FilmColumbia to present more than 40 films at 18th festival
Chatham, N.Y. — The Chatham Film Club will present FilmColumbia 2017 Sunday, Oct. 22, through Sunday, Oct. 29. The film festival will feature a diverse collection of film shorts, documentaries and filmmaker question-and-answer sessions in addition to more than 40 independent and international offerings. FilmColumbia will also produce a special pre-festival tribute to multiple award-winning actor Frank Langella Friday, Oct. 20, and Saturday, Oct. 21, which will include screenings of four of his films, a question-and-answer session with the actor and a benefit cocktail party with a live auction.
FilmColumbia will highlight the latest work of talented international filmmakers, including seven films selected as their countries’ submissions to this year’s Academy Awards in the Foreign Language category. The films are Sweden’s “The Square” (Sunday, Oct. 22, at 3 p.m.), which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival; South Africa’s “The Wound” (Monday, Oct. 23, at 2 p.m.) telling the story of a boy’s secret rite of passage to manhood and the sparks that fly in the process; Chile’s “A Fantastic Woman” (Monday, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m.) the story of a transgendered waitress in Santiago grieving the death of her lover; France’s “120 Beats Per Minute” (Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 4:30 p.m.), winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes; Austria’s “Happy End” (Thursday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m.), featuring Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant as a daughter and father in a darkly comic “sequel” to Amour; Russia’s “Loveless” (Friday, Oct. 27, at noon), a devastating look into the conflicted soul of Putin’s Russia through a divorcing middle-class couple; and Germany’s “In the Fade” (Saturday, Oct. 28, at 2:30 p.m.) a revenge thriller starring Diane Kruger.
FilmColumbia 2017’s programming features films meant to generate audience and pre-Oscar conversation, including “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 8 p.m., which is based on a memoir by actor Peter Turner about his love affair with Hollywood legend Gloria Grahame and starring Annette Bening, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Walters and Jamie Bell. The schedule for Friday, Oct. 27, will include Helen Whitney’s “Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death” at 5 p.m., a documentary on dying which will be followed by a talkback with Whitney; and “The Leisure Seeker” at 8 p.m., starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland as they escape from their doctors and overprotective grown children on a road trip that reawakens their passion for life and their love for each other. On Saturday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m., “Call Me by Your Name” from Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino will be featured, followed by a talkback with the film’s screenwriter, James Ivory, as well as Timothée Chalamet, Peter Spears and André Aciman, on whose book the movie is based.
Beginning Friday, Oct. 27, and running through Sunday, Oct. 29, the Morris Memorial will host a series of special events including four separate collections of film shorts; Gary Leib’s “Animation for Grownups;” a selection of the best in cutting-edge animation, and “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.”, the directorial debut of Karen Allen that is based on a Carson McCullers short story.
On Saturday, Oct. 28, at 9:30 a.m., Tracy Memorial Village Hall, 77 Main St., will host the return of the Screenwriters’ Workshop, moderated by actor Scott Cohen and screenwriter Anastasia Traina. Screenwriters interested in having their work featured are asked to bring 10 copies of up to 15 pages of their screenplays, which will be read on a first-come, first-served basis.
Films will be screened at the Crandell Theatre and Morris Memorial. For tickets, more information and a full screening schedule, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call (518) 392-3445.
–E.E.
