Glimmerglass Film Days Brings Films, Art, Filmmakers To Cooperstown, NY

Glimmerglass Film Days will offer five days of independent films, events, art, and filmmaker talks, November 7-11 in Cooperstown. "Adaptations" is the theme of the seventh annual film festival, which will be held in multiple locations, including the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Fenimore Art Museum, and the Otesaga Hotel. A record number of 37 films will be shown.

"This year's Film Days is a stimulating mix of feature narratives and documentaries, plus works that combine reality with fiction," explains Film Days curator Margaret (Peggy) Parsons, who is also the director of the film program at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

There are films about art, literature and music (Walking on Water, While You Live, Shine, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, Jay Myself, Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA, The Unchanging Sea); the environment (Anthropocene, One Man Dies a Million Times, Honeyland, Kifaru, The Hottest August, The Biggest Little Farm); and people facing poverty, war, racism, and injustice (Angels Are Made of Light, Life Overtakes Me, Capernaum, The Spy Behind Home Plate, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire, Shoplifters, Under the Palace Wall). There also will be a special Veterans Day screening of They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson's documentary of colorized and restored BBC archival footage of World War I.

"Glimmerglass Film Days is, without a doubt, one of the highlights of the season for me. The films curated by Peggy Parsons are always a marvel. She is truly a force of nature in the film world and beyond," says Jane Steuerwald, executive director of the Thomas Edison Media Arts Consortium. "Every venue, from the Fenimore Museum, to the Hall of Fame, to Templeton Hall and The Smithy is unique and rich. Throw in beautiful landscapes, a Farmers' Market, fantastic local food, the cold and crisp days and nights, and I'm in film heaven!" Steuerwald's selections from the Black Maria Film Festival will be shown on November 9.

The Opening Film on Thursday, November 7 at 6:00 pm is Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky, 2018, Canada, 87 min.), which features stunning visuals from around the globe that document humanity's impact on the planet. Director Bill Morrison returns to Film Days for a third time with The Unchanging Sea (2018, USA, 30 mins.), a collaboration with composer Michael Gordon that features damaged footage Morrison found in the nitrate vaults of the Library of Congress.

Friday, November 8 begins with Angels Are Made of Light (James Longley, 2019, USA/Afghanistan, 117 mins.), Capernaum (Nadine Labaki, 2018, Lebanon, 126 mins), and a free screening of Life Overtakes Me (2019, USA, 39 minutes), with filmmakers John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson in attendance.

Filmmaker Aviva Kempner will take part in a discussion of her film The Spy Behind Home Plate (2019, USA, 101 mins.) about Major League catcher Moe Berg and his heroic work as a spy during World War II. This film will be shown at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Grandstand Theater.

Also on November 8 at 8:30 pm, audiences can experience film 1920's style, with a screening of the Clarence Brown and Maurice Tourneur silent film classic The Last of the Mohicans, with live accompaniment by pianist Dennis James. James has played a pivotal role in the international revival of silent films presented with historically authentic live music. The film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's novel was recently restored by the George Eastman Museum.

Saturday, November 9 at Film Days features screenings of The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot, 2019, USA, 121 min.), One Man Dies a Million Times (Jessica Oreck, 2019, USA, 92 min.), Walking on Water (Andrey Paounov, 2018, Italy, 104 min.), Hail Satan? (Penny Lane, 2019, USA, 95 min.), While You Live, Shine (Paul Duane, 2018, Ireland, 80 min.), and Honeyland (Tamara Kotevska and Lyubomir Stefanov, 2019, Macedonia, 87 min.). In addition, filmmaker David Hambridge will offer comments after the screening of his documentary Kifaru (2019, USA/Sudan, 79 min.), about one of the last male northern white rhinoceroses and the people who care and protect it.

A program of award-winning shorts from the Black Maria Film Festival (BMFF) includes Henrietta Bulkowski (Rachel Johnson, 2018, USA, 15 min.), Ulises (Jorge Malpica, 2018, Mexico, 8 min.), The Last Guide (Cristian Gomes, 2018, Canada, 16 min.), The Elephant's Song (Lynn Tomlinson, 2018, USA, 8 min.), and Woody's Order (Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger, 2016, USA, 16 min.). The shorts will be introduced by BMFF executive director Jane Steuerwald, with additional comments by producer/actor Ann Talman, whose one-woman show is the focus of the documentary Woody's Order.

