Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Special Events”
The second annual Climate Action Film Festival (CAFF) by SunCommon is a celebration of short films with a focus on solutions to the climate crisis. It is the first festival of its kind to exclusively feature storytelling around solutions rather than simply the impacts of climate change.
A great cast meets a great screenplay and are directed with a perfect touch. The stars align as Loretta (Cher), a young widow, has resigned herself to marry Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello), a man she does not love… until she meets his younger brother (Nicolas Cage) and sparks fly.
OUTDOOR SCREENING
Thursday, Aug 13th (raindate Sunday Aug 16th)
7pm @Cucina in Woodstock 9pm MOONSTRUCK under the stars
Ticket – $45 Upstate Films Members / $50 others
… includes Cucina’s Summer House BBQ w/ lobster rolls, chicken, pasta. Eat at socially distanced picnic tables before the movie. Bring blanket or portable seating. Only 45 spaces available.
Please support this Upstate Films’ fundraising show.
TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT ARE SOLD OUT
Cher won Best Actress, the great Olympia Dukakis won Best Supporting Actress, and the writer, John Patrick Shanley, the Bard of the Bronx, took home an Oscar for Original Screenplay at the 1988 Academy Awards. Although Nicolas Cage didn’t win, he’s perfect in the role as younger brother Ronny. The film centers on Loretta Castorini (Cher), a Brooklyn bookkeeper who has agreed to marry the best friend of her late husband who died seven years earlier. While Johnny’s out of town visiting his sick mother who controls his life, Loretta hand delivers an invite to the upcoming wedding to her soon to be brother-in-law, Ronny (Nicolas Cage). Sparks fly and Loretta becomes involved with Ronny, who tries to persuade her to break up with Johnny: “Love don’t make things nice. It ruins your life. It ain’t perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. We’re here to love the wrong people and break our hearts.” Or at least meet him at the Met for a performance of La Boheme. As the title song declares, “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.”
PG / 102 mins / US / dir by Norman Jewison / 1987
“Reviews tend to make it sound like a madcap ethnic comedy, and that it is. But there is something more here, a certain bittersweet yearning that comes across as ineffably romantic, and a certain magical quality.” – Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times
A funny and poignant coming-of-age story celebrating the love for friendship, romance and life.
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In honor of Women’s History Month, local filmmaker and historian Stephen Blauweiss will present a sampling from his collection of short films featuring past and present female artists and artisans from around the Hudson Valley.
Join us for a chance to walk the red carpet, eat great food, play trivia, win prizes, and fundraise for a good cause at this year’s Academy Awards Party in Rhinebeck! As always, this event is a benefit. This year, proceeds will be donated to the Hispanic Federation Unidos Disaster Relief & Recovery Program to Support Puerto Rico.
$15 suggested donation. All proceeds benefit Hispanic Federation Unidos
In commemoration of the two-year anniversary of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, join us for a one-night-only screening of this timely documentary.
SunCommon, New Yorkers for Clean Power and Upstate Films Theater are pleased to announce this New York premiere of the Climate Action Film Festival – A collection of short films from near and far featuring stories about those taking action against climate change.
WOODSTOCK: Sun. 2/16 at 1:30 – SOLD OUT
Screenings will be followed by Q&A with local organizations working to address climate change. $10 – $20 suggested donation. All proceeds benefit New Yorkers for Clean Power.
Delving as it does into the not-so-secret wounds carried by victims as well as victimizers, this personal film asks if it’s possible to forgive.
Eleven newly minted filmmakers, trained by the Hudson Valley Oral History Project to produce high-quality videos using professional production systems, premier four films they’ve made about local Rhinebeckians including Bentley Scholldorf, Sally Mazzarella, Luis Fernandez, and Peg Howe.
Josh (ORCHESTRA OF EXILES, SOUND AND FURY, TALENT HAS HUNGER) Aronson’s new film explores the stories of veterans returning home from the maw of war burdened with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who, paired with service dogs, discover a new measure of happiness and hope.
A cinematic journey that sounds the alarm that’s been ringing for more than a decade – no bees, no food.
“One of the most controversial American men of the 20th Century, Roy Cohn was a ruthless lawyer and political power broker whose 28-year career ranged from acting as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Communist-hunting subcommittee to molding the career of a young Queens real estate developer named Donald Trump.”
