30th Anniversary Screening! Four Jamaican bobsledders dream of competing in the Winter Olympics, despite never having seen snow. With the help of a disgraced former champion desperate to redeem himself, the Jamaicans set out to become worthy of Olympic selection, and go all out for glory.
Chris Stokes (Jamaican Bobsled Team) & John Morgan (Narrator, Cool Runnings) to attend!
Now in its fifth year, the Your Shorts Are Showing film competition has become a signature event each year at the Lake Placid Film Festival. With submissions from across the US and numerous entries from across the globe, the juried show picks the Top 30 films to screen. And don't forget, Saturday night (10/29) at High Peaks we'll be awarding the top films in Drama, Comedy, Documentary, Student categories, as well as Best In Show. Hope to see you there.
Filmmakers scheduled to attend!
Your Shorts Are Showing - Block One
Drained - Christopher Francis
Black Snow - The Apocalypse, Conrad Murphy & Rayne Polkowski
InVade - Eunice Levis
ELSA - Cameron S. Mitchell
The Metamorph - Maximillian Remmler
Altar Boys - Thomas Steele
Unglück - Alexander Cass & Jacob Brown
Monstario - Alex Case
Deadcoats - Sam Robotham
Born To Fight - Paulina Jaskiewicz
A Colonial Trading Woman: Margaret Hardenbroeck Philipse - Leslie Dann & Guido Jimenez-Cruz
The Nightmare - Jocelyn,Decker
FRAME FUMBLE - Alexander Griffin
Now in its fifth year, the Your Shorts Are Showing film competition has become a signature event each year at the Lake Placid Film Festival. With submissions from across the US and numerous entries from across the globe, the juried show picks the Top 30 films to screen. And don't forget, Saturday night (10/29) at High Peaks we'll be awarding the top films in Drama, Comedy, Documentary, Student categories, as well as Best In Show. Hope to see you there.
Filmmakers scheduled to attend!
02:17, Oscar Labovich & Henry Gutch
Little Leaf, Mhaya Polacco
All I Have, John Fitzpatrick
It's Okay. , Jayme Coveliers
The Gym Name, Michael Hendel
The Lake Placid Film Festival and Catalyst Story Institute are excited to present the Catalyst Episodic Showcase. A curated selection of episodic video and pitches were chosen by the Catalyst team to screen in the showcase with winning pitches presenting in person at the film festival.
Documentary Content:
Greater World
NYU Student Sports Showcase
Now in its fifth year, the Your Shorts Are Showing film competition has become a signature event each year at the Lake Placid Film Festival. With submissions from across the US and numerous entries from across the globe, the juried show picks the Top 30 films to screen. And don't forget, Saturday night (10/29) at High Peaks we'll be awarding the top films in Drama, Comedy, Documentary, Student categories, as well as Best In Show. Hope to see you there.
Filmmakers scheduled to attend!
Wilting, Fred Midgley
Dance Lime, Juliette Mccawley
Midnight Ride, Alessandro Pojani
Chocolate Cake, Tom Wisnosky
Assaman, Katrina Brook Flores
The Hollow, Yvonne Trobe
Rubbernecking, E. K. M. Watson
In The Grey, Paul Robinson & Sashia Dumont
Go On and Bleed, J.Christian Hamilton
Swim Captain, Christa Haley
Or, The Whale, Mark Kiefer
The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England, a gathering space for a community that has fallen on hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers. When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and its newest inhabitants. The formation of an unexpected friendship between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Yara opens up new possibilities for the divided village in this deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding hope.
Humanity Stoked is an exploration into the challenges of moving humanity forward, as seen through the eyes of the world’s most iconic professional skaters, activists, scientists, artists, musicians, and educators, all of whom share unique experiences and perspectives shaped by their love of skateboarding.
The film is a philanthropic journey as told through luminaries and thought-leaders memorializing their personal stories, passions, perspectives and their connections to skateboarding, humanity, philanthropy, arts and sciences, music, human rights, LGBTQ rights, environmental issues, politics, and more, all while raising awareness and money to help make a positive difference in people’s lives.
Guest Scheduled to Appear!
La Syndicaliste is the true story of Maureen Kearney, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders, tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs.. Her life was turned upside down when she was violently assaulted in her own home... The investigation is carried out under pressure: the subject is sensitive. Suddenly, new elements create doubt in the minds of the investigators. At first a victim, Maureen becomes a suspect.
