Woodstock Film Festival Announces Return to In-Person Format

The Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) announced TODAY that it will return to using indoor venues in Woodstock, Kingston and Saugerties for its upcoming 22nd anniversary slated for September 30 - October 3, 2021. Tom Quinn, CEO and Founder of the groundbreaking film distribution company NEON, will be the recipient of the Woodstock Film Festival's 2021 Honorary Trailblazer Award. The news comes at the heels of a period of restructuring for WFF, which added seven new members to its Board of Directors this year. The Woodstock Film Festival is also excited to unveil its official poster for its 2021 outing, which was designed by artist and graphic designer McKenna Wood.

The upcoming fall film festival will be the first time WFF has used sit-in movie theaters in over a year after adopting a hybrid drive-in and online model for its 2020 edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to in-person screenings and events, the 2021 festival will also include an online program of shorts, feature-length films and live-streamed panels that can be watched from home. Passes for both programs are now available for purchase here.

"2020 was a challenging year that pushed us to think outside the box and create innovative new programming while exploring new platforms to host our events," said Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder & Executive Director Meira Blaustein. "I look forward to welcoming back filmmakers and audiences to a full blown film festival that is stronger than ever."

The Woodstock Film Festival's Honorary Trailblazer Award is given to a leader in the film and media arts industry who has carved innovative paths in the business, establishing independent vision, affecting social change, and creating strong and widespread appreciation of quality, substantive filmmaking. The award was originally planned to be presented to Tom Quinn in 2020, but was postponed to this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Quinn was chosen for his commitment towards taking bold, creative risks through acquiring and distributing films that exist outside of cookie-cutter Hollywood conventions, like Bong Joon Ho's PARASITE, which made history in 2020 with four Academy Awards®, becoming the first non-English-language film to claim best picture. To see the original 2020 press release click here.

All of these announcements come at the tail end of several big changes for WFF, which included paying off the mortgage of its headquarters in Woodstock, New York, creating new programmatic initiatives, and welcoming several new members to its Board of Directors and Advisory Board. Joining the festival's leadership team on its Board of Directors are producer Declan Baldwin of Big Indie Pictures, entertainment attorney / producer Jonathan Gray of Gray Schwartz LLP, executive producer / human rights champion Sarah Johnson, Vicki Chesler of Highpoint Ventures, producer Peter Saraf, realtor Glenda Milner of Woodstock's Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty and director / producer Lacey Schwartz Delgado. Joining the festival's Advisory Board of film industry luminaries are award-winning documentarian Pamela Yates, Emmy-nominated producer Blair Breard, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Heidi Ewing, industry veteran Emily Rothschild and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Rachel Grady.

Keeping pace with the Mid-Hudson Valley's growth as an artistic hub, the 2021 Woodstock Film Festival will have a strong presence in several of the region's major locales. Festival films will screen at the masterfully renovated Bearsville Center, including the Bearsville Theater and Utopia Studio, as well as at the newly independent Tinker Street Cinema and the historic Woodstock Playhouse. Returning to the festival fold after a brief hiatus is the Orpheum Theatre in Saugerties, now owned by longtime WFF friend Upstate Films. Panels featuring intimate conversations with actors and creatives will be hosted on the bucolic grounds of White Feather Farm. WFF's signature Maverick Awards ceremony will be held at Ulster County Performing Arts Center (UPAC) in Kingston. Parties for attending filmmakers and industry members will occur at several soon-to-be-announced locations.

The official poster for the 22nd Annual Woodstock Film Festival was created by former WFF employee McKenna Wood. A graphic designer and artist based out of Highland, New York, Wood started as an intern in WFF's operations department while completing her undergraduate studies at SUNY New Paltz. After graduating in May of 2020, she joined the Woodstock Film Festival team as the Volunteer & Hospitality Coordinator for the festival's 21st anniversary.

"The natural beauty of the Hudson Valley has inspired artists for generations," said Wood. "I wanted to communicate through this poster the layers of connective tissue that link the region's scenic landscapes to the people who use them as a basis for their own creative work."