2 HUDSON VALLEY PRODUCED FILMS WIN BIG AT SUNDANCE

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THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST, based on the coming-of-age teen novel by Emily M. Danforth has won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

The film, which was directed by Desiree Akhavan, was produced in the Hudson Valley in November and December of 2016. The story centers on a teenage girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) who is outed as a lesbian and sent to a gay conversion therapy center by her evangelical aunt. Sasha Lane, Forrest Goodluck and John Gallagher Jr. co-star.

Director and screenwriter Christina Choe was awarded the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for NANCY, which was produced in the Hudson Valley in January of 2017. The film follows a young woman (played by Andrea Riseborough) with a habit for spinning fantastical stories around her quiet life as a temp. When she sees a report on TV about parents whose daughter was abducted years prior, the photofit of what she might look like today looks similar enough to Nancy that she reaches out to them. The film also features John Leguizamo and Steve Buscemi.

THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST was directed by Desiree Akhavan and based on the coming-of-age teen novel by Emily M. Danforth. Production took place at the end of 2016. The film commission worked with Unit Production Manager Rob Cristiano who has worked in the Hudson several times for productions including THE STRANGE ONES and MY FIRST KISS. THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST filmed in Saugerties, Catskill, and the high school scenes were filmed at Coxsackie High School. Local extras were cast by casting director Heidi Eklund of Hudson Valley Casting.

NANCY, directed by Christina Choe, stars Andrea Riseborough and two part time Hudson Valley residents John Leguizamo and Steve Buscemi.  The film came to our attention via production supervisor Kara Janesko, an Ulster County resident who worked on IT COMES AT NIGHT (currently on Netflix) in 2016. The film commission helped with casting, crew and location referrals. Executive producer Mynette Louie has attended the Woodstock Film Festival several times (CALIFORNIA SOLO, ARCADIA, CHILDREN OF INVENTION, MUTUAL APPRECIATION) and has brought several films to the Hudson Valley, including THE STRANGE ONES (currently in theaters), and COLD COMES THE NIGHT. Producer Michele Cameron has also worked on quite a few films in the region including GROWING UP SMITH, HITS and FIRST WINTER. 

For more SUNDANCE AWARD INFO, see Hollywood Reporter

Hudson Valley films have had past success at Sundance with several films winning major prizes including:

PERSONAL VELOCITY (2002 release but produced in 2001) by Rebecca Miller
*Won Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film and the Cinematography Award (Ellen Kuras)

DOWN TO THE BONE (2004 release but produced in 2003) by Debra Granick
*Won Sundance Director's Award (Debra Granik) and the Special Jury Prize (Vera Farmiga)

STEPHANIE DALEY (2006 release but produced in 2005) by Hilary Brougher
*Won Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award 

MAN ON WIRE (2008) by James Marsh
* Won Sundance Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema Documentary and the World Cinema Audience Award

SMASH HIS CAMERA (2010) by Leon Gast
*Won Sundance directing award for Documentary Film

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (2011) by Sean Durkin
*Won Sundance U.S. Directing Award for Best Drama

FILM NEEDS ORCHARD OF GNARLED TREES

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Feature film by acclaimed horror director is looking for an orchard of gnarly trees on either side of the river... Town of Ulster and Rhinebeck area preferable. Does not have to be a working orchard. Old dead trees would be better. Filming in late February or March.

What's the creepiest orchard you know of?
Please send ideas or photos to filmcommission@me.com and we'll pass your email on to production.

THE STRANGE ONES OPENS IN 11 CITIES ACROSS USA

On location with THE STRANGE ONES (starring Alex Pettyfer) in WIllow, NY

On location with THE STRANGE ONES (starring Alex Pettyfer) in WIllow, NY

THE STRANGE ONES, will open at the Quad Cinema in NYC this Friday, January 5 with showtimes at 2:50pm, 7pm and 9pm throughout the weekend. The 7pm Friday screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Lauren Wolkstein and Chris Radcliff. 

The film also opens in 10 other cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, Denver, Orlando, Baltimore, and Kansas City. If you're unable to make it to the theater, please know that the movie will also be available on iTunes and your Video-On-Demand service, and Hulu will also be streaming the film this year. 

