WHALLONSBURG, NY – The Champlain Valley Film Series will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Saturday, April 1 at 7:00 at the Whallonsburg Grange Hall in Essex with a free showing of The Fabelmans, nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. The Fabelmans is director Steven Speilberg’s semi-autobiographical love letter to filmmaking and the audience will be treated to free popcorn and birthday cake as part of the celebration.
The Film Series showed its first movie, Shakespeare in Love, in 2003 and has now screened over 320 films. CVFS co-founder, David Reuther said, “We never imagined we’d reach this milestone. We want to thank our loyal audience members and local businesses and organizations from around the region for their tremendous support over the years. They know that watching a movie together on a big screen with an audience is truly magical.”
“Twenty years ago,” Reuther explained, “the closest theater was in Plattsburgh and it showed mostly Hollywood blockbusters. We thought people would like to see independent studio films, documentaries, and foreign films as well as action movies. And we were right.” In 2006, the Film Series expanded the number of shows to over 20 per year from September through May.
For the first few years, CVFS showed films at several locations including Willsboro Central School, the Masonic Lodge in Essex, Depot Theatre in Westport, and even outdoors in parks along Lake Champlain. In 2012, the film series settled into its permanent home at the Whallonsburg Grange Hall in Essex and invested in a high-definition projector, full-size movie screen and specialized sound system. Today, CVFS volunteers make movie popcorn and sell candy at each show to complete the authentic movie-going experience for the audience.
The most popular shows over the past twenty years have been the nearly 50 films that were introduced by directors, actors and others associated with a film’s production. These include the film Captain Phillips, introduced by the “real” Captain Richard Phillips; Oscar-nominated Frozen River, introduced by director Courtney Hunt; King Corn,with director Aaron Woolf; Affliction, with author Russell Banks; Where the Rivers Flow North, introduced by novelist Howard Frank Mosher and director Jay Craven; and four silent filmclassics with live piano accompaniment by Ben Model.
“Movies continue to be a powerful expression of human culture,” said Reuther, “and the Champlain Valley Film Series is proud to make excellent films available to people in the region. We believe that in twenty years there will still be movies to see and people will come together to watch them.”