Hudson Valley Crucial Viewing: October 11- 24

Hello to all you cinephiles out there! It’s been an action-packed month for Kingston Film Foundation! Last Sunday’s screening of Moonstruck at Midtown Linear Park was our biggest ever. Huge thanks to the Midtown Business Alliance and the City of Kingston for sponsoring, and to Masa Midtown, Samosa Shack and Kingston Standard for their foods and drinks.

Also: we’ve taken our first steps towards establishing a screening room in Kingston for repertory, classic and arthouse cinema. We can’t get into too many details yet, but we can let you know that our fundraising appeals are forthcoming. Many of you have expressed interest in volunteering to help us out, and we’re happy to oblige, particularly if you have experience in the world of development or grant writing. If you are this person, or know someone who might be this person, let’s talk! You can reply to this email to get the conversation going.

Before we get into this week’s choices, a note from Bel, our resident critic:

Hi y’all! The calendar for the Hudson Valley is packed for the tail end of this month and I just wanted to put in a little aside at the top to encourage you all to seriously consider making it out for some of these. Woodstock Film Festival often gets overlooked in the larger festival circuit but this year is its 25th anniversary and you should really try to see at least one film if you can. We’re including a guide to our most anticipated from the festival at the bottom of the newsletter, so peruse it at your leisure. Otherwise, lots of spooky second-run screenings for the Halloween season! It’s a great two weeks of cinema and, with the weather finally moving away from summer temps, there’s no better time than now to get into the habit of posting up in a dark room to watch a movie a night or two out of the week. There’s a lot to consider so I’m gonna try and keep it short and sweet this time around. Let's get into the films.

F.W. Murnau's NOSFERATU
w/ live score by Mark Perro
Story Screen Cinema, Hudson – Saturday, October 12, 6:45pm

I recently watched E. Elias Merhige’s brilliant Shadow of the Vampire for the first time and it really inspired me to revisit some of the classics of early cinema horror, with Nosferatu (obviously) being at the top of the list. We’ve generally lost a lot of patience for films from the silent era. Their visual style, performances, and pacing are so foreign to us now, especially for a younger viewing audience that’s so accustomed to the visual noise and chaos of big budget, studio films. Nosferatu is no exception to that visual language, but it helps make a strong argument for why we should encourage people to look back more often. F.W. Murnau’s visual language is so striking, and his adaptation of Dracula (changed for legal purposes) has left an indelible mark on the vampire genre. It would be easy to posit that he is equally as influential as Stoker in the modern conception of the vampire. Nosferatu won’t scare you, but it will stay with you after watching. Roger Ebert said it best: “...the film is in awe of its material. It seems to really believe in vampires…Nosferatu remains effective: It doesn’t scare us, but it haunts us.”  (1922, 81min)

Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez's THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
w/ director Eduardo Sanchez and actors Joshua Leonard & Michael C. Williams
Old Dutch Church, Kingston – Sunday, October 13, 7:00pm

I feel like once a month I start one of these with the sentiment of “what is there, really, left to say about this movie?” Blair Witch feels like one of those instances. This film feels so ubiquitous for young millennials. My freshman year of college it felt like it was the movie that got suggested anytime more than 3 people were crammed into an awful, cramped dorm room. But the more I think about how many times I’ve seen this movie the more I think “how?” It’s not that it’s bad. It’s a fantastic film that pioneered early found footage stylings. We wouldn’t have had the Paranormal Activity-fueled found footage boom of the 2000s without it. More so I ask because it's a deeply disarming, psychologically torturous film. Everytime I watch it I’m filled with deep, affecting dread. I hope this doesn’t make it sound horrible, because if you’ve seen it you know it's not. It’s just extremely good at achieving what it sets out to do. You feel, as the viewer, the same terror as its characters. It’s eerie, loose story and legendary ending fully encapsulate a visionary filmmaking that fuses fact and fiction and really does make you leave wondering if it could’ve been real. It’s one of the best, and watching it in a church sounds terrifying and delightful. [Ed. note: This particular screening of The Blair Witch Project is special because it features appearances by original cast members Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard- who have been struggling to be appropriately compensated for their work in the film. You can read more about that story here. This screening even being allowed to happen was the result of a prolonged battle between the original actors and Lionsgate. It should be a special night, and I encourage you to attend.] (1999, 81min)

