“The Crandell Theatre in Chatham, NY, is the palatial setting for a thriving film festival.”
—Wall Street Journal
FilmColumbia celebrated its 20th year, October 18-27, 2019, with the best-curated selection of world class films from major studios and independents, and a stunning array of international films, animated features, documentaries and children’s shorts.
Over the years, the Crandell Theatre’s Small Town/Big Movies festival that has grown from the “little local festival that could” to an acclaimed, nationally recognized film event — “Cannes on the Hudson.”
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the cancellation of this year’s FilmColumbia Festival.
“Unfortunately for all of us who look forward to our festival every year starting on the third week of October, this year, circumstances—namely Covid 19—have conspired against us. The Crandell is currently closed, and we have no idea when the state of New York will allow us to open, and even were we to re-open, there is a real possibility we might have to close again if there is a spike of the virus. Beyond that, most of the other festivals, including Cannes and Telluride have cancelled as well. Some festivals have experimented with streaming films, but the results have been disappointing. Moreover, partly as a consequence of other festivals cancelling, and partly because of the cessation of film production, there is a paucity of major films to choose from. FilmColumbia is the Crandell’s signature event, and rather than make-do with a pared down festival, we have decided to bite the bullet and cancel this year’s festival. We look toward to returning bigger and better next year to kick off the second decade of FilmColumbia.”
Peter Biskind, FilmColumbia Executive Director and Co-Artistic Director
Laurence Kardish, FilmColumbia Co-Artistic Director
Calliope Nicholas, FilmColumbia Managing Director