FilmColumbia 2024 Is Packed with Rare Films and Local Talent

posted on October 7, 2024

(Chatham, NY—October 7, 2024)—FilmColumbia, celebrating its 24th year, opens at the Crandell Theatre in Chatham, NY, on October 18 with more than 50 of the year’s best upcoming American, international and animated features, documentaries, and shorts. This year’s lineup includes a treasure trove of new films, breakouts, as well as new and seasoned talent. The festival concludes on Sunday, October 27. Local Columbia County resident Walton Goggins is the festival’s honoree this year. He will be celebrated at the annual festival Kick-Off Party on Sunday, October 20, 6 – 8 pm at benefactor Jack Shear’s home. He will also be on stage Sunday after screenings of Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and two of his best roles on television for a Q&A. Unstoppable is the true story of Anthony Robles, born without a right leg, who overcomes physical and domestic challenges…

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Documentarian Ralph Arlyck and His Poignant Film I Like It Here Return to the Crandell on October 13 at 1 pm

posted on October 3, 2024

(Chatham, NY—October 2, 2024)—Crandell LIVE! at the historic Crandell Theatre is pleased to welcome back documentary filmmaker Ralph Arlyck for an encore screening of his film I Like It Here, a poignant, poetic and deeply moving visual essay about the simple pleasures of being alive and the undeniability of aging as we pass through it. The screening on Sunday, October 13, is at 1 pm. Arlyck and Executive Director Brian Edward Leach will discuss the film and take audience questions following the screening. I Like It Here continues to screen on the festival circuit to much acclaim and recently opened in New York. Said The New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson in her review, “I Like It Here is loaded with gentle humor….[Arlyck] is doing precisely what great memoirists do: invite us into their stories as a way of…

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Crandell Theatre Brings 1922 Horror Classic Nosferatu to Life with Live Musical Accompaniment on October 4

posted on September 28, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Chatham, NY—September 26, 2024)—The Crandell Theatre in Chatham, NY, will go back to its roots on Friday, October 4 at 7 pm and screen the silent horror classic Nosferatu, directed by film pioneer F.W. Murnau (Sunrise, Faust). Musician and silent film historian Ben Model will accompany the film on theater organ, brought in for one very special night, allowing the audience to experience the film just as it sounded upon its original release in 1922. Nosferatu is an Expressionist fever dream full of looming shadows and emerging film techniques Murnau used to great effect. Unlike other silent film directors of the era, Murnau shot this unauthorized and freely adapted version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula on location, in the Carpathian mountains. He also used negative exposure, stop-motion and low-angle camera positions, to give his sinister, taloned vampire Graf…

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FilmColumbia 2024 to Honor Actor Walton Goggins and Screen Pedro Almodóvar’s First Film in English

posted on September 24, 2024

(Chatham, NY—September 23, 2024)—FilmColumbia, celebrating its 24th year, returns to the Crandell Theatre in Chatham, NY, this October 18 – 27 with 50+ of the very best domestic and international features, documentaries and shorts, including many fresh from the festival circuit that have not yet opened commercially. Columbia County’s longest running film festival, FilmColumbia has screened more than 650 films; 106 have gone on to receive Academy Award nominations. This year the festival will feature a number of on-stage, in-person interviews with filmmakers and stars, including the festival’s 2024 Honoree, Emmy-nominated actor and area resident Walton Goggins. Known for his ability to create complex characters and blend comedy and drama, fan-favorite Goggins stars in The Uninvited, a new comedy/drama about a mysterious party crasher written and directed by his wife, Nadia Conners. A hit at South by Southwest, the film…

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Crandell LIVE! Presents New Norman Mailer Documentary and Discussion with Daughter Danielle Mailer on September 28

posted on September 20, 2024

(Chatham, NY—September 19, 2024)—The historic Crandell Theatre in Chatham, N.Y. is pleased to announce the upcoming screening on September 28 at 7 pm of How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer, a new documentary from Zeitgeist Films about the life and work of America’s most controversial and bestselling author of the 20th Century. Following the screening, his daughter Danielle Mailer and Executive Director Brian Edward Leach will take to the stage for a lively discussion and take questions from the audience. Purchase Tickets Mailer had a life that was certainly stranger than fiction. Propelled by his tremendous ego and contrarian spirit, Mailer’s ceaseless visibility in the public eye lasted six decades, during which he had six tumultuous marriages, nine beloved children, 11 bestsellers, three arrests, and two Pulitzer Prizes. Prophet, hedonist, violent criminal, literary outlaw, and social provocateur, Mailer’s ideas…

