Hollywood on the Hudson Blog presents its Golden Lady Liberty Film Award for the "Best Documentary Film 2008" to Bill Maher's "Religulous" for best expression of truth, liberty and freedom of speech in film, combined with excellence in film making, directing, editing, sound track and film production.

Congratulations Bill and thank you for bringing us your intensely thought provoking film "Religulous" - it's everything you always wanted to know about religion but were afraid to ask and a masterpiece film. I sense that Our Creator God would want us to ask questions as we are given free will to choose what to believe (or to not believe). I am grateful that Bill Maher asks people and religious leaders the most challenging questions about their religious beliefs in a very amusing way.

I found myself laughing at that which I could never imagine myself finding hysterically funny.

On a whirlwind spiritual journey, a few of the places that "Religulous" and Bill Maher takes us to are the real Holy Land in Jerusalem, the "Holyland Experience" theme park in Orlando, FL and the Vatican in Rome, Italy. Surprisingly, a Vatican Priest that Bill Maher speaks with was in agreement with most everything that Bill talked about. Maher not only speaks to the religiously inclined but also interviews a neuroscientist for his views on the religious mind.

"Religulous" makes it clear that we don't have to wait for the Armegeddon at the "End Times" that Scripture speaks about because mankind has developed the ability to annihilate civilization as we know it with nuclear weapons.

"Religulous" is a highly entertaining and informative film not to be missed, but it's not for the religiously faint of heart. Run to see it now!

Marla LaRue, Hollywood on the Hudson Blogzine, editor

October 1 - 5, 2008: The 9th Annual Woodstock Film Festival Has Landed!

Beginning today, the Woodstock Nation plays host to the 9th Annual Woodstock Film Festival, October 1-5, 2008 blending film, music, and art-related activities that promote film artists, film culture, and diversity. We are told that on October 1st, tickets are only available at the box office in Woodstock.

The film fest will feature concerts and more than 150 films --- and you get a chance to see new films by Colin Farrell (Pride and Glory) - and Kevin Smith (Zack and Miri). Living Legend folk singer and song writer Donovan Leitch performs LIVE in concert at the Colony Cafe on Oct. 04, 2008 @ 8:00PM, details on the website. And if you hurry, you might be able to catch the WFF Silent Auction, bid on some fun items and support the fest: http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/auction/auction.php

This year the Woodstock Film Festival Awards Ceremony is open to the public and will take place Saturday, October 4th, 9:00 PM, at Backstage Productions in Kingston.

Special Honorary Awards will be presented to legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler, renowned writer / producer / studio executive James Schamus, and maverick filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks and Dogma). Smith's latest movie (Zack and Miri Make a Porno starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, about two friends who produce their own porn film) will be shown on the closing night of the festival.

The awards will be presented in the categories of Feature Narrative, Documentary Narrative, Best Cinematography, Best Editing in Documentary and Best Editing in Feature Narrative, Animation Shorts, Short Documentary, Short Film, Student Shorts. The awards will be presented and juried by Actors, Directors, Film Critics, Producers, and distinguished members of the industry. A party follows the ceremony, sponsored by 120db Films Beverages and provided by Barefoot Wines. All details at the Woodstock Film Festival website.

Sept. 17 - Sept 19, 2008: "Hollywood on the Hudson" - Film Making in NY

The Museum of Modern Art [MOMA] is hosting The Hollywood on the Hudson Film Festival from September 17 to September 19, 2008.
Don't miss this event inspired by Richard Koszarski's book, Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff.
For complete information, visit the Museum of Modern Art's website:
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_exhibitions.php?id=10043&ref=calendar#screenings

The forth coming screenings for 10 original Hollywood on the Hudson Films include:

