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10th annual FilmColumbia Festival screens local students’ documentary
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| Local students who made a documentary about the effects that “Taking Woodstock” had on New Lebanon, stand in front of the Crandell Theatre in Chatham, where their film premiered Sunday, Oct. 25 as part of the annual FilmColumbia Festival. Four of the seven students attended the premiere. From left are Kimberly Wilcox, project mentor Richard Patterson, Geneva Furlano, Devin McConnell and Evan Rugen. Andrew Amelinckx/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers |
All proceeds will go toward purchase of Crandell Theatre
By Andrew Amelinckx
CHATHAM — A new documentary made by local students premiered Sunday, Oct. 25 at the Crandell Theatre in Chatham as part of the 10th FilmColumbia Festival, an annual independent film festival.
The student film project, now in its eighth year, is sponsored by the Chatham Film Club, the organization that puts on FilmColumbia.
The project was partially funded through the Hudson River Bank and Trust Foundation.
Calliope Nicholas, director of the festival, said that the students are paired with a filmmaker mentor on the projects.
This year, Richard Patterson, a documentary film sound recordist, worked with a group of seven students on their project “Taking New Lebanon,” a documentary exploring the effects of the filming of a Hollywood movie on a small town.
“I believe this is the first year they did a documentary,” he said.
Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee filmed “Taking Woodstock,” his paean to the 1969 rock festival, in and around New Lebanon in 2008.
Patterson said the students came up with the idea, the questions, shot the film and did the editing.
“This project was theirs from start to finish,” he said.
According to Geneva Furlano, a 17-year-old New Lebanon High School student who worked on the project, the film was made over the course of several months, beginning in July and ending in September.
“It was a very lengthy process to sort through all the film footage,” she said.
Devin McConnell, 16, a student at Ichabod Crane, said that while all six students tried their hand at every aspect of the project, each soon found their own niche. His was editing, which, he said, he learned “on a professional scale.”
In addition to McConnell and Furlano, the five other students involved in the project were Kimberly Wilcox, Evan Rugen, Noa Naftali, Emma Hanlon and Jamaica Gilmore.
Patterson became involved in the project after speaking with some members of the film club.
“I mentioned that I thought that it would be good for the students to do a documentary,” he said. “And they put me in charge.”
Patterson has 35 years of experience in the film industry, but he said, he hadn’t done any editing in many years.
“Things have changed,” he said.
They had some technical glitches during the editing process, but, said Patterson, they made it through.
“Everybody did a great job,” he said.
Though she doesn’t have exact attendance numbers yet, Nicholas said attendance was up from last year and that many businesses on Main Street claimed to be busier than last year. Business owners commented that there were more people on the street this year, she said.
She said “The Maid,” which opened FilmColumbia at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, had 400 people in attendance at the Crandell and that the theater “was filled right through to its closing film [Sunday night], which was ‘Precious.’”
Nicholas said that “Precious” was a late addition to the film lineup and that the screenwriter, Geoffrey Fletcher, as well as representatives from Lionsgate, attended the screening Sunday night and held a Q&A afterward. She added that the film was also featured in the New York Times Magazine the same day.
Saturday’s sneak peak was “Up in the Air,” starring George Clooney and directed by Jason Reitman, who also directed “Juno” and “Thank You for Smoking.” The release date for this film is Dec. 25.
Nicholas said the film festival also had the North American premiere of “Can’t Live Without You,” a film from Taiwan that has already been submitted for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards. The film was screened at the Morris Memorial and the Taipei Cultural and Economic Office in New York flew the lead actor, Wen-Pin Chen, in for the premiere, she said.
All proceeds made during the film festival will go toward the purchase of the Crandell Theatre by the Chatham Film Club, said Nicholas.
“The festival was a great success,” she said.
The student film project, now in its eighth year, is sponsored by the Chatham Film Club, the organization that puts on FilmColumbia.
The project was partially funded through the Hudson River Bank and Trust Foundation.
Calliope Nicholas, director of the festival, said that the students are paired with a filmmaker mentor on the projects.
This year, Richard Patterson, a documentary film sound recordist, worked with a group of seven students on their project “Taking New Lebanon,” a documentary exploring the effects of the filming of a Hollywood movie on a small town.
“I believe this is the first year they did a documentary,” he said.
Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee filmed “Taking Woodstock,” his paean to the 1969 rock festival, in and around New Lebanon in 2008.
Patterson said the students came up with the idea, the questions, shot the film and did the editing.
“This project was theirs from start to finish,” he said.
According to Geneva Furlano, a 17-year-old New Lebanon High School student who worked on the project, the film was made over the course of several months, beginning in July and ending in September.
“It was a very lengthy process to sort through all the film footage,” she said.
Devin McConnell, 16, a student at Ichabod Crane, said that while all six students tried their hand at every aspect of the project, each soon found their own niche. His was editing, which, he said, he learned “on a professional scale.”
In addition to McConnell and Furlano, the five other students involved in the project were Kimberly Wilcox, Evan Rugen, Noa Naftali, Emma Hanlon and Jamaica Gilmore.
Patterson became involved in the project after speaking with some members of the film club.
“I mentioned that I thought that it would be good for the students to do a documentary,” he said. “And they put me in charge.”
Patterson has 35 years of experience in the film industry, but he said, he hadn’t done any editing in many years.
“Things have changed,” he said.
They had some technical glitches during the editing process, but, said Patterson, they made it through.
“Everybody did a great job,” he said.
Though she doesn’t have exact attendance numbers yet, Nicholas said attendance was up from last year and that many businesses on Main Street claimed to be busier than last year. Business owners commented that there were more people on the street this year, she said.
She said “The Maid,” which opened FilmColumbia at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, had 400 people in attendance at the Crandell and that the theater “was filled right through to its closing film [Sunday night], which was ‘Precious.’”
Nicholas said that “Precious” was a late addition to the film lineup and that the screenwriter, Geoffrey Fletcher, as well as representatives from Lionsgate, attended the screening Sunday night and held a Q&A afterward. She added that the film was also featured in the New York Times Magazine the same day.
Saturday’s sneak peak was “Up in the Air,” starring George Clooney and directed by Jason Reitman, who also directed “Juno” and “Thank You for Smoking.” The release date for this film is Dec. 25.
Nicholas said the film festival also had the North American premiere of “Can’t Live Without You,” a film from Taiwan that has already been submitted for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards. The film was screened at the Morris Memorial and the Taipei Cultural and Economic Office in New York flew the lead actor, Wen-Pin Chen, in for the premiere, she said.
All proceeds made during the film festival will go toward the purchase of the Crandell Theatre by the Chatham Film Club, said Nicholas.
“The festival was a great success,” she said.
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