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Young filmmakers in focus at Woodstock Film Festival

A participant in the Youth Film Lab
A participant in the Youth Film Lab

Next week, the 25th annual Woodstock Film Festival will draw producers, celebrities and filmgoers to venues in Woodstock, Rosendale, Kingston and Saugerties, for a full schedule of screenings and panel discussions. This year’s showcase features a collection of short films from the Youth Film Lab, a three-week filmmaking bootcamp for area teens.

Later this month, the Woodstock Film Festival welcomes producers, directors, cast and crew, celebrities and filmgoers to its 25th season. Three of the films sharing the screen were produced by teenagers at the Youth Film Lab, a three-week intensive boot camp for area teens. In July, I checked in with this year's youth filmmakers at a large studio space just off Broadway in Kingston, New York, where three production teams made three short films with the guidance and mentorship of professionals in the field.

Professor Gregg Bray welcomed me to the building.

"So here we are at the Center for Photography Woodstock in Kingston, New York," Bray said. "We're at the seventh annual Woodstock Film Festival Summer Youth Filmmaking Lab. So right now we got a group of young people upstairs divided into three groups who will be making films over the next few weeks which will premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival this October."

Behind the door and well insulated from that passing freight train, three teams were deeply involved. in collaboration on one narrative film and two documentaries. Director Josephine Griggs spoke about her documentary titled Search for Expression.

"So it's a documentary about the importance of the arts and how they connect to our development and healing processes," Griggs said. "Also, the accessibility of the arts. My hope for this project is really just for people to connect to it and to see that there are people out there who care about the arts and who want it to grow and flourish. And I hope that, I hope people just take something away from it. That's what I hope."

Here's an interview clip from that documentary with a creative arts therapist:

“Because we are working in nonverbal modalities, we're working with creative therapeutic interventions. We are providing avenues of access to express and heal unspeakable trauma.”

The music under that interview was a topic of conversation the day I visited the crew. Megan Sperry is the program director for the Woodstock Film Festival Youth Film Lab.

"Each year we have to apply for funding, and then once we've secured the funding for the next year, we put out a call through the Woodstock Film Festival website, through social media, through community orgs and partners, and there's an application process," Sperry said.
"We only have funding for up to 15 spots for students. It's a free program and we really do prioritize students that are in Kingston, in the local high schools, and yeah, it's really fun."

On the other side of the room, a narrative crew has built a teenage bedroom set, where part of their film “Art Block” takes place.

Their instructor, David Becker, returns to the Catskills each year to be a part of this experience.

"This is, I think, my fifth year out of the seven years being an instructor. I worked for many years at the Woodstock Day School, and I'm a documentary filmmaker," Becker said. "I've worked with the Woodstock Film Festival and had films in the festival. And so, I don't live in the area anymore, but this is a great way for me to spend some time back in the Catskills area every summer."

Becker's not the only instructor who schleps cross country to participate in the film lab. Saskia Madlener took a job in Nevada, but she negotiated for this time well in advance.

"It's in my contract at my salary job that I always have three weeks off in July to do this because I love it so much," Madlener said. "And I really get along with the other instructors. I've been doing film for 12 years as a science documentary filmmaker. And I was super excited about having access to this generation, especially. Like, I feel like my generation has failed the world, and I feel like they feel that way. So, I'm a millennial, and I like Gen Z-ers, and I wanted more access to them. It's such a great way to get a window into their world. And I hope vice versa, but I like seeing how they function and think."

"My name is Sebastian Alarcon. I had learned about this project because, uh, I don't know, my teachers were kind of worried I wasn't going to do anything with myself. So, I told them I like movies, and they threw this my way, and I had no experience coming into this, and there were people here that amazed me. Like, still. I mean, people from my team to people, like, around me. Just the professionalism, the experience. This is what I want to do. I love this. I love every second of it. It's been 95 degrees and we've been out there just talking to random people that don't want to talk to us. I love it. It's the best thing."

“I've been in Kingston for 49 years. Everything is getting more expensive. The rent is really very high.”

“Kingston is a beautiful place. It's definitely building. Revitalizing, they call it.”

"I would just like to add also that because this is our 7th year doing the program, we've actually had students that started with us in the beginning that have actually gone through college and are now, you know, out in the field working," Sperry said.

Students like one of this year's teaching assistants, Quinn.

"So, this is my third year being in the camp in general, second year as a TA," Quinn said. "We’re just kind of helping the group produce the film, whether that's in the filmmaking, the cinematography, some of the audio work, to kind of help the students out and get a film that we're all proud of. I'm going to college in the fall for film and visual effects, so kind of post-production work. But I'll definitely be sure to stay connected to this group and do this again because it's an unforgettable experience. It's really valuable."

All three of those Youth Film Lab movies are screening at this year's Woodstock Film Festival, which runs October 15th through 20th.

Related Content
  • The Woodstock Film Festival, this fall celebrating its 25th year, is presenting its main slate of distinguished films to screen from October 15 to October 20, 2024, at venues across the Hudson Valley towns of Woodstock, Rosendale, Kingston and Saugerties.