It is early Friday

morning, day 2 of the

10th annual

FilmColumbia Festival in Chatham, NY. The town is quiet, but there is a sense of excitement in the air. Our Daily Bread is open extra hours to feed hungry film buffs. Peint ‘o’ Gwrw has a special Film Festival menu on its chalk board in the street.

After 10 years, Chatham has really gotten hold of this now established tradition. More and more people flock to Columbia County each fall to watch some of the most carefully chosen films of the year. Author Peter Biskind, as locals know, selects movies from a multitude of new films being made every year. Since the Crandall, our local theater and the Morris, the other venue, are the only places to view the movies, film choice is critical. This year there are only about 28 films, in contrast to festivals like Toronto (300-400 films), Sundance (200 films) and SXSW (260 films).

FilmColumbia is a rare event. Film choices reflect the singular vision of an expert in the field who has carefully curated a festival of extraordinary quality. In the past, films like The Pianist and 21 Grams were premiered and went on to critical acclaim including Academy Award nominations.

The first movie today is Fish Tank at 12 noon, followed by That Evening Sun at 2:30.

The full schedule is available here.

Yesterday, I saw The Maid and Men Who Stare at Goats. I loved the Maid because of its edge. It never faltered from this precarious position that could have have gone deeply down a dark hole, but didn’t.

Movies I didn’t see but which played between The Maid and Men were LIVING IN EMERGENCY: Stories of Doctors Without Borders and Against the Current.

Men Who Stare at Goats played Thursday evening at 8:15 to a full house. New age spirituality meets the military in this hysterical depiction of American sensibility stumbling through a ridiculous war in the middle east. George Clooney and Ewan McGregor are lost souls who meet up in Dubai then cross the border into Iraq from one escapade to another. Jeff Bridges give a memorable performance as the group’s guru with Kevin Spacey playing a somewhat nefarious competitor.

See you at the movies. Mary Anne Davis