idea.

Along the same lines as the uber-crappy sequels that pop up in Cecil B. Demented, Kevin Smith gives Ben and Matt’s flick some sequel action under the uninterested eye of Gus Van Sant. Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season awards Matt Damon with the chance to blow away rich, jerky smarty pantses rather than wasting his time in a battle of wits. It’s an all-too-brief moment, but worth Jay and Silent Bob’s trip.


Honorable Mention in Film: Bluntman and Chronic with Mark Hamill.

The October 8th reschedule date has been confirmed. If you want to attend on that date, hang onto your original tickets, they will still get you in just as they would have before. Doors open at 7:00 PM with an 8:00 PM start to the show. Expect Kev to put on a great one due to the delay.

Can’t make the show due to the new date and need a refund? Call the Winspear Centre Box Office at 780-425-1414. You can also return your tickets in person. This offer is good up until October 4th, so act fast (this week!). Due to the change, a few tickets are now open for purchase, so if you wanna go, you still have time. Show up at the Winspear Centre or give them a call and they’ll hook ya up with some seats.

The Calary show, scheduled for tomorrow, the 30th, will still go on as planned.

Hope that clears it up, Canada. Enjoy the upcoming events.

The site’s not full of details at this point, but we CAN tell you that Hatch is based in Bozeman, Montana — So if you’re in that area of the country, you’re in luck!

Tickets for the fest should now be on sale this week. The website asks that you call 406.600.6195 for details. There’s a chance for some fans in Montata to see the flick early! No word on Kevin’s involvement or appearing at the event, but you can at least count on the film being there, from the sound of it. Screenings happen at 7 and 9:30 PM this Friday, October 3rd.

The site’s not full of details at this point, but we CAN tell you that Hatch is based in Bozeman, Montana — So if you’re in that area of the country, you’re in luck!

Tickets for the fest should now be on sale this week. The website asks that you call 406.600.6195 for details. There’s a chance for some fans in Montata to see the flick early! Screenings happen at 7 and 9:30 PM this Friday, October 3rd.

We warn ya, read on ONLY if you have seen the film or really wanna spoil some stuff for yourself! Otherwise, skip to the next headline! Seriously! Turn back now! If you MUST KNOW, swipe your mouse to highlight the blank area ahead:

ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO

(0:08) Elizabeth Banks is in the back room of a coffee shop trying on outfits. She strips down to her bra and panties while two kids record her with a cell phone. We see a shot of her in her bra on the cell phone while trying on a yellow outfit. Then there’s another non-phone shot of her in her bra again as she tries on another.

(0:23) We see Elizabeth Banks again on the cell phone in her bra and panties.

(0:28) Elizabeth Banks is in a sexy outfit licking a beer bottle as Seth Rogen has the inspiration for making the porno.

(0:37) A girl auditioning for the porno takes off her outfit for Craig Robinson and we see her breasts and bush.

(0:38) We see the butt and breasts of various strippers telling Rogen and Banks what they won’t do in a porno.

(0:39) Traci Lords auditions and much of her bra is showing out of her shirt.

(0:44) During a montage of all the actors dressed up for the porn parody “Star Whores”, we see Katie Morgan in a black bra-and-panties Darth Vader costume, Traci Lords in a sexy C-3PO outfit and Elizabeth Banks as Princess “Lay-Her” in the familiar sheer white outfit and we can see her bra and panties underneath.

(0:53) Katie Morgan is behind the coffee counter with her breasts exposed. When she hops on the counter we see her panties underneath her apron. Jason Mewes begins screwing her on top and then from behind. A customer comes in and interrupts them and Mewes goes right back to screwing Morgan.

(0:57) Traci Lords is in her bra giving it to a guy from behind.

(1:03) Elizabeth Banks is filming her porno scene. Her shirt is partially open, revealing her bra.

(1:34) Traci Lords and Katie Morgan are in lingerie during a Zack & Miri promotional video.

And there ya go. Thanks to our scooper and the mighty Mr. Skin for the report.

Watch for more promotional stuff like this as October rolls in, and we start the 31 day countdown to biggest View Askew flick yet!

The October 8th reschedule date has been confirmed. If you want to attend on that date, hang onto your original tickets, they will still get you in just as they would have before. Doors open at 7:00 PM with an 8:00 PM start to the show. Expect Kev to put on a great one due to the delay.

Can’t make the show due to the new date and need a refund? Call the Winspear Centre Box Office at 780-425-1414. You can also return your tickets in person. This offer is good up until October 4th, so act fast (this week!). Due to the change, a few tickets are now open for purchase, so if you wanna go, you still have time. Show up at the Winspear Centre or give them a call and they’ll hook ya up with some seats.

The Calary show, scheduled for tomorrow, the 30th, will still go on as planned.

Hope that clears it up, Canada. Enjoy the upcoming events.

“…having broken free of the desire to do something different than his small little potty mouthed Jersey films, he instead embraced his place in the environs of the film scene and created the single best piece of film he’s turned out since Chasing Amy. Make no mistake, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is every bit Kevin Smith as you’d expect. There are all manner of sex and scat jokes – even the occasional gross out bit. Pop culture references drop out of the mouths of his cast almost as often as expletives. And there are appearances by a number of old favorites, including the ever present Jason Mewes. And yet, by freeing himself of trying to be something that he is not, he has actually managed to elevate the material to make what on the surface appears to be one of the most juvenile attempts at humor this year into something deep, heartfelt and positively adorable.”

Check out the entire non-spoiler review over at Ain’t It Cool News.