Andrew Solomon’s award-winning 2012 nonfiction best-seller, Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity is about what it means to be family, and above all, about love, no matter what. Now there’s a documentary film based on the book, directed by Rachel Dretzin, opening this Friday for a weeklong run at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck. Author Solomon will be on hand for talkbacks following two of the screenings: at 8 p.m. on Friday, September 21 and at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 22.
Far from the Tree is an intimate, profoundly human look at families raising children whom society deems “abnormal”: a mother and son determined to show the world that Down syndrome does not define him; a couple learning to communicate with their bright-but-nonverbal autistic son; a young woman dealing with what it means to be the only “little person” in her family; and parents whose deep love for their son persists even after he has committed an unspeakable crime. Andrew Solomon’s own story plays out between segments of the movie, sometimes bridging the other tales.
Tickets for Rachel Dretzin’s Far from the Tree cost $10 general admission, $8 for students and seniors, $6 for Upstate Films members. For more information or to order, visit https://upstatefilms.org/far-from-the-tree.
Far from the Tree screening with writer Andrew Solomon, Friday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1:30 p.m., $10/$8/$6, Upstate Films, 6415 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, (845) 876-2515, https://upstatefilms.org
Join the family! 