Friday, October 11th at 8:15 in Rhinebeck: Film, Q&A, and book signing with author Jake Bernstein. Each ticket includes a copy of The Laundromat (previously published as Secrecy World) by Jake Bernstein, courtesy of Netflix. Jake will sign books before the film begins.
CLICK here for Tickets (2 free per courtesy of Netflix) (*If asked for a code, enter: UpstateFilms)
The film is adapted from Secrecy World by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Jake Bernstein, and directed by Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies and Videotape, Erin Brockovich, The Limey, Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven, Contagion, Side Effects…)
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A stunning sensory experience and cinematic meditation on humanity’s massive reengineering of the planet, Anthropocene is a years-in-the-making feature documentary from the award-winning team behind Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark.
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October 3 – 6, Upstate Films will be showing films for the Woodstock Film Festival at both our Rhinebeck and Woodstock locations!
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The mystique of Greenwich Village as a haven for bohemians, artists, and musicians lives on at Carmine Street Guitars in this film by Ron (COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL, POETRY IN MOTION, GRASS, ALTMAN, etc) Mann.
Woodstock – Saturday August 17 – 2:30 matinee IN PERSON: Ron Mann … Also: Rick Kelly and Cindy Hulej of Carmine St Guitars…($11 & $9 upstatefilms’ members) Buy advance tkts
Wednesday, August 28th at 8:15 in Rhinebeck
Upstate Films and SunCommon present this FREE screening of filmmaker James Redford’s journey into the dawn of the clean energy era as it creates jobs, turns profits, and makes communities stronger and healthier across the US. The screening will be accompanied by a brief presentation from a representative from Citizen’s Climate Lobby, a non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change.
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In Person: Director Tom Donahue. Friday, August 16th at 8:15pm in Rhinebeck. Co-presented by the Woodstock Film Festival.
Told first-hand by some of the industry’s leading voices — including Executive Producer Geena Davis, living legends like Meryl Streep, and younger talent such as Yara Shahidi and Chloe Moretz — THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING uncovers what is behind one of the most confounding dilemmas in the entertainment industry… the under-representation and misrepresentation of women.
Click here to purchase tickets through the Woodstock Film Festival website in advance
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Best friends – one, Thelma, a bored housewife, the other, Louise, a straight-laced waitress at a coffee shop – have grown sick and tired of what they’ve settled for, and decide they need to take a break.
OUTDOOR SCREENING Saturday Aug 24 at Greig Farm, Red Hook (243 Pitcher Ln) … Bring a Picnic or Enjoy Papa’s Best Batch incredible edibles. (Online tickets will be available until the morning of the show. Tickets will also be on sale evening-of at Greig Farm.) GET ADVANCE TICKETS ON LINE here
Sunday, August 11th, followed by post-screening discussion with Guillermo Fesser
Filmed over six years, The Silence of Others reveals the epic struggle of victims of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, as they organize a groundbreaking international lawsuit and fight a “pact of forgetting” around the crimes they suffered. A powerful and poetic cautionary tale about fascism, and the dangers of forgetting the past.
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Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am offers an artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the legendary storyteller and Nobel prize-winner.
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In celebration of Plastic Free July, Upstate Films and SunCommon co-present this FREE screening! Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig’s debut feature is an unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water.
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The Black Maria Film Festival returns to Upstate Films Friday August 2nd! Named after Thomas Edison’s film studio, dubbed the “Black Maria” because of its resemblance to the black-box police paddy wagons of the same name, the program features a collection of award-winning works — including animation, narrative, and documentary films chosen by the festival jury. Immediately following the screening, Festival Director Jane Steuerwald will conduct a Q & A with the audience, along with filmmaker Seth Kramer & writer/performer Ann Talman. The show begins at 8:15pm and will take place at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck.
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Saturday July 27th at 1pm, join us for a film screening and dialogue about justice, accountability and forgiveness with teens from Northeast Community Center’s Youth Council and facilitators from the Mediation Center of Dutchess County. Read More
Sunday, July 21st at 1:30 in Woodstock
Director Jehane Noujaim & Executive Producer Sarah E. Johnson will be in attendance at this screening for a Q&A. Tickets $15
From award-winning filmmakers Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, THE GREAT HACK uncovers the dark world of data exploitation with astounding access to the personal journeys of key players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data scandal.
