The Adirondack Film Society is set to pay tribute to co-founder and renowned local author Russell Banks at the 2019 Tribute Gala, scheduled for Friday, October 25, 2019 at the High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid.

The Tribute Gala is a highlight of the Lake Placid Film Festival, which runs from October 23-27th. The Gala begins at 7 pm and includes a cocktail reception followed by dinner and a special tribute program.

Russell Banks has made significant contributions to America’s literary legacy. Two of his novels, Cloudsplitter and Continental Drift were Pulitzer Prize finalists, and novels Affliction, Cloudsplitter and Lost Memory of Skin were PEN/Faulkner Finalists. Novels The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction were made into award winning feature length films. He is the recipient of the Common Wealth Award for Literature, honorary doctorates from seven universities, induction into the New York State Writers’ Hall of Fame, as well as numerous other literary awards.

The dream of bringing world class film programs to the Adirondack Region started as a conversation in 1999 between Banks, a Lake Placid native and film critic, Kathleen Carroll, artist Naj Wyckoff, film exhibitor Nelson Page and businessman John Huttlinger.

Inspired and encouraged by the positive response and sold out crowds of a special silent film series over a four-week period they produced at the Palace Theatre in Lake Placid, they organized the world premiere in Lake Placid of the movie Affliction, adapted from Banks’s award-winning novel.

In 2000, the first Lake Placid Film Forum was presented by the newly created organization, the Adirondack Film Society.

Additional information and event tickets are available online.

Photo of Russell Banks & Kathleen Carroll provided.