Sunday, November 10 kicks off with a farm-to-table brunch and screening of Illusions (Julie Dash, 1982, USA, 34 mins.). The brunch, a popular annual feature of Film Days, includes a discussion led by Peter Rutkoff, professor of American Studies at Kenyon College and a member of the Film Days Steering Committee. November 10 films also include: The Hottest August (Brett Story, 2019, USA, 94 min.), Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, 2019, USA, 120 min.), What You Gonna Do When the World's On Fire? (Roberto Minervini, 2018, Italy, 123 min.), Jay Myself (Stephen Wilkes, 2018, USA, 79 min.), Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018, Japan, 121 min.), and Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA (Stephen Nomura Schible, 2018, Japan, 100 min.).

Monday, November 11 begins with a free Glimmerglass Kids film, Fantastic Mr. FOX (Wes Anderson, 2009, USA, 87 mins.). Molly Cooper, who produced the film and serves on the Film Days Steering Committee, will offer comments. She also was THE VOICE of Rabbit Girl in the film.

The Atomic Soldiers (Morgan Knibbe, 2018, USA, 22 minutes) and Moment to Moment (Mike Attie, 2018, USA, 14 min.) are part of Monday's Shorts + Cake program. Director Mike Attie will talk about his film that portrays how a couple perseveres after one of them is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The program, which features complimentary coffee and cake, also includes Lost World (Kalyanee Mam, 2018, Cambodia, 16 min.), Above Us Only Sky (Arthur Kleinjan, 2019, Netherlands, 28 min.), La Dernière Tournée (Christophe Leraie, 2019, France, 22 min.), and a short by Cooperstown High School students, Utica: A Town That Loves Refugees (Kara Gildea, Rainer Gardner-Olesen, Eric Kukenberger, Sam Lytel, Ellie Pink, Lola Thompson, Peter Weil, 2019, USA, 4 min.).

November 11 also includes They Shall Not Grow Old (Peter Jackson, 2019, UK, 109 min.), Under the Palace Wall (David MacDougall, 2014, India, 55 min.), Karen's Swiss Chard and White Beans (Aube Giroux, 2019, USA, 5 min.), and the closing film The Biggest Little Farm (John Chester, 2019, USA, 91 min.).

Film descriptions, trailers, and tickets are available at glimmerglassfilmdays.org.

Parties, Art Exhibit, Hikes, and More

"Film Days was founded to showcase the best in independent film and advance discussion on important topics, but also to highlight the natural, cultural, and historic resources we have here," says Ellen Pope, executive director of Otsego 2000, the nonprofit that organizes Film Days. "The response to Film Days has been wonderful, each year we have expanded the programming, and had a jump in audience numbers." She noted that purchasing tickets in advance is recommended, as multiple events sell out. "You save money when you buy in advance, and also ensure you don't miss the films you want to see."

Opening and Closing parties will take place at The Smithy, where the Film Days art and video exhibition Adaptations, curated by Megan Irving and Sydney Waller, will be on view. On Saturday, November 9, after films set in Greece (While You Live, Shine) and Macedonia (Honeyland), filmgoers can enjoy a Taste of Greece dinner buffet. Select restaurants will offer Film Days specials. The Otsego Land Trust and Otsego County Conservation Association will lead free guided hikes. The Green Toad Bookstore will have a pop-up shop at the Fenimore Art Museum, featuring titles that complement the films. Filmgoers also may wish to visit Cooperstown's museums and galleries. The National Baseball Hall of Fame has an exhibit on Moe Berg, the subject of the film The Spy Behind Home Plate, and the Fenimore Art Museum has an exhibit on James Fenimore Cooper and his family. Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans was made into the silent film classic of the same name.

Film Days is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Lead grantors and sponsors also include: the Scriven Foundation, the Otsego County Community Grants Program, Brewery Ommegang, Black Stanley Studios, Robert Nelson and Van Broughton Ramsey, The Blue Mingo Grill, The White House Inn, and anonymous donors.

Venues and Tickets

Films will be screened at landmark Cooperstown attractions, including the Grandstand Theater at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Otesaga Hotel, the Fenimore Art Museum, The Farmers' Museum, Templeton Hall, and THE VILLAGE Hall.

Most film tickets are $6 in advance, $7 at the door. Use the discount code "Natty Bumppo" to get one free film ticket when you purchase six or more. The screening of The Last of the Mohicans with live accompaniment by Dennis James is $15 in advance, $20 at the door. The screening of Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA is also $15/$20, and includes Japanese appetizers. Tickets to events-the Opening Party, Taste of Greece Dinner Buffet, Sunday Brunch, and Wrap Party-are $25-$40 in advance, $30-45 at the door. A limited number of passes, which provide admission to all films and events, are available. Tickets are on sale any time online at glimmerglassfilmdays.org, and on Saturdays at the Cooperstown Farmers' Market, 101 Main Street in Cooperstown.

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