A Dreamer's Search: Click Here For Trailer
In 1918, Rockwell Kent leaves New York City with his eight-year-old son and travels to the rugged wilderness of Alaska in search of inspiration. Kent settles on a remote island, isolated and free to do his work. He befriends an old prospector whose stories energize his pursuit. As he struggles with internal turmoil, his son’s innocence and willingness to face failure inspire Kent to dig deep inside himself and begin again. Father and son’s connection blossoms as they embrace the wilderness experience together. Surrounded by the quiet magnificence of Fox Island, Kent creates the drawings and paintings that will catapult his career to national success and turn his dream into reality.
The Cookbook: Click Here For Trailer
Starring Diane Ciesla (Sundance Film Festival Finalist for The Foxy Merkins, 5 Flights Up, Another Earth), Vince Edgehill (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) and introducing Josue Ledesma, The Cookbook tells the story of Sarikh Kalil, a third-generation Lebanese immigrant who reunites with his estranged parents in Central New York after his father suffers a debilitating stroke. Sarikh is faced with a choice: take over his father’s Lebanese restaurant and preserve his familial heritage, or sell out to pursue his American Dream. The Cookbook is a heartfelt story about the sacrifices we make for family, preserving culture in melting-pot America and father-son relationships. The Cookbook is set and produced in Syracuse, and it was funded by a CNY grant.
Guests Scheduled to Appear!
Tread Setters is a film about 4 individuals pushing past the stereotypes and expectations of disability by embracing who they are, focusing on the abilities they do have and growing an inclusive and supportive community to achieve great things. Join para-cyclists Josie Fouts, Steven Wilke, Roger Withers and Annijke Wade as they attempt to ride the rugged 100 miles of the White Rim Trail in a single day.
Following the Tread Setters Q&A with Louis Arévalo, stay for Infinite Storm.
Sponsored by the Barkeater Trails Alliance (BETA), as an experienced climber (Naomi Watts) ascends Mt. Washington, she turns back before she reaches the summit as a huge blizzard approaches. But on her way down, she encounters a lone, stranded man, and takes it upon herself to get them both down the mountain before nightfall arrives and they succumb to the storm. Based on a true story.
RogerEbert.com Mar 25, 2022 — Simple and beautiful, this film worked. It's a story about survival with no bells or whistles getting in the way
Follows the Tread Setters Q&A with Louis Arévalo.
LPCA Lobby Opens at 6:30 for mingling for 10/27 screening!
"He gave the Stones edge, then drugs got the better of him and they dropped him. In Nick Broomfield’s moving film, he is remembered by the women who knew him intimately but briefly." Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian
Featuring revealing interviews with all the main players and unseen archive released for the first time, The Stones and Brian Jones explores the creative musical genius of Jones, key to the success of the band, and uncovers how the founder of what became the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world was left behind in the shadows of history.
Upstate New York Premiere! Bored sexually and mildly disturbed that few of the people in her life know anything about her — Allen never remembers the college she was attending when they started dating a decade ago, and the employer she’s been with for three years congratulates her on a one-year hiring anniversary — Ann connects with new doms, each with a series of niche yet banal kinks. Eventually, she meets the caring Chris (Babak Tafti), who seems to offer a path towards a conventional and, more importantly, mutually engaged relationship.
A special opportunity to view a work in process about Adirondack Film's co-founder, Russell Banks. Director Denis Mueller presents Russell Banks: I Write In Order To Be A Better Person is a documentary film, shot in vivid HD accompanied by stills, archival footage and theatrical films that brings audiences face to face with the celebrated author Russell Banks. Russell Banks is a testament to that resilience. He is someone who has built a life around his art and how that art has transformed him from his troubled and humble beginnings.
Guests scheduled to attend!
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The 518 Film Network is a professional filmmaker community and collective organization in the Capital Region dedicated to working together, making local projects, and keeping jobs local. The organization connects productions with professional local crews in Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Saratoga, Lake George, Hudson, Catskill, Amsterdam, throughout the Capital Region area, and beyond.
This series of shorts was curated by the 518 Film Network to showcase the work being done by their members, who work in the film industry upstate.
