History
With offices located in the heart of Woodstock, NY, the first fiercely independent inaugural festival ran September 21–24, 2000. It included workshops, documentaries, concerts and films from all over the world. Speakers at the inaugural festival's workshops included actor Aidan Quinn, documentary filmmakers Albert Maysles, Barbara Kopple and D. A. Pennebaker, filmmaker Les Blank and Ron Nyswaner, who wrote the screenplay for Philadelphia.
The second annual event was held despite falling only nine days after the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001, despite some initial concerns. The festival's co-founder, Meira Blaustein said of the decision not to postpone the festival, "This is such an incredible event, so many dreams are realized here – it must continue," and noted that the event was dedicated to "the men, women and children who lost their lives in the September 11 tragedies."
Now in its 14th year, the Woodstock Film Festival has garnered the praise of the film industry and is noted as being "one of the top 50 film festivals in the world." Programming between 130-150 films, concerts, panels and parties each year, WFF draws films from the far reaches of Siberia to locally shot films right in the Hudson Valley, NY. With categories of programming such as; shorts, animation, music videos, focus on music, exposure, world cinema and Hudson Valley films.
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