We’re closed for 2020
UPDATE: With COVID-19 infection rates on the rise, we have decided to not reopen in the near future. While we would love to be showing films again on the big screen, the safety of our community and our staff is paramount. We plan to reopen sometime in 2021, our 49th year in the biz.
We look forward to the day when we can welcome you back in person. Maybe it’ll be sooner than we think. In the meantime, we will continue to offer you films you can enjoy from home through our Virtual Screening Room.
And soon, we welcome and look forward to new leadership on all fronts.
Welcome to the Upstate Films Virtual Cinema
Welcome to the Upstate Films Virtual Cinema
Upstate Films is closed for the foreseeable future, but we still want to bring you some of the programming that we were planning on screening this spring. In partnership with select distributors, we are happy to bring you Virtual Screening Rooms. Purchase a ticket through one of the links offered on our website, and watch the movie in the comfort and safety of your own home.
Just as with a real ticket, the proceeds will be split between Upstate Films and the distributors. Your ticket allows you to watch the film for a specified period of time, and you'll be able to stream it on compatible streaming devices, your mobile device or your computer browser. Please see our Virtual Screening Room FAQ for more information.
- With La Strada Fellini left behind the familiar signposts of Italian neorealism for a poetic fable of love and cruelty, evoking brilliant performances and winning the hearts of audiences and critics worldwide.
- Pietro Marcello’s Italian-language adaptation of Jack London’s 1909 novel features an intense performance by Luca Marinelli who, in the title role of an unschooled aspiring writer consumed by love, ambition and politics, won the Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.
- Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy’s laconic answer to Larry David, returns to the humanist comic territory of his arthouse hits Mid-August Lunch and The Salt of Life with Citizens of the World, a warm and delightful reflection on life with characters you’ll want to spend more time with after the credits roll.
- Renowned neurologist and literary giant Oliver Sacks is posthumously celebrated in this profound, highly engaging, deeply personal memoir.
- The unique personal journey of this diminutive, quiet warrior's rise to the nation's highest court is the subject of RBG, a revelatory documentary exploring Ginsburg 's exceptional life and career from directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen.
- Tony Le Stéphanois (Jean Servais), back from prison after taking a rap for Jo le Suédois (Carl Möhner), is ready to settle a few scores and mastermind a brilliant jewel heist. A worldwide smash hit, Rififi earned director Jules Dassin the Best Director prize at Cannes and set the standard for screen robberies for decades to come. (via Rialto)
- Adapted from the bestselling novel by Norwegian author Per Petterson, OUT STEALING HORSES stars Stellan Skarsgård as a grieving widower whose encounter with an old acquaintance from his youth causes him to recollect his own coming of age in 1948. Confronting feelings of guilt from events long ago, he summons wisdom from the past to help him deal with the grief of the present. The Norwegian entry for best international entry at this year's Oscars, the film combines first rate performances with the alluring backdrop of the harsh Norwegian countryside.
- A provocative coming-of-age story, Jennifer Venditti’s debut film, BILLY THE KID (2007), is an acclaimed odyssey into the soul of an American teenager. Venditti follows Billy as he navigates small town Maine, grappling with isolation and first-time love, and traversing the frustrating gap between imagination and reality. Exhilarating and heartfelt, the film grants an intimate, empathetic view of an expressive and seemingly fearless outsider and provides an unvarnished and unique snapshot into what it’s like to grow up in America.
- Werner Herzog turns the camera on himself and his decades-long friendship with the late author Bruce Chatwin, a kindred spirit whose quest for ecstatic truth carried him to all corners of the globe. Herzog’s deeply personal portrait of Chatwin, illustrated with archival discoveries, film clips, and a mound of “brontosaurus skin,” encompasses their shared interest in aboriginal cultures, ancient rituals, and the mysteries stitching together life on earth.
- Chronicles John Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform and immigration.
- Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on Time's list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power...
- A dazzling, course correcting documentary that describes not only the life and craft of af Klint, but also the history of her rejection and rediscovery by the art world.
- A beguiling new documentary offering a tour of New York City through the lens of the passionate and often eccentric individuals who love, collect and sell vintage and antique books.
- In a remote Icelandic town, an off-duty police chief (a chilling Ingvar Sigurdsson, who received Cannes’ Critics’ Week award for Best Actor for his performance) begins to suspect a local man of having had an affair with his late wife, who died in a tragic accident two years earlier. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth takes over his life and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones.
Upstate Chats
Thelma Adams Chats with Patrick Harrison
Film critic and author Thelma Adams sits down to talk about the past, present, and future of movies with Patrick Harrison, Director of Membership/New York Programming for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Thelma Adams chats with film distributor/maven Richard Abramowitz
Wow! It’s nearly three months since we closed due to the pandemic. We’ve been presenting films in our Virtual Cinema. And we’re fortunate to have Thelma Adams, twice chair of the NY Film Critics Circle & novelist (The Last Woman Standing), talking with folks from the film world. Here she has an outdoor socially distanced chat with Richard Abramowitz who’s worn many hats in the film business during the past forty years. Currently Richard runs his own outfit, Abramorama that is the preeminent global theatrical distribution and rights management partner for music films and is recognized for the consistent high quality of its work on award winning films such as Ron Howard’s Grammy Award®-winning The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years. Click here to watch.
Thelma Adams chats with Upstate Films about Pauline Kael
Despite being “shuttered” for the time being, we are presenting films in our Virtual Cinema. And now we’re even ready for our “close-up” as film critic. Steve Leiber, co-director of Upstate Films, had a chance recently to talk with Thelma Adams, twice chair of the NY Film Critics Circle & novelist (The Last Woman Standing), about the doyenne of film critics, Pauline Kael, the subject of WHAT SHE SAID: PAULINE KAEL, now playing in our Virtual Cinema. Read More
In 2022 Upstate Films will celebrate its 50th anniversary. After nearly five decades of running Upstate, its co-founders and Executive Directors, Steve Leiber and DeDe Leiber, will soon be retiring. Upstate is now seeking a new Executive Director to whom they can “pass the reels” (actually, Upstate went digital in 2013).Please support our business sponsors.
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