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This summer, you can read the book, watch the film, and see a live performance of The Secret Garden! The live production is currently running at the Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck (click here for details). And on Sunday, July 14th at 12:30pm, Upstate Films and Oblong Books will co-present a special screening of the 1993 film adaptation starring Maggie Smith, followed by an informal book group discussion. Click here to purchase film screening tickets in advance. Click here to purchase the book online through Oblong Books.
Following a silent film version in 1919 and a dramatic rendition in 1949, Agnieszka Holland’s The Secret Garden became the third, and to date the most definitive, adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel for the big screen. Both a critical and a commercial success at the time of its release, Maggie Smith received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in the film, and the British Film Institute today includes it in their list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.
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Saturday June 29th at 1pm in Rhinebeck, join us for a work-in-progress screening and discussion about women at the forefront of science and farming. The discussion will be moderated by Danielle Nierenberg, President and Founder of Food Tank, an organization highlighting stories of hope and success in the food system. Panelists also include investigative journalist and filmmaker Amy Wu; Le Vuong, Founder and CEO of Fishrock Laboratories; Tinia Pina, sustainability professional and Founder & CEO of Re-Nuble, and Lindsey Shute from Hearty Roots Farm. This is a FREE screening. Donations taken at the door will benefit the completion of the Farms to Incubators initiative, which includes the documentary and an upcoming book.
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What took place in that teeming mass of humanity — the rain-soaked, starving, tripping, half a-million strong throng of young people — was nothing less than a miracle of unity, a manifestation of the “peace and love” the festival had touted.
Presented in association with the One Mile Gallery, Upstate Films presents filmmaker/cultural iconoclast/artist Guy Maddin in person, with his homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s spellbinding VERTIGO. Admission $12/$10 seniors/$8 members. Click here to purchase tickets in advance
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AMAZING GRACE captures Aretha Franklin at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in January 1972.
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In Person: Producer & Star Alan Ssali Hofmanis. Thursday, May 30th at 9:15 in Woodstock
Welcome to Wakaliwood, Uganda: home of “DA BEST OF DA BEST MOVIES!” and the vanguards of DIY commando cinema. Under the guidance of writer/producer/director Nabwana Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey (IGG) and with producer/star Alan Ssali Hofmanis, this crack crew of self-taught filmmakers and martial arts aficionados produce dozens of gonzo action films in the Kampala ghetto with budgets that rarely exceed $200 USD.
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Sold Out… Sunday, May 5th at 12:30 in Rhinebeck, join Upstate Films and Oblong Books for a special screening and discussion with author Neil Gaiman. Tickets $18 Adults / $15 Seniors and Students / $12 Members and Kids under 16.
When Coraline moves to a new home in this stop-motion animated tale, she feels neglected by her stressed-out parents but soon finds a magic portal leading to a parallel world where everything seems perfect.
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Back in the mid-1940s in the heyday of the studio system a tug of war throw-down between a studio and its head – Fox and Darryl Zanuck – and a director – Otto Preminger- miraculously resulted in a hit film noir that decades later, in 1999, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”, and was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the 10 best mystery films of all time.
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AMAZING GRACE captures Aretha Franklin at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in January 1972. Read More
This powerful film gives voice and body(ies) to the term “refugees” as it accompanies a family on foot from Aleppo, Syria on their trek to reach relatives in Germany. Join us Saturday, April 13th at noon for a screening and discussion with filmmaker Joshua Bennett; Lea Matheson, senior advisor on migration and humanitarian issues in the Office of the President at the UN; Vassar College professor Maria Höhn, co-founder of the Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance and Director of the Consortium on Forced Displacement, Migration, and Education; and Ahed Festuk, an activist from Aleppo who is now living in NY, and who was one of the pioneering women demonstrators against Bashar al-Assad. This event is being presented for FREE. Donations taken at the door will benefit the Refugee Welcome Corporation in Albany (suggested donation $10).
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From award-winning filmmaker Dan Habib comes Intelligent Lives, a catalyst to transform the label of intellectual disability from a life sentence of isolation into a life of possibility for some of the most systematically segregated people in America. Join us for a special benefit screening (suggested donation $10) on Saturday, March 16th at noon, followed by a panel discussion anchored by Richard Feldman and Janice Fialka, who are featured in the film; Renee Brenner, ECDC specialist from Independent Living, Inc & Co-Chair for the Mid-Hudson Special Education Task Force; Diann Keyser, Supervisor for Care Management at the Resource Center for Accessible Learning; and Rhinebeck mayor Gary Bassett. Proceeds will benefit Rhinebeck’s Autism Supportive Committee (#1thing).
