To celebrate the WFF world premiere of Tony Coleman's feature documentary Mighty Uke, and to honor 16-year-old Killian Mansfield, the West Shokan ukulele prodigy who passed away in August, The Mighty Uke will feature rapper/songwriter Jon Braman, Jim and Liz Beloff and special guests. The show takes place on Friday, October 2 at the Colony Café. The gig starts at 9 p.m. and will benefit the Killian Foundation. The film screens on Friday afternoon at the Bearsville Theater, and Sunday afternoon at the Rosendale Theater.
An all-star crew of bluesmen will grace the Colony Café bandstand the following night in celebration of Scott Rosenbaum's The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll. Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, Sugar Blue and Bob Stroger will be joined onstage by Bob Margolin (no, not me - I wish...), Muddy Waters' longtime guitarist. This gig reunites the band for the first time since its appearance in the film, which follows two friends and a raucous crew of musicians on a cathartic journey down Route 66. The film screens Friday night at the Rosendale Theater and Saturday night at the Bearsville Theater. The concert takes place at 10 p.m. at the Colony Café, following the Bearsville screening.
Jonathan Demme will be on hand to take questions following the screening of Neil Young's Trunk Show, which was shot over a two-night run at Philadelphia's Tower Theater in 2007. It's a less-glitzy companion piece to the more formally staged Neil Young: Heart of Gold, the 2006 document of a Nashville show that celebrated Young's return to health after a near-fatal brain aneurysm the year before.
Award-winning writer/director Tom De Cillo will be on site to discuss his first feature-length documentary, When You're Strange: A Film about the Doors. He offers up never-before-seen footage of the band during its brief-but-intense six-year run.
Your challenge, Miss Natalie Merchant, should you decide to accept it, gives you less than three days to arrange and record a song featuring musicians and singers who are currently or recently homeless. She accepted, and No Good Reason is a film that follows the great singer/activist/songwriter as she creates a new tune. The film will be presented with another look at the human face and spirit among those living in the street, Without a Home. Merchant is expected to be on hand.
Another Q & A not to be missed will be held by Jack DeJohnette. The drummer/composer/pianist will speak after the screening of Music We Are, a documentary by Woodstock resident Mirav Ozeri that looks in on DeJohnette, pianist Danilo Perez and bassist John Patitucci as they record their recent trio date.
Out of Our Minds is the "fantasy film" that Melissa Auf der Maur made with New York-based filmmaker Tony Stone. She is best-known for playing bass in infamous American rock bands Hole and Smashing Pumpkins in the 1990s. The 28-minute short is the first incarnation of Auf der Maur's multidisciplinary project of the same name. Without dialogue or words, the film unfolds through archetypal symbols, images and music scored by Auf der Maur and Los Angeles-based band Entrance. A woman (played by Auf der Maur) is driving through a forest when a car crash opens a portal to three parallel worlds and time periods, all linked by a mythological quest: what Auf der Maur calls "the hunt for the heart."
There are a slew of other music-related films being screened over the course of the WFF, not to mention the thoughtful BMI panel where filmmakers, including a few whose films are being shown at the Festival, connect music and their visual art. Drop by HQ in Woodstock or visit www.woodstockfilmfestival.com for times, locations and the full slate of events.
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