1. The Green Goddess (1923) - Sidney Olcott, director; play by Willima Archer; acting by George Arliss. Filmed at the Bronx Biograph studio. Screening courtesy UCLA Film and Telelvison Archive. Silent with music accompaniment.
2. Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1920) - John Robertson, director; based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson; acting by John Barrymore. Filmed at Paramount's Amsterdam Opera House studio on West Forty-fourth Street; from the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection. Silent, with musical accompaniment.
3. Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926) - Frank Tuttle, director; based on a play by John Weaver & George Abbott; with Evelyn Brent, actress. Paramount Astoria Studios.
4. Enchantment (1921) Robert Vignola, director; based on a story by Frank R. Adams; with Marion Davies acting. Screening courtesy The Library of Congress. Silent, with musical accompaniment.
5. While New York Sleeps (1920) - Charles Brabin, director. Filmed at the new Fox studio on West Fifty-fifth Street and various New York locations. Silent, with musical accompaniment.
6. The Letter (1929) - Jean De Limur & Monta Bell, directors; based on the play by W. Somerset Maugham. This is the first talking feature film made in New York. Courtesy The Library of Congress.
7. Way Down East (1920) - D. W. Griffith director; based on a play by Lottie Blair Parker; with Lillian Gish, actress. Griffith abandoned Hollywood in 1919, to film this at his new studio in Mamaroneck. Silent, with musical accompaniment.
8. The Struggle (1931) - D. W. Griffith., director (his last film); written by John Emerson & Anita Loos; with Hal Skelly, actor. A NY indie production filmed at the old Edison studio and on the streets of the Bronx.
9. Janice Meredith (1924) - E. Mason Hopper, director; with Marion Davies, Harrison Ford and others. Courtesy The Library of Congress. Silent, with musical accompaniment.
10. Monsieur Beaucaire (1924) - Sidney Olcott, director; based on the novel by Booth Tarkington; with Rudolph Valentino, actor.

This event is co-organized by Laurence Kardish, MOMA Senior Curator, Department of Film, and Richard Koszarski, on whose book, ("Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff"), the exhibition is based.
For ticket information goto http://www.moma.org/visit_moma/admissions.html#filmtickets

Marla LaRue, editor

2008 Film Sections The Tribeca Film Festival invites you to check out all the films in the 2008 Festival by program. You can also sort by interest and venue, and view the complete 2008 Festival schedule in their online Film Guide.

Frank D. Gilroy, Living Legend and Pulitzer Prize winning author, playwright and screenwriter

Photo & Story by Marla LaRue.

Hollywood on the Hudson NEWS - Goshen, New York: May 6, 2007:
If you knew that you could have lunch in the same room with Frank D. Gilroy, New York's own "The Subject Was Roses" Pulitzer Prize winning playwright - would you want to be there? - absolutely! - so when I learned that "The Friends of the Moffat Library" (Washingtonvile, NY) was hosting their "First Annual Meet the Authors" luncheon at the Limoncello restaurant (historic Goshen, NY) - and that Frank D. Gilroy was to be the keynote speaker - then I knew I must be there. It was a great honor to meet this wonderful playwright and author (thank you Friends of the Moffat Library).

I am happy to report that Frank D. Gilroy is very much alive, happy, healthy, vibrant, mentally sharp and youthful for his 81 years. I never met him before today and I would describe him as a cheerful, captivating, eloquent, caring, friendly and sincere author with intriguing stories to share. I had many questions to ask him and I only wish that he could have continued speaking on into the evening as this may have been one of his few key note speaking engagements and the rare opportunity to learn about the genius inside this great writer's mind.

What has Frank Gilroy been up to lately?
Frank Gilroy is still an active playwright and a journal of more than forty years of his life will be published later this year. [Note of an interest to film students: on Amazon.com I found a book that Frank wrote on film making: "I Wake Up Screening: Everything You Need to Know About Independant Films Including a Thousand Reasons Not To"].

"When I won the Pulitzer Prize, I got a check for $500 and a wall plaque," said Frank modestly, as he told what it was like to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1965 for "The Subject Was Roses", his first Broadway play which in 1968 was also adapted into a film starring Patricia Neal and Jack Albertson. This same play also won the Critics Circle Award and a 'Best Play of 1965 Tony Award'.

What Inspires Frank D. Gilroy and his plays?
Frank Gilroy was in General Patton's Third Army during World War II (his one act play "Getting In" 1957 tells this story. [reference: Frank D. Gilroy Vol II: 15 One-Act Plays]).

Frank shared that he often writes drawing from some of his own experiences and would often get ideas for his plays from family dinner conversations.

If you might be wondering where this brilliant prize winning playwright author was educated then you won't be surprised to learn that Frank was a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Dartmouth College and the Yale School of Drama. When I asked Frank Gilroy if he writes his plays with the idea that it could be made into a film - his reply was "no, I haven't ever done that". When asked which writers perhaps inspired him, Frank mentioned that he admired great playwrights such as Eugene O'Neill and Thomas Lanier Williams III (aka Tennessee Williams). Frank had a career as a writer for television in the 1950s, writing for Kraft Theater, Playhouse 90 and Studio One.