The Los Angeles Times called THE STRANGE ONES, "an artful, boundary-pushing debut from Radcliffe and Wolkstein." Film School Rejects called it: "masterful and unforgettable."

The feature film was produced with help from the Hudson Valley Film Commission during the summer of 2016. Locations included places in Cornwall, New Hampton, Cornwall-on-Hudson, Willow, Accord, Kerhonkson, Rosendale, Catskill, Phoenicia, Malden-on-Hudson, Walden, Goshen, West Hurley, and SPAF in Saugerties. 

Producer Ben Packman wrote: "The Hudson Valley Film Commission provided a tremendous amount of help in facilitating our production. Whether it was suggesting locations, caterers, lodging, they were extremely organized and prompt in helping us find everything we needed."

THE STRANGE ONES, which screened at the 2017 Woodstock Film Festival, follows two travelers on the road. A young man (Alex Pettyfer) and a boy (James Freedson-Jackson), appear to be on an adventure across an undefined remote American landscape. We assume they are two brothers on vacation, yet something feels off kilter. Who are these men and what are they after? The outstanding performances in this atmospheric thriller are a tour de force and the unforeseeable events furnish unsettling suspense. The often wet, blurry landscape, the repetitive background sounds of nature, and the determined facial expressions of the duo are one moment tender, hostile the next, with a guarded innocence on the face of the boy who falsely calls himself Jeremiah, coalesce into unease as we fear for the boy's safety. Even when circumstances become dire, their relationship remains enigmatic, as Jeremiah accepts the aid of sympathetic strangers, without revealing the true nature of their connection.

Directors Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein are NYC-based filmmakers best known for their award-winning short films, including THE STRANGE ONES, which screened at the 2011 Woodstock Film Festival in 2011, and SOCIAL BUTTERFLY, which screened at the 2013 Woodstock FIlm Festival. Their first feature film, THE STRANGE ONES, (an adaptation of their short film of the same name) premiered at SXSW 2017.

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As a not-for-profit, 501c3 organization, the Hudson Valley Film Commission promotes and create sustainable economic development by supporting and attracting film, video and media production in the Hudson Valley and Catskills. The organization has worked with over 500 films by providing help with locations, cast & crew referrals, vendors and more since 2000.

2017 BRINGS 300 PERCENT INCREASE IN DIRECT SPENDING

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2017 was a turning point thanks to additional film tax credits that were finally passed for the region in late 2016. Overall, the State of New York broke film and television production records in all areas, by hosting 225 productions that generated nearly $4 billion in New York spend and nearly a quarter of a million hires.

We also broke records! Based on early data we have received, we are predicting a 300 percent increase in local direct spending, which supports jobs, lodging and the hiring of local vendors. 2017 brought bigger productions and more jobs to the region than ever before, from major companies including Paramount, Netflix, Amazon Studios and more.

The Hudson Valley Film Commission worked closely with all these films on many levels, continuing to advance job opportunities, general prosperity and long-term economic vitality in the region. For 2018, we are already working on a dozen film productions.

Looking back at 2017, there were many highlights.
The year kicked off with films starring four amazing women – Melissa Leo, Anna Paquin, Whoopi Goldberg, Marissa Tomei – who had one thing in common. You guessed it, they have all won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress. Another point of interest was the fact that over a third of the movies produced, were directed by women, including Sarah Daggar-Nickson, Laurie Collyer, Christina Choe, Jennifer Morrison, Sarah Pirozek, Jenn Wexler, Anja Murmann.

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January through March brought other sensational projects, and actors to the region, including Mary Kay Place (DIANE) and Olivia Wilde (A VIGILANTE). Steve Buscemi, John Leguizamo, and Andrea Riseborough co-starred in Christina Choe's NANCY, which will world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018.

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March also brought Tessa Thompson (WESTWORLD) and La La Anthony (POWER), when they joined Melissa Leo, Anna Paquin, and Whoopi Goldberg in FURLOUGH, which was directed by Laurie Collyer. The film commission worked closely with the production to refer key crew members and we worked with Amy Hutchings Casting to find 50 female inmates for the jail scenes. We received over 800 resumes! FURLOUGH was recently picked up for distribution by IFC Films.

