2008 Festival Information

Event Venues

Festival History

[Chatham, NY – Jan. 30, 2007] – There has always been much to love about the historic 81 year-old Crandell Theatre in Chatham, N.Y.: the virtually unchanged Spanish Renaissance architecture, the intimacy of the 534 seat interior, the warm hospitality of the Quirino family, who have owned and operated it for nearly 50 years. And now, thanks to the generosity of two local residents, there’s another reason to love the Crandell: a new $30,000, state-of-the-art sound system.

The idea for this gift came about during a dinner conversation one evening between Frank Viggiano, of Chatham-based Viggiano Associates, specializing in high-end consumer electronics, and Gina Harman, part-time Chatham area resident and president of the consumer division of Harman International, the audio and electronics company started by her father.

Both Viggiano and Harman are avid supporters of the arts and the local Chatham community. Harman recently donated a sound system to the tent at PS21, Judy Grunberg’s not-for-profit performing arts organization. Their dinner conversation one evening turned to another Chatham not-for-profit arts organization, The Chatham Film Club, sponsor of the annual film festival, FilmColumbia. Looking for a way to enhance the movie-going experience for everyone, they decided on the spot to donate a state-of-the-art sound system to the film club that would be installed in the festival's venue, the Crandell Theatre.

Replacing the Crandell’s nearly 60 year-old trio of speakers and single sound controller will be a powerhouse system featuring 19 speakers with Dolby digital surround sound, a 6-component controller that is more than 15 times more powerful than the previous one, and digital readers on the projector and speakers to read the high-quality digital sound track from the film and transmit it to the speakers.

Frank Viggiano has been working to install the system, which is being completed in phases. Already completed is the speaker installation, which has drawn positive reactions from theater-goers.

Chatham Film Club president, Sandi Knakal praises the system as being much clearer. “You get the sense of the sound being around you instead of just in front of you,” she notes.

FilmColumbia director Calliope Nicholas is equally enthusiastic. “We’re so grateful to Frank and Gina for their generous gift. While everyone has always appreciated the history and uniqueness of the Crandell Theatre, the sound quality has been an issue. This sound system puts the festival on a new level and not only enables us to offer our audiences a better film-going experience, it enhances the experience for everybody who goes to the Crandell for any film.”

Crandell owner, Tony Quirino agrees and is appreciative of the time and effort the installers are spending to get everything done correctly.

Phase two, the installation of the controllers, and phase three, the installation of digital readers, are expected to be completed in the upcoming weeks. Frank Viggiano doesn’t mind the time it’s taking, though. For him, it’s a gift of the heart to a festival, a town, and a theater that he loves.

"We're so grateful to Frank and Gina for their generous gift. While everyone always appreciated the history and uniqueness of the Crandell Theatre, the sound quality has been an issue. This sound system puts the festival on a new level and not only enables us to offer our audiences a better filim-going experience, it enhances the experience for everybody who goes to the Crandell for any film." - Calliope Nicholas, FilmColumbia Festival Director

"You get the sense of the sound being around you instead of just in front of you," - Sandi Knakal, The Chatham Film Club President