A record-breaking 300-member audience of locavores, farmers, and Chatham area residents attended the eleventh Farm Film Festival on Sunday, March 24. The event raised $500 for the Chatham Area Silent Food Pantry and also collected four large supermarket cartons worth of nonperishable food items for the pantry. The festival’s theme was “Food, Glorious Food.” Eight short films were screened, including two from WMMHT’s The Local Feed series: one from The Chatham Berry Farm on blueberries, and one from Love Apple Farm in Ghent on peaches. The festival’s feature film, “Food Evolution,” examined the large issues of food security, sustainability, and environmental well-being in light of the emotionally charged controversy over genetically modified foods (GMOs). Films were selected by representatives of the sponsoring organizations: the Crandell Theatre, Chatham Agricultural Partnership, and Columbia Land Conservancy. Botanist Daniel Franck, Ph.D., Director of Science…

Farm Film Fest 11, the eleventh film festival devoted to farms and farming, takes place at the Crandell Theatre in Chatham, NY, on Sunday, March 24, from 12:30 to 4 p.m. The afternoon festival shows films that educate and entertain about farms, farming, farmers, and farming issues both local and national. Admission is free, but cash donations are welcome; a nonperishable food item for the Chatham Silent Food Pantry is also accepted. The theme this year is “Food, Glorious Food.” After a post-film discussion, the festival is followed by a “Meet Your Maker” reception at the People’s Pub, 36 Main Street, with snacks featuring local foods (complimentary) and a cash bar. The reception is an opportunity for farmers, filmmakers, and movie goers to mingle. As in the past, the program is a mix of films made by professional and amateur…

Film entries are now being accepted for Farm Film Fest 11, the annual event sponsored by the Chatham Agricultural Partnership, the Columbia Land Conservancy, and the Crandell Theatre. The one-day film festival takes place on Sunday, March 24, 2019, here at the Crandell. The festival will screen films that focus on farms and farming issues with special consideration for those that have a regional connection. Films can have a running time of 5-20 minutes and submitted either in DVD or digital format. The program will include films made by professional and amateur filmmakers. Students of all ages are encouraged to submit entries. Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2019. DVDs can be sent to: Farm Film Fest 11 c/o The Crandell Theatre PO Box 305 Chatham, NY 12037 Digital links can be sent to mgbiebel@gmail.com. Submission requirements are also available…

(Chatham, NY) May 9, 2017 The Chatham Film Club has brought together students and filmmaker mentors to create a series of short films to be screened at the Crandell Theater on May 20th, 12pm. Middle school students from Chatham, Germantown, and Hudson worked within selected groups to come up with script ideas, take part as actors and learn the basics of directing and editing for each of their films. The Chatham Middle School student film is titled: ‘Snowed In’, and in a bit of serendipity the students had to work out filming logistics in the midst of the March snowstorm. Filmmaker mentor Susan Lucas says, “The underlying theme of the film is how we all try to balance outer actions with the voices in our heads. I was impressed with their ability to tackle the idea with honesty and humor!”…

By Amy Biancolli, Times Union Photo by Jeff Vespa On screen, Stephen Lang can be an awfully scary guy. A veteran of villainous muscleheads and hard-nosed military types, he’s best known as Colonel Quaritch — that big, genocidal, buzz-topped security chief who terrorized the gentle blue bipeds of “Avatar.” But he’s at peace with this. At 61, he’s had decades of work and myriad roles spanning Broadway (as Happy Loman, Willy’s son, in a 1984 “Death of a Salesman” revival) and tough indie drama (as Paddy, the sloshed and abusive longshoreman of “White Irish Drinkers”). So he knows a good gig when he sees one. “If I get typecast at this point in my career as a tough old dude, I’m all right with that,” he said. “It’s better that than the ice cream man.” Chatting on the phone, Lang…