Events 2021
Thursday, April 29, Rain or shine
Movie Night at Malta Drive-In Theatre
Featuring Films on 2 Screens
Gates and Box Office open at 7 p.m. Screenings begin at 8 pm. Concession Stand will be open. Attendees can come late and leave early.
Click here for Program and for More information on the short films
Screen 1:
Local Short films
Comedy and Experimental:
"Earth Day 2030"
"Sibling Rivalry"
"A Very Simple Objective"
"I Am Her"
"ALIGN"
"The Plaza"
Documentary:
"Impact: Mobility and Modernity Reconsidered"
Feature film:
"Cadillac Records"
Screen 2:
Local short films
Documentary and Drama:
"Building A Stage"
"Menkes Disease: Finding Help & Hope"
"From a Daughter to Her Mother"
"Rich Atmosphere:
The Music of Merchant-Ivory Films"
"Hope Served Fresh - Recovery Friendly Employment"
"Severance"
"One Match"
"Broken Lilies"
"Sudden"
"Flying Colors"
Feature film:
"Honeymoon Killers
Impact: Mobility and Modernity Reconsidered
Premiere Documentary Film
(57 min.)
Director: Rik Scarce
“Why do people wear shoes?” is the deceptively straightforward question animating "Impact." A film seemingly about barefoot running, as it develops it becomes an exploration of modernity’s relationship to technology, evolution, nature, our bodies, our selves, and the human spirit.
For more information about the film, visit: https://www.gruppozero.net/
Cadillac Records
Feature Film showing 10:15 pm
(1 hr 49 min.)
Writer and Director: Darnell Martin
Stars: Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Beyoncé
In this tale of sex, violence, race, and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, “Cadillac Records” follows the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America’s musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
Honeymoon killers
Feature Film showing 10:15 pm
(1 hr 47 min.)
Writer and Director: Leonard Kastle, who was a UAlbany emeritus music professor. His papers are archived in the UAlbany Library’s special collections.
Stars: Shirley Stoler, Tony Lo Bianco, Mary Jane Higby
Based on a shocking true story and shot in documentary-style black and white by the confident and inspired Leonard Kastle, in what would be his only foray into filmmaking, THE HONEYMOON KILLERS is a stark portrayal of the desperate lengths to which a lonely heart will go to find true love.
Saturday, May 1, 2021
The Ironweed Award for Exemplary Achievement in Film
At the New York State Writers Institute— since the time of our founding— we have celebrated filmmaking as an essential storytelling art, and a form of literature in its own right. Like all great literature, film can transport us to other times and places, allow us to inhabit other people’s lives, and invite us to change the way we see and think.
With the Ironweed Award, we honor the achievements of individual artists—directors, actors, editors, screenwriters and cinematographers—who have made extraordinary contributions to the collective effort of bringing brilliant works of cinema to the screen.
We also pay tribute to the life’s work of our founder, William Kennedy, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Ironweed, screenwriter of THE COTTON CLUB, and a champion of storytelling in all its forms.
james ivory in conversation with Stephen Soucy
Co-founder of Merchant Ivory Productions, James Ivory is one of the most influential filmmakers of the last 50 years. Together with his partner, producer Ismail Merchant,and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, he received worldwide acclaim for nuanced adaptations of literary classics, including A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1986), HOWARD’S END (1992), and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993). At age 89, he became the oldest-ever Oscar winner for his screenplay adaptation of CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017).
A conversation with Kasi lemmons, writer director of "Harriet"
Kasi Lemmons is the director and screenwriter of HARRIET, the 2020 Oscar-nominated biography of Underground Railroad hero Harriet Tubman. Her previous credits as director include EVE’S BAYOU (1997), THE CAVEMAN’S VALENTINE (2001); TALK TO ME (2007); and BLACK NATIVITY (2013).
Lemmons began her career as an actress, with roles in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991), CANDYMAN (1992) and FEAR OF A BLACK HAT (1993). She also designed and hosted the tribute to actor Sidney Poitier at the 2002 Academy Awards. As an educator, she mentors the next generation of filmmakers at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
A conversation with director darnell martin
A landmark figure of U.S. cinema history, Darnell Martin was the first African American woman to direct a film for a major Hollywood Studio—I LIKE IT LIKE THAT (1994), about a Puerto Rican couple facing the challenges of life in the South Bronx. The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. She went on to direct Oprah Winfrey’s production of Zora Neale Hurston’s THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD (2005), and wrote and directed PRISON SONG (2001),and CADILLAC RECORDS (2008), starring Beyoncé.
Rosie perez in conversation with eric haze
Rosie Perez received her first major role in Spike Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING (1989). She went on to perform in NIGHT ON EARTH (1991), WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP (1992), and FEARLESS (1993), for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also received three Primetime Emmy Awards for her work as a choreographer on the hit show, "In Living Color," and co-hosted the ABC talk show, "The View," during its 18th season.
Most recently, Perez portrayed the character of Renee Montoya in the DC Comics movie, BIRDS OF PREY (2020).
eric haze
Eric Haze first achieved acclaim as a major graffiti artist of the 1970s and 80s. A graphic designer, he went on to create some of the best-known logos and album covers of the Hip Hop era for a variety of artists and companies including The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Tommy Boy Records and EPMD. At its height, his pioneering “streetwear” company, HAZE, boasted three flagship stores in Tokyo, Japan. He recently designed the "graffiti style" uniforms for the Brooklyn Nets.
His fine art studio is located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife, Rosie Perez.
sam pollard in conversation with bhawin suchak
Samuel Pollard, is one of America’s greatest living film editors, and a key figure in the recent history of African American filmmaking. His credits include, the forthcoming COUNTING THE BALLOTS (2022), BLACK ART: IN THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT (2021) documentary, MLK/FBI (2020) documentary, MR. SOUL! (2018) documentary,
the landmark PBS series, EYES ON THE PRIZE (1987), and several of Spike Lee’s films— MO’ BETTER BLUES (1990), JUNGLE FEVER (1991), CLOCKERS (1995), 4 LITTLE GIRLS (1997), BAMBOOZLED (2000)— as well as countless award-winning documentaries.
Other Conversations
Jacob R. Brackman IN CONVERSATION WITH William Kennedy
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist William Kennedy collaborated with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola on the screenplay for THE COTTON CLUB (1984).
Jacob Brackman was the film critic for Esquire from 1969-72. He wrote screenplays for THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS (1972), starring Jack Nicholson, and the punk rock musical TIMES SQUARE (1980) and served as executive producer and 2nd unit director of DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978), one of the best films ever made according to many critics. As a lyricist, Brackman co-wrote the Broadway musical KING OF HEARTS, and dozens of Carly Simon songs, including her top 10 hits, "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" and "Haven't Got Time for the Pain.”
DIRECTOR LIZZIE GOTTLIEB: "ROMEO ROMEO"
NYS Writers Institute Paul Grondahl moderates a discussion with director Lizzie Gottlieb and Jessica & Lexy Casano-Antonellis on the documentary ROMEO ROMEO. The film offers no holds barred access to the lives of Jessica and Lexy as they traverse the world of artificial insemination, from sperm donors to expensive and harrowing IVF to the possibility that Lexy might not be able to get pregnant. The film received the prestigious Excellence in Documentary Award by the National Gay and Lesbian Journalism Association.