What Frank D. Gilroy works are Hollywood on the Hudson history?
Frank told me that 2 of his plays were filmed in New York: "The Gig" (1985) and "The Luckiest Man In The World" (1989). I am told that he had his directing debut with the Manhatten filmed movie "Desperate Characters" (1971). I wish you continued success Frank and I'll be watching for your new book when it's published.
[posted by Marla LaRue, Hollywood on the Hudson, editor]

Downing Film Center Events: Month of April 2007

*Enid Zentelis was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. EVERGREEN marks Enid Zentelis' (Director & Writer) feature film directorial debut.

Enid was selected to participate in the prestigious Sundance Institute Writer's Lab in 2000. In addition, EVERGREEN was selected for a Sundance-produced live reading as well as extensive production support from Kodak, Panavision and Deluxe. EVERGREEN also won Zentelis a 2002 NYFA Grant in screenwriting.

Zentelis' original screenplay, GRASPING THE SPARROW'S TAIL, is being produced by Bridget Johnson Films (AS GOOD AS IT GETS, BOTTLE ROCKET). Other screenplays in development include MAKE LOVE NOT WAR and FAUNA AND FLORA. In addition, Zentelis recently directed and produced a short film on President Clinton and THE CLINTON FOUNDATION for Radical Media, as well as directed videos for major record labels on ERIC CLAPTON, 3 DOORS DOWN and WILCO among others.

Zentelis received a BA from Hampshire College and an MFA from the NYU Graduate Film Program, where she was the W.T.C. Johnson full-scholarship recipient.

She is represented by United Talent Agency and BenderSpink Management.

==================================

EVERGREEN (2004)
Rated PG-13
87 min

Directed and Written by Enid Zentelis (City of Newburgh Resident)

Starring: Cara Seymour, Mary Kay Place, Noah Fleiss, Gary Farmer, Lynn Cohen, Addie Land, Bruce Davison .

A young girl seduced by a boy's affluent, seemingly idyllic family, goes to extremes to gain acceptance and escape her poverty-stricken homelife.

Five out of five stars: “Observant, touching, funny and smart.”
—ORLANDO SENTINEL
Best Director, Narrative Feature: 2004 Sonoma Valley Film Festival
Official Selection: 2004 Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Competition

NY Film Industry

New York's film industry is much smaller than that of Hollywood, but its billions of dollars in revenue makes it an important part of the city's economy and places it as the second largest center for the film industry in the United States.[11]

New York was an epicenter of filmmaking in the earliest days of the American film industry, but the better year-round weather of Hollywood eventually saw California becoming the home of American cinema. The Kaufman-Astoria film studio in Queens, built during the silent film era, was used by the Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields. As cinema moved west, much of the motion picture infrastructure in New York was used for the burgeoning television industry. Kaufman-Astoria eventually became the set for The Cosby Show and Sesame Street.

New York City has recently seen a renaissance in filmmaking; 276 independent and studio films were in production in the city in 2006, an increase from 202 in 2004 and 180 in 2003.[12] More than a third of professional actors in the United States are based in New York.[1]

Perhaps the filmmaker most associated with New York is Woody Allen, whose films include Annie Hall and Manhattan. Other New Yorkers in film include the actor Robert De Niro, who started the Tribeca Film Festival after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and the directors Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Spike Lee.

While major studio productions are based in Hollywood, New York has become a capital of independent film. The city is home to a number of important film festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, as well as major independent film companies like Miramax Films. New York is also home to the Anthology Film Archives, the earliest surviving collective of avant-garde filmmakers, which preserves and exhibits hundreds of underground works from the entire span of film history.

The oldest public access channel in the United States is the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, well known for its eclectic local programming that ranges from a jazz hour to discussion of labor issues to foreign language and religious programming. There are eight other public access channels in New York, including Brooklyn Cable Access Television.

New York City's municipally-owned broadcast television service, NYCTV, creates original programming that includes Emmy Award-winning shows like Blue Print New York and Cool in Your Code, as well as coverage of New York City government. Other popular programs on NYCTV include music shows; New York Noise showcases music videos of local, underground, and indie rock musicians as well as coverage of major music-related events in the city like the WFMU Record Fair, interviews of New York icons (like The Ramones and Klaus Nomi), and comedian hosts (like Eugene Mirman, Rob Huebel, and Aziz Ansari). The Bridge, similarly, chronicles old school hip hop. The channel has won 14 New York Emmys and 14 National Telly awards.

See also: List of films set in New York City
from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_New_York_City