Meetcute on Danceworld - Micah Khan*
Devour - Victoria Diana*
You’re So Shy - Ember Autumn Skye*
Rustler’s Promenade - Charity Buckbee*
Well - Jim and Steve Powers
Rickety Man - Cameron Gallagher*
Time Skipping - Elisheva Novella*
*Scheduled to be in attendance
Fresh out of college, Carla (Leonie Benesch) is a new hire at a German junior high. Soon beloved by her homeroom, she takes great pride in her job, though not in her Polish heritage, which she hides from her colleagues. The school has a problem: a thief is at work and causing suspicion among students and staff. After falling victim to the culprit’s handiwork — and with her Turkish pupil falsely accused of the crime — Carla is embroiled in a plot to entrap the real offender.
With the help of her laptop, she manages to corner Friederike (Eva Löbau), who works as the school secretary and whose bright son Oskar (Leonard Stettnisch) is in Carla’s class. With the rumor mill roiling and the school newspaper weighing in, Carla is in the spotlight and neither Friederike nor Oskar, who starts spreading damaging rumors in retaliation for his mother’s dismissal, will go down without a fight.
30th Anniversary Screening! Four Jamaican bobsledders dream of competing in the Winter Olympics, despite never having seen snow. With the help of a disgraced former champion desperate to redeem himself, the Jamaicans set out to become worthy of Olympic selection, and go all out for glory.
Guests Scheduled to Appear!
Part of the Catalyst Episodic Showcase. Every chemical has a story.
Faced with the trauma of losing his wife, successful fashion maven Jeremy (Dominic Bogart) finds himself on the edge of a total psychotic break. He risks his sanity with a dangerous dose of psilocybin in an experimental psychedelic-assisted therapy session, only to learn that his reality is far from what it seems.
Part of the Catalyst Episodic Showcase.
In a small town absurdly cut in half by the USA/Canada border, a jaded American border patrol agent solves local cases while engaging in a fierce rivalry with her nemesis in the Canadian Mounties: her twin sister.
Faced with an unsatisfied client, a perfectionist Italian chef is forced to make a meal he's never made.
The Lake Placid Film Festival and Catalyst Story Institute are excited to present the Catalyst Episodic Showcase. A curated selection of episodic video and pitches were chosen by the Catalyst team to screen in the showcase with winning pitches presenting in person at the film festival.
Pilots screening coming soon!
World Premiere! When a successful bachelor suddenly finds himself as the guardian of a 10 year old boy, he leans on the smart and beautiful social worker for help, only to fall in love with the woman who turned his life upside down.
Guests Scheduled to appear!
I Used To Be Funny is a dark dramedy that follows Sam Cowell (Rachel Sennott), an aspiring stand-up comedian and au pair struggling with PTSD, as she decides whether or not to join the search for Brooke (Olga Petsa), a missing teenage girl she used to nanny. The story exists between the present, where Sam tries to recover from her trauma and get back on stage, and the past, where memories of Brooke make it harder and harder to ignore the petulant teen’s sudden disappearance.
Based upon the story by Stephen King. After a near-fatal accident, soon-to-be father Pete Shelburn begins to suspect that his past has come back to haunt him. With his own father at death's door and his brother refusing to make amends with him, he's forced to save his family by confronting a nightmare from his childhood: a cursed cymbal-clapping toy monkey.
Guest Scheduled to Appear!
A Dreamer's Search: Click Here For Trailer
In 1918, Rockwell Kent leaves New York City with his eight-year-old son and travels to the rugged wilderness of Alaska in search of inspiration. Kent settles on a remote island, isolated and free to do his work. He befriends an old prospector whose stories energize his pursuit. As he struggles with internal turmoil, his son’s innocence and willingness to face failure inspire Kent to dig deep inside himself and begin again. Father and son’s connection blossoms as they embrace the wilderness experience together. Surrounded by the quiet magnificence of Fox Island, Kent creates the drawings and paintings that will catapult his career to national success and turn his dream into reality.
The Cookbook: Click Here For Trailer
Starring Diane Ciesla (Sundance Film Festival Finalist for The Foxy Merkins, 5 Flights Up, Another Earth), Vince Edgehill (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) and introducing Josue Ledesma, The Cookbook tells the story of Sarikh Kalil, a third-generation Lebanese immigrant who reunites with his estranged parents in Central New York after his father suffers a debilitating stroke. Sarikh is faced with a choice: take over his father’s Lebanese restaurant and preserve his familial heritage, or sell out to pursue his American Dream. The Cookbook is a heartfelt story about the sacrifices we make for family, preserving culture in melting-pot America and father-son relationships. The Cookbook is set and produced in Syracuse, and it was funded by a CNY grant.
