Posts Tagged ‘film’

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Cabin Fever Film Festival in Saranac Lake

5703ad0d838fc0b1e00df97cf4ec96c1I am truly one of those people that love winter. I rarely complain about it, since it doesn’t do any good anyway, but mostly because winter seems to end at the appropriate time.

I love the change of season and before you think I’m about to break into song, this year’s end of winter seems to be a bit different.

Perhaps it’s my late season initiation into the frozen water pipe club or that we’ve had a few snow-related outdoor injuries. It could be that not having water and now watching it steadily drip out of my faucet is slowly driving me mad. That drip, drip, drip has me passing out buckets of potable water like Halloween candy. Whatever the cause, the effect has me searching for ways to shake off a different kind of March madness. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Benny Rolfe: ‘World’s Greatest’ Trumpeter

4A BARolfeHatIn 1918, pioneer of silent films Benny Rolfe left Metro Pictures (later MGM) and formed his own Rolfe Productions, quickly scoring a coup by signing Harry Houdini to a film contract. The hugely popular escape artist was featured by Benny in The Master Mystery, a “super-serial” produced in fifteen parts. After viewing the first installment, Billboard reported: “This enthralling picture will be followed eagerly from week to week and will draw like a house afire. Has unlimited advertising possibilities. Grab it quick.” » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Lake Champlain Inaugural International Film Festival

filmfestivalbannerThis isn’t the first time that Plattsburgh has held an international film fest, but after an 11-year absence, the city by the lake is bringing back the Lake Champlain International Film Festival November 15-16 to the recently renovated Strand Theatre.

According to The Strand Center for the Arts Executive Director Jessica Dulle, the festival producers were pleasantly surprised by the number of countries responding to the film festival as well as the quality of the films received. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Lake Placid Film Forum Series Continues with ‘Red Army’

RED_ARMY_-_5_Line_©_2014_Polsky_Films,_Courtesy_of_Sony_Pictures_ClassicsIt is poignant that the Adirondack Film Society and Lake Placid Film Forum have chosen “Red Army” as part of its inaugural monthly film series. Directed by Gabe Polsky, “Red Army” goes behind the Iron Curtain and tracks the Soviet Union’s hockey team domination to its unraveling at the Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympic Games to its ultimate demise.

Executive Producers Werner Herzog and Jerry Weintraub helped bring Polsky’s vision to life in this documentary that has received rave reviews from the Cannes, New York, Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals. In “Red Army,” Polsky tracks the Russian hockey dynasty through the eyes of its captain Slava Fetisov. The film reveals how Fetisov fell from the pedestal of Russian national hero to national enemy during the Cold War when hockey wasn’t just a game, but political propaganda and its players were pawns. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Lake Champlain International Film Festival Planned

Pete Seeger 2Tickets are now on sale for the inaugural Lake Champlain International Film Festival, with VIP and multi-ticket discount packages as well as single tickets. Presented by the Plattsburgh Renewal Project and The Strand Center for the Arts, the festival will be held November 15th and 16th at the Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh.

The 2-day program showcases the best of local film, both shorts and feature-length films, as well as a diverse mix of work from around the world. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

‘Here One Day’ Movie Screening at LPCA and The Grange

Though most of us don’t talk about experiences regarding suicide, Producer and Film Director Kathy Leichter is bringing her film, Here One Day to Lake Placid and Whallonsburg. She hopes that her own family’s personal tragedy about her bipolar mother’s suicide will help end the stigma of mental illness and suicide.

The film Here One Day is told through the intimate, emotional audiotapes left by a bipolar Nina Leichter (the filmmaker’s mother) after her suicide. This raw film unearths the effects of mental illness, family relationships and the indelible mark that suicide leaves on those left behind.

According to Director/Producer Kathy Leichter the Here One Day screenings are combined with community education nights to create a safe space to share stories about mental illness. She wants to help link the audience to local support. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Wild Center Raising Money For Remote Flying Camera

Aerial-Medium-size-TWC-640x396The Wild Center has announced a new campaign on Adirondack Gives, Adirondack Foundation’s crowdfunding site for nonprofits, community groups and municipalities.  Soar Above the Adirondacks’ is raising money for The Wild Center to help fund a new remote-controlled flying camera unit.

“The Wild Center is about shifting perspectives and giving you the chance to immerse yourself in the natural world around you,” a statement issued to the press said. “With the addition of an aerial camera platform to the Center’s resources, we’ll be able to do that and more.” » Continue Reading.


Thursday, March 20, 2014

Crowd-funding Sought For Wilderness 50th Anniv. Project

Slides033-658x396A new campaign on Adirondack Gives, the crowd-funding site for the Adirondacks, hopes to raise funds for a short video to celebrate this year’s 50th Anniversary of The National Wilderness Preservation Act of 1964.

The Act’s chief author, Howard Zahniser, took his inspiration from New York’s “Forever Wild” constitutional protection of the New York State Forest Preserve. That constitutional protection has its 120th anniversary this year (1894-2014). Zahniser often wrote that New York State set the example for the national Wilderness movement, and is “where wilderness preservation began.” » Continue Reading.


Monday, February 24, 2014

Center for Loon Conservation Project Seeks Funding

Loon BookThe Biodiversity Research Institute’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation has announced a campaign on Adirondack Gives, the crowdfunding site for Adirondack region nonprofits, which seeks support to digitize historical slides and film footage produced by Adirondack nature photographer Kip Taylor.