Three films by Michelangelo Antonioni (L’AVENTURA, L’ECLISSE, RED DESERT)
TSL, Hudson – starting Friday, October 11

Writing this is going to be hard for me. Antonioni was my first real obsession in film school. I tried to learn Italian because of this trilogy of films. I was maniacal in my desire to translate them, to unearth what felt like these hidden, secret meanings behind his images that got lost in the bluntness of subtitles. It’s pretty hard to stress how affecting I find these films. They’re haunting and beautiful, obsessed with history and intimacy and the power of the camera in telling our stories. I’m sad to see La Notte left out of this trilogy but I understand why. Red Desert represents his transition towards international cinema and the Antonioni (of The Blow-Up renown) that most people are familiar with. But his work in black and white from directly after the war is such an important part of international cinema history and has shaped the language of film so much. If you haven’t seen any of these I strongly encourage you to catch at least one. L’Avventura is easily my favorite, but I promise you won’t be disappointed by any of them. Antonioni shaped the image of the auteur as much as Godard did. You really should take a look. (L’Avventura: 1960, 143min. L’Eclisse: 1962, 125min. Red Desert: 1964, 117min)

Special Halloween Double Feature!
Dario Argento’s DEEP RED and Roger Corman’s BUCKET OF BLOOD
World’s End Comics, Kingston – Saturday, October 19, 6:30pm

Shout out to Joey for this amazing horror double feature at World’s End. What a fun bill. Deep Red is a classic Italian giallo flick from the legend Dario Argento (he did more than Suspiria, and they’re all good!). It has an incredible score from italian prog-rock band Goblin (frequent collaborators with Argento) and offers up the typical, blood soaked, oversaturated visuals that are hallmarks of the giallo genre. It’s as beautiful to look at as it is disturbing and it’s an incredibly fun romp through a twisting, psychological plot. A Bucket of Blood is the first of three collaborations between director Roger Corman and writer Charles B. Griffith. My theater kids in the audience might recognize those names from Little Shop of Horrors. A Bucket of Blood is tonally similar, fitting into a darkly satirical take on the horror genre. If this original trailer doesn’t charm you into wanting to watch it I don’t know that I’ll be able to. It’s a delightful parody of beatnik, SoCal arts culture of the late 50s and early 60s, and reminds me so much of the best of nickel shop horror paperbacks, with a little more self-aware irony. This is going to be such a great time. (Deep Red: 1975, 98min. A Bucket of Blood: 1959, 65min.)

Rupert Julian's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
w/ live organ accompaniment
UPAC, Kingston – Thursday, October 24, 7:30pm

We’re wrapping up this two week period with another legendary silent horror film. We all know Phantom of the Opera (whether we want to or not.) While the contemporary adaptation is controversial (I find it to be totally ridiculous but great with a group) the 1925 film is what started it all. I won’t repeat my sentiments from Nosferatu here but know that it all still stands. This movie is worth it, especially for the legendary performance from Lon Chaney Sr. His performance as the titular Phantom is deeply humanist. He was legendary in early Hollywood for his performances as grotesque creatures with deep pathos (he also played the Hunchback of Notre Dame!) and his work as a makeup artist was revolutionary. Plus there’s a live organist! I don’t know about you but nothing is ever more fun than seeing a movie with a live score. It really brings everything to life. This is a great way to come up on the end of the month, and I’m sure we’ll have a few more horror-highlights in two weeks, but for now, you’ve got a lot of great ones to choose from. (1925, 107min)

WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL PICKS: A by-no-means-definitive list of films that appeal to us at this year’s Woodstock Film Festival!

Joshua Oppenheimer’s THE END - Wednesday, 10/16, 1pm, Woodstock Playhouse
Ryan J. Sloan’s GAZER - Thursday, 10/17, 10:30am, Tinker St. Cinema
Payal Kapadia’s ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT - Friday, 10/18, 10:30am, Tinker St. Cinema
Kaniehtiio Horn’s SEEDS - Friday, 10/18, 6:30pm, Tinker St. Cinema
Paul Schrader’s OH, CANADA - Saturday, 10/19, 12:30pm, Woodstock Playhouse
RaMell Ross’ NICKEL BOYS - Sunday, 10/20, 5:00pm, Orpheum