Guests scheduled to attend!
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After meeting as children over a series of summers in the Italian Alps, Pietro (Luca Marinelli) and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi) reunite as adults to build a mountainside cottage which becomes a site of both reflection and reconciliation. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
A riveting exploration of rebellion, memory, and sisterhood, Four Daughters reconstructs the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, unpacking a complex family history through intimate interviews and performance to examine how the Tunisian woman's two eldest daughters were radicalized. Casting professional actresses as the missing eldest daughters Ghofrane and Rahma, along with acclaimed Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabri as Olfa, director Kaouther Ben Hania restages pivotal moments in the family’s life, interwoven with confessions and reflections from Olfa and younger daughters Eya and Tayssir that capture moments of joy, loss, violence, and heartache. Four Daughters is a compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction storytelling that questions the nature of memory,the weight of inherited trauma, and the ties that bind mother and daughter.
Humanity Stoked is an exploration into the challenges of moving humanity forward, as seen through the eyes of the world’s most iconic professional skaters, activists, scientists, artists, musicians, and educators, all of whom share unique experiences and perspectives shaped by their love of skateboarding.
The film is a philanthropic journey as told through luminaries and thought-leaders memorializing their personal stories, passions, perspectives and their connections to skateboarding, humanity, philanthropy, arts and sciences, music, human rights, LGBTQ rights, environmental issues, politics, and more, all while raising awareness and money to help make a positive difference in people’s lives.
Guest scheduled to appear!
Barbara DeFina in attendance! Sammy is a single mother who is extremely protective of her 8-year old son. She is satisfied with living in the small town she grew up in and working in a local bank. When her brother Terry visits he fits the void in the life of both her and her son. Temporarily free of the constraints of single motherhood she begins to break free of her normal routine. In a string of traumatic events Sammy is torn between helping her brother and her maternal instinct to protect her son from getting hurt.
Winner Best Film & Best Screenplay, Sundance 2000. Winner Best Picture, Independent Spirit Awards 2001
Meir (Sasson Gabay) and Tova (Rita Shukrun) are a Sephardic, upper-middle-class couple, seemingly resigned to live out the rest of their semi-retirement in the banal comforts of an upscale apartment complex in a suburb of Tel Aviv. When Itsik (Lior Ashkenazi), a sexy bachelor from Miami, moves into the building’s penthouse, their lives are gleefully upended.
A commonality everyone shares is the feeling of being a problem. In the American classic, ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ scholar Dr. W.E.B. DuBois framed this peculiar sensation as a social phenomenon initially and/or especially applicable to Black folk as a result of being blamed for the Civil War and the failure of the country’s Reconstruction effort. Filmmaker Dr. Thomas Keith, inspired by author Dr. J.W. Wiley’s book, ‘The Nigger in You,’ used DuBois’ existential question—profoundly articulated within ‘Souls’—to collaborate on an award winning film project, “How Does It Feel to be a PROBLEM?” This film—which won the 2022 SoHo International Film Festival Best Documentary—was created to be a point-of-departure for consciousness-awakening, conversation-starting, as well as ideal for ally-development.
Featuring actor/activist Danny Glover, musician/actor Henry Rollins, writer/activist Dr. Dena Samuels, and professor/author Dr. James Loewen—with a song by Hall of Fame singer/songwriter Jackson Browne— “How Does It Feel to be a PROBLEM?” challenges viewers to unpack systemic racism while considering the necessity of being a John Brown-type ally. Ultimately we hope that engaging systemic racism as a pertinent template relevant to addressing all societal ‘isms’ will enable every person that considers it, to become an ally too.
Presented in partnership with John Brown Lives. Guest scheduled to appear!
Virgin Blacktop: A New York Skate Odyssey is an uplifting and sometimes heart-breaking coming-of-age story about a funky crew of suburban New York City kids. When they met in 1977, they had nothing in common except a passion for skateboarding. Despite their vastly different ages, races and economic backgrounds and with their parents hands-off approach, they formed a competitive, traveling team of spirited outsiders called the “Wizards”. Now, nearly 40 years later, they remain lifelong friends but their lives have followed very different paths, from boardrooms to jail cells. The Wizards are living proof that focusing on the right values can overcome life’s obstacles.
