As summer wanes, the thoughts of cineastes in the Hudson Valley region turn toward the prospect of the Woodstock Film Festival, which will lure hordes of glitterati and celebrity-watchers to the Catskills as surely as leaf-peepers in mid-October. But what if you don’t want to wait that long for a heaping helping of independent filmmaking?
For you, immediate relief is at hand. All too many screen buffs forget that the eponymous fall event is not the only film festival in Woodstock’s neck of the woods. The other one happens this very week, at the Woodstock Museum (technically located in Saugerties). The filmmakers may not be famous as yet, but you can’t get much more indie than this. And you can’t beat the price of admission, which is always free.
This event runs evenings from Wednesday, August 30 to Sunday, September 3, plus daytime screenings on Labor Day. Two air-conditioned theaters run each scheduled film simultaneously. There are countercultural exhibits to view and grounds to stroll in the daytime and a café on-site that opens at 6 p.m., one hour before the evening movie programs get underway. There will also be music, light shows with Jim C., a bonfire and, weather permitting, access to a swimming pool with underwater stereo speakers.
The independent films on view are submitted from all around the world. Many are short; some are animated; others are documentaries or capture live performances. Question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers follow a number of the evening screenings. The unifying theme for 2017 is “Hope.” Here’s the lineup in brief:
Wednesday, August 30: 7 p.m., “Parade” de Satie; 7:30 p.m., The Way of My Life; 8 p.m., Mining the Unconscious: Jung & the Artist’s Journey.
Thursday, August 31: 7 p.m., Super Chef; 7:30 p.m., Mwah; 8 p.m., Stone Story.
Friday, September 1: 7 p.m., Roll Call: A Dance Story; 8 p.m., Nocturnality; 8:30 p.m., Bride of Frankie; 9 p.m., The Bullish Farmer.
Saturday, September 2: 7 p.m., Fix; 7:15 p.m., Calabash and Durian; 7:45 p.m., Woes of a Lotus; 8:30 p.m., Search Engines; 10:15 p.m., A Whole World for a Little World.
Sunday, September 3: 7 p.m., Shoot Me Nicely; 8 p.m., Sacred and Profane Faceless Jacks; 8:15 p.m., Coney Island Dreaming; 8:45 p.m., Saving Place, Saving Grace; 10 p.m., Do You Like Peacocks?
Monday, September 4: 11 a.m., The Art of Aping; 11:06 a.m., Gardeners of the Forest; 11:23 a.m., Gonna Be a Soldier; 11:30 a.m., Close Your Eyes…Well; 11:45 a.m., Lone Survivor; 12:15 p.m., Birthday; 12:30 p.m., Invisible Walls: Tales of Insecurity; 12:40 p.m., Tokri (The Basket); 1 p.m., The Mars Interrogation; 1:30 p.m., Tapette; 2 p.m., What the Hell! 2:10 p.m., A Meditation: Women, the Power Paradigm; 3:30 p.m., Doppelganger; 4:15 p.m., The Karamazoffs.
For full movie synopses, visit www.woodstockmuseum.com/2017_film_festival.html. For more information, call (845) 246-0600 or e-mail hello@woodstockmuseum.org. The Woodstock Museum is located at 13 Charles Bach Road in Saugerties.
18th annual Woodstock Museum Film Festival, Wednesday-Monday, August 30-September 4, free, Woodstock Museum, 13 Charles Bach Road, Saugerties; (845) 246-0600, www.woodstockmuseum.org.
Join the family! 