Producer Claude Dal Farra, Ulster County Executive Mike Hein and Maisie Williams 

Producer Claude Dal Farra, Ulster County Executive Mike Hein and Maisie Williams 

In April, Maisie Williams  from GAME OF THRONES and Asa Butterfield (HUGO) both starred in Peter Hutchings DEPARTURES. Back in March 2016, when the film commission had asked Peter to write a letter that could be forwarded to Governor Cuomo regarding the need for additional incentives for the mid-Hudson Valley, he wrote: “I am currently developing a new film, and it would be perfect to shoot in the Hudson Valley, but the tax incentive is not enough to keep us here. It can’t shoot anywhere near NYC, so we are looking elsewhere Believe me, I would greatly prefer to keep these millions of dollars in New York State, but without a greater incentive in the Hudson Valley it won’t be possible.” Thanks to those letters and the spearheading of politicians, especially County Executive Mike Hein, films like DEPARTURES and many others ended up filming in the Mid-Hudson Valley.

Summer brought more exceptional projects, including UNINTENDED, GREEN DOLPHIN (with Seann William Scott), TWELVE, and THE BURIED GIRL. Fall followed with BIG DOGS, DO UNTO OTHERS, #LIKE, NORMAN, SARA, Amazon Studios’ UPLOAD, THE MOUNTAIN (with Jeff Goldblum), MANIAC (with Emma Stone), FABLED (directed by ONCE star Jennifer Morrison) and THE ESCAPE OF PRISONER 614, directed by local director Zach Golden, and starring  Ron Pearlman and Martin Starr.

The biggest film of the year was Paramount’s A QUIET PLACE, directed by John Krasinski, who co-stars with Emily Blunt in the supernatural horror film. The Film Commission started work back in 2016 referring farms for the project which settled into the region in the beginning in May, when they started renovations on an old farmhouse and barn. The production also converted a horse arena into and astounding indoor stage, which housed 3 different parts of a silo, a flood room and green screens to simulate driving scenes. Production also worked with local farmers to provide kernels and fresh corn for use in the film. We were proud to receive a kind thank you note from the production, including the following: “On behalf of our director, producers and the entire cast and crew we would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to you for being a part of our production. Our work in the Hudson Valley was a tremendous success, and we couldn't have done it without your support.”

On set with A QUIET PLACE

On set with A QUIET PLACE

As our certificate of incorporation from April 2000 states, we want to provide local residents of all ages with job, work and volunteer opportunities. We are extremely proud of what we've accomplished over the past 18 years but we need your continued support to provide those opportunities throughout our communities.

As we continue to prepare our  2017 reports and prep work on 2018 productions, we want to take a moment to thank everyone who supported the Hudson Valley Film Commission in 2017, specifically the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency, Ulster County Office of Economic Development, Dutchess County Tourism and the Orange County IDA.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE and see you on set in 2018!

POLLINATORS WINS PALEY DOCPITCH

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Congratulations to Hudson Valley resident Peter Nelson for winning the Paley DocPitch Competition for his pitch: THE POLLINATORS.

EXPERT JUDGES:
Molly Thompson, Senior Vice President, Feature Films, A+E Studios
Justine Nagan, Executive Director / Executive Producer, American Documentary | POV
Diana Holtzberg, President, East Village Entertainment, LLC
José Rodriguez, Director, Documentary Programs, Tribeca Film Festival
Marie Nelson, Vice President, News & Independent Film – PBS

For more information about the Paley DocPitch Competition, visit
https://www.paleycenter.org/2017-doc-pitch#.WeVNCjlyodg.facebook

CALL FOR DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY & PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Kumare is back! www.kumaremovie.com

Local PA with car needed.

Location: Near Saugerties/ Woodsotck

Date: Friday evening Aug 18th and Saturday Aug 19th

Rate: PAID - rate on application

 

DOP with Equipment

Location: Near Saugerties/ Woodsotck

Date: Friday evening Aug 18th (location scout) and Saturday Aug 19th (shoot)

Rate: PAID - rate on application

 

Email resumes to anna@prophets.net