Guest scheduled to attend!
50th Anniversary Screening! A visiting actress in Washington, D.C. notices dramatic and dangerous changes in the behavior and physical make-up of her 12-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, a young priest at nearby Georgetown University begins to doubt his faith while dealing with his mother's terminal sickness. And a frail, elderly priest recognizes the necessity for a show-down with an old demonic enemy.
50th Anniversary FREE Screening! E.B. White's beloved children's tale is brought to life in this animated film, which finds the young farm pig Wilbur (Henry Gibson) attempting to avoid a dire fate. Of all the barnyard creatures, Wilbur's staunchest ally is Charlotte (Debbie Reynolds), a thoughtful spider who devises an intriguing plan to keep the gentle little swine out of the slaughterhouse. Although Charlotte's efforts, which involve words written in her delicate web, seem far-fetched, they may just work.
Made possible by the support of the Village of Lake Placid
The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England, a gathering space for a community that has fallen on hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers. When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and its newest inhabitants. The formation of an unexpected friendship between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Yara opens up new possibilities for the divided village in this deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding hope.
Fresh out of college, Carla (Leonie Benesch) is a new hire at a German junior high. Soon beloved by her homeroom, she takes great pride in her job, though not in her Polish heritage, which she hides from her colleagues. The school has a problem: a thief is at work and causing suspicion among students and staff. After falling victim to the culprit’s handiwork — and with her Turkish pupil falsely accused of the crime — Carla is embroiled in a plot to entrap the real offender.
With the help of her laptop, she manages to corner Friederike (Eva Löbau), who works as the school secretary and whose bright son Oskar (Leonard Stettnisch) is in Carla’s class. With the rumor mill roiling and the school newspaper weighing in, Carla is in the spotlight and neither Friederike nor Oskar, who starts spreading damaging rumors in retaliation for his mother’s dismissal, will go down without a fight.
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Menus Plaisirs is a film about the Troisgros family and their three restaurants: Troisgros, Le Central and La Colline, located in three neighboring locations in central France. Troisgros, a restaurant founded 93 years ago, has had three Michelin stars for 55 years and in 2020 was awarded a Michelin green star for exemplary sustainable practices. Much of the film takes place at Troisgros. The present chef, César Troisgros, is the fourth generation of the family to be in charge at Troisgros. The film shows the day-to-day operations involving the purchase, preparation and service at this restaurant.
The New York Times
"At the New York Film Festival, Delicate Movies and Ones That Go Vroom" by Manohla Dargis.
"I’m also looking forward to rewatching “Menus-Plaisirs — les Troisgros,” the latest from Frederick Wiseman, a mesmerizing four-hour portrait of a family, a business, a world. It centers on the Troisgros, a dynasty of chefs best known for the titular three-star Michelin restaurant in central France. Intimate and expansive, the movie takes you from kitchen to farm fields and back as it charts the triumphs and quotidian frustrations along with the aesthetic and ethical sensibilities of people whose love for their calling is inscribed in every tweezered morsel. It’s a dedication that recalls that of the genius behind the camera, who was born in 1930, the same year the Troisgros family opened its first restaurant." – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Featuring revealing interviews with all the main players and unseen archive released for the first time, The Stones and Brian Jones explores the creative musical genius of Jones, key to the success of the band, and uncovers how the founder of what became the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world was left behind in the shadows of history.
Virgin Blacktop: A New York Skate Odyssey is an uplifting and sometimes heart-breaking coming-of-age story about a funky crew of suburban New York City kids. When they met in 1977, they had nothing in common except a passion for skateboarding. Despite their vastly different ages, races and economic backgrounds and with their parents hands-off approach, they formed a competitive, traveling team of spirited outsiders called the “Wizards”. Now, nearly 40 years later, they remain lifelong friends but their lives have followed very different paths, from boardrooms to jail cells. The Wizards are living proof that focusing on the right values can overcome life’s obstacles.
50th Anniversary Screening! A visiting actress in Washington, D.C. notices dramatic and dangerous changes in the behavior and physical make-up of her 12-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, a young priest at nearby Georgetown University begins to doubt his faith while dealing with his mother's terminal sickness. And a frail, elderly priest recognizes the necessity for a show-down with an old demonic enemy.
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