In the 1970s and 1980s, when loons were rarely observed on Adirondack waterways, and prior to the age of digital photography, Kip Taylor extensively documented the natural history and behavior of Common Loons on Adirondack lakes, including some very unique underwater footage and photographs of feeding and swimming loons. Prior to his passing in 1997 Taylor published Loon, which chronicled his excursions to photograph these distinctive birds. His widow has donated his film and slides for use in BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation’s outreach programs. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Watertown’s Show-Biz Pioneer: Charles Giblyn (Part 2)

2A CGiblynBy 1911, Charles Giblyn, now 40, had been acting for more than 20 years, receiving many great reviews for his theater work. That he often stood out was reflected in comments like the following, taken from the pages of the Los Angeles Herald: “Not Yet, But Soon, currently at the Grand Opera House, has just one thing to commend it to theater-goers. This is the acting of Charles Giblyn as a dope fiend. Apart from Mr. Giblyn’s work, the piece is silly, stupid, and boresome.”

He had also managed several stock companies, and in recent years directed many stage plays and vaudeville shows at LA’s Belasco and other theaters. The experience would serve him well as he plunged head-first into a new show-business medium: the world of movies.

The birth of the commercial film industry was at hand, and Charles quickly became a main player at the directorial level. By mid-July 1913, the New York Dramatic Mirror noted that “… Giblyn … is making quite a hit by his clever work in the moving picture field.” It was but a hint of what was to come. » Continue Reading.


Monday, February 10, 2014

Watertown’s Charles Giblyn, Show-Biz Pioneer

1A CGiblynDuring research, trivial bits of information often lead to the discovery (or uncovering) of stories that were either lost to time or were never told. For instance, did you know that a North Country man once directed Harrison Ford in a movie role as a young adventurer? Or that a coast-to-coast theater star hails from Watertown? Or that a man with regional roots patented a paper toilet-seat protector two decades before it was offered to the public? Or that a northern New York man was once a sensation after posing for a famous calendar? Or that an area resident was the go-to guy for the legendary titans of a very popular American industry?

If you’re at all puzzled, take comfort in knowing that the answers are simple, because one name―Charles W. Giblyn―is correct on all counts. A snippet of news, citing him as a former movie director, piqued my interest. The follow-up revealed a man possessing star quality and many talents, and an amazing career that today, for the most part, is long forgotten. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Real ‘Captain Phillips’ At Champlain Film Society

Captain PhillipsFebruary 2nd is going to be more than just the Broncos trying to best the Seahawks in the XLVIII Super Bowl, when the Champlain Valley Film Society (CVFS) brings Captain Richard Phillips to introduce the 2014 Oscar nominated film named in his honor, based on the harrowing experience of his capture and attempted ransom at the hands of Somali pirates.

It is easy for my family to get caught up in the animated version of pirates or the swash-buckling Johnny Depp characterization without realizing that real pirates do exist and there is nothing romantic and comedic about it. I remember reading the news stories when Phillips sacrificed himself to save his crew in the 2009 hijacking. Now is an opportunity to meet a true survivor. » Continue Reading.


Monday, January 27, 2014

Screenings of New Grace Hudowalski Documentary

Grace HudolowskiSeveral screenings of “The Mountains Will Wait for You,” a new documentary film about Grace Hudowalski have been announced.  One of the most influential of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers (or just 46ers) was Grace Hudowalski (#9).

Born in Ticonderoga and raised in Minerva, she started at the top: her first was Mount Marcy in 1922 when she was 15 and by age 30 she had ascended all 46—becoming the first woman to do so. She also had a passion for climbing, and for the 46ers, that was contagious, and led to her becoming something of a club matriarch.

Director Fredrick Schwoebel read an article about Hudowalski in May 1993, and was captivated by her story. He spent hours interviewing her and her friends, and shot extensive footage in the mountains. He also recruited his father-in-law, Johnny Cash, the Man in Black himself, to narrate. Although Hudowalski died nearly a decade ago, her legacy lives on: there is a movement afoot to rename 4,012-foot East Dix in her honor, Grace Peak. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

World Premiere of NASA Film At The Wild Center

WaterFallsWildCenter2_1The Wild Center will host the World premiere of a new film produced by NASA on Saturday, January 25th.  Water Falls, a film created exclusively for spherical screens like the Center’s Planet Adirondack, introduces the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission to the public and explains the mission’s profound importance to everyone who lives on Earth.

In 2014, GPM will launch a Core satellite that will anchor a fleet of domestic and international satellites designed to measure precipitation around the globe approximately every three hours. The mission is driven by the need to understand more about the global water cycle, one of the most powerful systems on Earth.  Water Falls will use the sphere of Planet Adirondack to give viewers a global view of water, where it comes fromw and where it may be going. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, December 7, 2013

After I Pick the Fruit: The Lives of Migrant Women

UnknownA large percentage of the farm workers who harvest New York State’s apples, potatoes, onions, and other fruits and vegetables are immigrants working long hours with no overtime pay, few benefits, low salaries, often substandard housing, and no right to collective bargaining, as those rights fought for over fifty years ago in California by Cesar Chavez were excluded from being applied here.

Illegal immigrants comprise approximately five percent of this workforce. » Continue Reading.



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