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Test
photo by John Shea

Crandell Theatre Names Brian Edward Leach Executive Director

posted on August 29, 2024

(Chatham, NY, August 29, 2024) — After an extensive search process, Brian Edward Leach has been named Executive Director of the Crandell Theatre in Chatham, New York. On Thursday, September 12, from 5 – 7 pm, Leach will be welcomed by the community at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Business After Hours reception hosted by the Crandell. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees will enjoy light refreshments and learn more about the Crandell’s upcoming renovation. Reservations are recommended and can be made by visiting https://crandelltheatre.org/film/crandell-open-house-reception/ or calling 518-392-3445. Leach has extensive background in arts administration, programming, fundraising, and marketing for arts organizations. He was previously Managing Director of the Colonial Theatre in Westerly, Rhode Island, and Marketing Director of PICT Classic Theatre and Pittsburgh Festival Opera. Earlier, he served as Curator of the art…

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Actor and Filmmaker Griffin Dunne in Person at the Crandell on August 10

posted on July 23, 2024

(Chatham, NY, July 23, 2024) — The Crandell Theatre’s popular event series, Crandell LIVE!, will welcome actor and filmmaker Griffin Dunne for a screening and post-show Q&A on August 10 at 7 pm. Known for his starring roles in iconic films like An American Werewolf in London and After Hours, he will discuss the evening’s featured documentary, Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, the Emmy-nominated film he directed about his aunt, the literary legend. In addition to the film, he will be discussing his bestselling family memoir The Friday Afternoon Club, published by Penguin Random House in June. Crandell Executive Director Brian Edward Leach will interview Dunne and moderate questions from the audience. Griffin Dunne has been an actor, producer, and director since the late 1970s, when he landed his first role in The Other Side of the Mountain.…

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CatVideoFest 2024: Making You Laugh for Kitties in Need

posted on July 18, 2024

(Chatham, NY, July 18, 2024) — They’re baaaaack! The historic single-screen Crandell Theatre on Main Street in Chatham is delighted to partner with the Columbia-Greene Humane Society to present the world’s #1 cat video festival, CatVideoFest 2024, on August 3 at 1 pm.* Come watch the silliest, most adorable cat videos of the year and learn more about adoptable area kittens and cats currently sheltering at CGHS. Presented by Oscilloscope Laboratories, CatVideoFest 2024 is a compilation of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos, and classic internet powerhouses. Each year, across the country, local theaters partner with nearby cat-focused charities, animal welfare associations and shelters alike. A portion of ticket proceeds from the Crandell screening will be donated to Columbia-Greene Humane Society. Critics agree: watching silly cat videos is…

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Filmmaker James Schamus in Conversation at the Crandell Theatre on July 12

posted on July 1, 2024

(Chatham, NY, July 1, 2024) — Oscar-nominated filmmaker James Schamus, well-known for his longtime collaboration with Director Ang Lee and the range of his creative roles across feature film and television, will headline the theater’s next Crandell LIVE! event on July 12. Beginning with the 7 pm screening of We Grown Now, which Schamus produced, the evening will conclude with a discussion of Director Minhal Baig’s acclaimed film and an audience Q&A. We Grown Now follows 12-year-old best friends Malik and Eric in 1992 Chicago as they discover the joys and hardships of growing up in the infamous Cabrini-Green public housing complex (now demolished). They idolize Michael Jordan, compete in jumping contests, and play hooky at the Art Institute. When a shooting in the community challenges everything they know and love, they must face the realities of growing up fast.…

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Crandell Theatre to Host Jane Austen Summer Matinee Series in July

posted on June 27, 2024

(Chatham, NY, June 27, 2024) — The historic single-screen Crandell Theatre will bring a bit of the English countryside to Chatham’s Main Street in July with the continuation of its Jane Austen Summer Matinee Series. Featuring beloved film adaptations of the author’s work, the series will screen matinees of Emma. and Pride & Prejudice on two Saturdays in July at 1 pm. To reserve Jane Austen Summer Series tickets, visit https://crandelltheatre.org/. About the Films Emma. (2020): Come see the softer sides of Anya Taylor-Joy and Mia Goth, and the sillier sides of Josh O’Connor and Bill Nighy, in this colorful remake by Director Autumn de Wilde. O’Connor (My Chimera, Challengers), who filmed this role just before he debuted in his BAFTA-nominated role as Prince Charles on The Crown, is terrific as the handsome and shifty Mr. Elton. Taking a page…

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Crandell Theatre to Screen Iconic Films in Hollywood Summer Nights Series

posted on June 25, 2024

(Chatham, NY, June 25, 2024) — The historic single-screen Crandell Theatre on Main Street in Chatham will screen a series of iconic films that originally dazzled at the box office and went on to become treasured, perennial classics. Beginning on Friday, July 5, at 7 pm with Jaws — the summer blockbuster that started them all — Hollywood Summer Nights will run throughout July and August. The series will also include such fan favorites as Saturday Night Fever, The Big Lebowski, Dirty Dancing, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope (the updated Special Edition), The Godfather, Jurassic Park and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. These films will screen in addition to our regular weekend programming of new releases. Another recent blockbuster, Minions, will screen at 10 am on July 13 for FREE during the annual Chatham…

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