The Hudson Valley Film Fest is returning this month to the Warwick Drive-In Movie Theater.
According to Hannah Maxwell, artistic director for the Hudson Valley Film Fest, the organizers hope to create a unique festival experience, as well as provide the Hudson Valley with a selection of creative films that they would be unlikely to see elsewhere in the region.
The films, showing on Aug. 18 and 19, will span a variety of genres, including drama, comedy, documentary, animation, horror, music videos and experimental, but are all created in the short-film format, with an average run time of 10 minutes.
Though the films are short, there are plenty to round out the festival. This year, it is expanding to take place over two nights, with 14 movies each night, almost doubling the number of films that were shown last year. Since the first year, the number of films in the festival has almost tripled from 10.
The use of the drive-in theater is not only unique, but was a factor that allowed the festival to go on last year even during the Covid-19 outbreak, with participants staying in their cars or outdoors and socially distanced. Drive-ins around the Hudson Valley, in fact, saw something of a renaissance this past year, after being classified as low-risk settings, and with few other big-screen options viable with the threat of Covid.
“The location is definitely something that makes for a unique film festival experience,” Maxwell said. “The Warwick Drive-Is a historic venue and one of the last remaining drive-in theaters in the Northeast. If you haven”™t been there, this is a great chance to come check it out.”
This year, the organizers will remain cautious, but are embracing opportunities to make the festival environment more social.
Maxwell and the festival team have organized a pre-festival reception at Pennings Cidery, across the road from the theater. The reception ”” open to the public ”” will include food and drinks, live music, an award presentation ceremony and filmmakers.
By including nearby businesses in the festivities, the organizers said they are staying true to their mission of supporting and promoting local organizations in tandem with the festival.
“In addition to supporting local artists, one of our other original goals when we started the fest was to create a community-centric event that would collaborate with local businesses to cross-promote and support each other,” Maxwell said.
“Over time, we hope to grow the event into something that promotes not only local artists and business, but that also promotes tourism in the Hudson Valley.”
The festival relies on sponsorships, grants, submission fees and ticket sales for its funding.
This summer has been one of the busiest in history for filming and production activity in the Hudson Valley. According to Maxwell, it”™s more vibrant than ever.
“Not only is there an incredible pool of homegrown talent here, but there are more and more filmmakers and artists relocating up here from the city, adding to that pool,” she said. “There is also a very supportive film commission and limitless incredible locations throughout the valley utilized by productions big and small.”
The festival itself draws viewers not only from Orange County and Hudson Valley area, but sees audience members who come from New Jersey or the New York City area to see the unique films being offered at the festival, in addition to being streamed online for viewers anywhere.
