Interview of Peter Bogdanovich by Annie Nocenti in Kleinert/James Gallery. (photo by Alan Carey)
Andres Mudge’s The Forgotten Kingdom, a tale of reconnection in South Africa was presented with The Maverick Award for Best Feature Narrative at the 14th annual Woodstock Film Festival Awards Gala that was held Saturday, October 5 at Backstage Studio Productions in Kingston. The festival, which ran from October 2-October 6 in venues in Woodstock, Kingston, Rhinebeck, Saugerties and Rosendale, included panels, concerts, events and parties and 24 world premier films and some 130 films in all.
Director of The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, Peter Bogdanovich received the Honorary Maverick Lifetime Achievement Award and filmmaker and activist Mira Nair, whose features include Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay! was given the The Meera Gandhi Giving Back Award.
The star studded cast of the festival included Vera Farmiga, Andy Garcia, Stephen Dorff, Liz Garbus, Leon Gast, Bill Plympton, Joe Berlinger, Nancy Savoca.
Other awards included American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, directed by Grace Lee, as Best Feature Documentary; Daniel Sousa’s Feral was given the Maverick Aware for Best Animation; The Diane Seligman Award for Best Short Narrative was presented to The Earth, the Way I Left It, directed by Jeff Pinilla; Best Student Short Film was presented to Above The Sea, directed by Keola Racela; Best Short Documentary was presented to Poustinia, directed by Kristian Berg; The Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography was presented to The Forgotten Kingdom, cinematography by Carlos Carvalho.
The Audiences saw things similarly. Its Award for Narrative Feature also went to Mudge’s The Forgotten Kingdom directed by Andrew. The Audience Award for Documentary Feature was a tie between American Revolutionary: The Evolution Of Grace Lee Boggs directed by Grace Lee and Magical Universe directed by Jeremy Workman.
The Festival opened with a packed house at the Woodstock Playhouse for Beyond The Notes, a documentary about jazz saxophone legend Sonny Rollins, followed by a Q&A with Rollins, and finished with Ass Backwards, directed by Chris Nelson and produced by Woodstocker Elysa Dutton.
The Festival has already set its dates for next year’s 15 th Annual event. It will be October 1-5, 2014. See live.woodstockfilmfestival.com for photos from the 14th annual Maverick Awards Gala as well as the 2013 festival events.