Woodstock Film Festival to host four in-person events in December
The Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) has announced four in-person events for the month of December. Fresh off celebrating its 22nd anniversary earlier this fall, WFF remains committed to supporting independent filmmakers and bringing cutting-edge cinema to the Hudson Valley.
A screening of Simple as Water will take place on Saturday, December 4 at 1 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre at 156 Main Street in Saugerties. The screening will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the film’s producer, Robin Hessman. Epic in scope but intimate in feel, Simple as Water is a meditation on the elemental bonds between parent and child from Academy Award-winner Megan Mylan.
Tickets cost $10, available for purchase at https://wff.eventive.org/schedule/61819422af05cc007c3bae7c.
Join the Woodstock Film Festival in collaboration with the Hudson Valley theatre group Actors & Writers for a staged screenplay reading of Janet’s Planet, directed by Actors & Writers member Shelley Wyant, on Saturday, December 4 at 4 p.m. at the Rosendale Theatre at 408 Main Street in Rosendale. After a messy divorce and 15 years of listening to other people’s sob stories, psychotherapist Janet Petrocelli is burnt out. For her next chapter, Janet has fled Brooklyn and opened a used-stuff shop in Saugerties.
The suggested donation is $20. Register online at https://wff.eventive.org/schedule/6183f525b5796c00459fe020.
The Woodstock Film Festival returns to the Orpheum Theatre in Saugerties on December 5 at 1 p.m. for a special screening of Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker and 2018 Woodstock Film Festival Honorary Filmmaker of Distinction Award recipient Matthew Heineman’s The First Wave, courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films. A question-and-answer session with Heineman and other crew members will follow the screening, with a catered reception for filmmakers and audience members at the Dutch Ale House in Saugerties right after.
With exclusive access inside one of New York’s hardest-hit hospital systems during the terrifying first four months of the pandemic, Oscar®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning director Matthew Heineman’s The First Wave spotlights the everyday heroes at the epicenter of COVID-19 as they come together to fight one of the greatest threats the world has ever encountered.
Tickets cost $15 (screening and reception) and are available for purchase at https://wff.eventive.org/schedule/61819561cd4be2006950fdcc.
Finally, the Woodstock Film Festival will present an intimate screening of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s critically acclaimed drama Drive My Car on Wednesday, December 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Rosendale Theatre at 408 Main Street in Rosendale, courtesy of Janus Films. Drive My Car took home three top prizes at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, including Best Screenplay, and is Japan’s submission to the Academy Awards.
Two years after his wife’s unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya at a theatre festival in Hiroshima. Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is a haunting road movie traveling a path of love, loss, acceptance and peace.
Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased at https://wff.eventive.org/schedule/618a96ef77b55d16608444e6.
“After successfully transitioning back to an in-person format for the 2021 Film Festival, we look forward to welcoming our patrons, filmmakers and friends back to the theatres this winter,” said Woodstock Film Festival co-founder and executive director Meira Blaustein. “In these uncertain times, supporting and working together with our peers in the arts sector is paramount.”
The 23rd annual Woodstock Film Festival will return to the Hudson Valley next fall, from September 28 through October 2, 2022. For more information about submissions and the organization’s year-round event calendar, visit woodstockfilmfestival.org.
Marc Black Band plays Bearsville Theater November 27
The Marc Black Band, featuring former members of the Joe Cocker, Stevie Winwood, Miles Davis and Paul Simon bands, will be bringing their annual Thanksgiving show to the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock on Saturday, November 27 at 8 p.m. The theater is guaranteed to be filled with 100 percent vaccinated revelers.
Black, who has recently been inducted into the New York Chapter of the Blues Hall of Fame, has been enjoying Top Ten status on the International Folk Charts with his new album, Everybody Wants My Hat! The band will also feature the classic vocals of Amy Fradon; joyous Eric Parker on drums; psychedelic inventor and Blues Magoos founder Mike Esposito on bass; and king of the Hammond organ Pete Levin from the Gil Evans Orchestra on keys. This will be Black’s final East Coast show before leaving on a promotion tour in the Southwest.
The Theater is located at 291 Tinker Street. Tickets cost $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For tickets, visit bearsvilletheater.com.
Cancer survivor joins Nuvance Health to provide primary care
A new member of the Nuvance Health Medical Practices primary care team in Woodstock, nurse practitioner Susan Begnal, a cancer survivor herself, has much experience in the healthcare field, as a provider and patient. Begnal has special training in adult gerontology, which is the study of how we age.
“Being a cancer survivor myself, I have a unique perspective from a patient’s point of view that can enhance the care I provide,” said Begnal, a Kingston resident who was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma in 2012.
She completed her nurse practitioner education at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh and holds a Master’s degree in nursing. While earning her Master’s, she was a registered nurse, most recently with Northern Dutchess Hospital and Hudson Valley Hospice. In her six years of nursing experience, she has worked with pregnant, surgical, medically frail and elderly patients. “I am experienced on the full continuum of healthcare, from having worked on labor and delivery to hospice care and much in between,” she said.
Outside of the office, Begnal spends as much time as she can outdoors, and with her family, friends and dogs.
Woodstock’s Nuvance Health Medical Practice is located at 404 Zena Road. To make an appointment, call (845) 679-5271 or TTY/accessibility (800) 421-1220. To request an appointment online or learn more about primary care, see www.nuvancehealth.org/primarycare.
Join the family! 