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March 31st at noon, Upstate Films and Oblong Books are featuring the Dickens classic Great Expectations with the 1946 Academy Award-winning film directed by David Lean, starring John Mills, Jean Simmons, Valerie Hobson and Sir Alec Guinness. Read the book, then see the film!
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The David-and-Goliath story of Israel’s national baseball team, Heading Home tells the tale of the underdog crew that warmed the hearts of Jewish people across the globe as they competed in their very first World Baseball Classic.
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In this landmark film by acclaimed director Oren Rudavsky, Adam Driver is the narrator while Liev Schreiber, Tim Blake Nelson and Rachel Brosnahan voice key roles; together, they bring to life the virtually unknown American icon.
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Join us for a chance to walk the red carpet, eat great food, play trivia, win prizes, and fundraise for a good cause at this year’s Academy Awards Party in Rhinebeck! As always, this event is a benefit. This year, proceeds will be donated to The Hudson Valley Oral History Project.
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Although 59 percent of US adults say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, it remains one of the most divisive issues in America. Join us Saturday, February 9th at noon in Rhinebeck for a benefit screening of selected shorts from Bill Moyers’ No Choice series, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Elana Michelson, SUNY Empire State College professor, activist, and author. The panel will also feature Ruth-Ellen Blodgett, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Mid-Hudson Valley; Robin Marty, author of Handbook for a Post-Roe America; Shannon Wong, Chapter Director of the NYCLU Lower Hudson Valley Chapter, and Eileen Meltzer, nurse practitioner. Proceeds from this screening will benefit Planned Parenthood of the Mid-Hudson Valley. Suggested donation $10.
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Join us February 15th at 8:15pm in Rhinebeck for a tribute to disco! Scott Taylor, a former Studio 54 bartender; Myra Sheer, Steve Rubell’s assistant; and Susan Shapiro, one of the videographers who contributed original footage to Tyrnauer’s documentary, will be at the screening in person for a Q&A. Come in costume! A prize will be awarded for the best outfit. Tickets $12 Adults / $10 Seniors & Students / $8 Members. Proceeds from this screening will benefit LEAF of the Hudson Valley, a legal environmental advocacy fund protecting natural resources and curbing overdevelopment in Rockland County. Online ticket sales have ended, but tickets are still available for purchase at the box office, beginning at 1:45 today.
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Written by one of Britain’s best-loved playwrights Alan Bennett (The History Boys, The Lady in the Van), this epic play was also adapted into a BAFTA Award-winning film following its premiere on stage in 1991.
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Legendary blues musician Paul Butterfield was a white, teen-age harmonica player who grew up on Chicago’s south side where he learned the blues from the original black masters performing nightly in his own back yard. Muddy Waters became Paul’s mentor and lifelong friend, happy to share his wisdom and expertise with such a gifted young acolyte.
Post-Screening Q&A with Gabe Butterfield at Upstate & later at Colony 8pm – Gabe Butterfield & Friends play the music of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
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Wednesday, November 28th at 8:20 in Rhinebeck
Boundary-pushing cinema-provocateur Lars von Trier’s (BREAKING THE WAVES, DANCER IN THE DARK, MELANCHOLIA, ANTICHRIST, etc) latest, THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, has its North American premiere Wednesday, November 28, with a special one-night-only show of the director’s cut – the version shown at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where the director was greeted with a 10-minute standing ovation and where the film, the tale of a serial killer, prompted many to walk out. Not for the faint-hearted.
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In Person: Director Jeff Springer. Friday, November 16th at 8:15pm in Rhinebeck
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina put 80% of New Orleans underwater and demolished nearly all waterfront structures. But this film is not about Katrina, it is about the larger region south of New Orleans that survived the hurricane and is now facing its latest threat — hordes of monstrous 20 pound rodents known as “nutria”.
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Academy Award Nominee – Best Documentary Feature
In Hale County This Morning, This Evening, RaMell Ross offers an inspired and intimate portrait of a place and its people.
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