In 1972, Steve and Dede Leiber and Susan Goldman founded Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, with the mission of bringing classic and foreign films to moviegoers in the Hudson Valley who generally only had access to mainstream theaters and film programming.
The Leibers led the theater for almost 50 years, before passing on executive duties earlier this year to a new pair of directors: Paul Sturtz and Jason Silverman.
According to Goldman, Sturtz and Silverman were selected for their respective experience building film arts institutions through community collaboration.
For Sturtz it was his founding of the Ragtag Film Society in Columbia, Missouri, and a highly acclaimed nonfiction film festival called the True/False Film Fest that also fostered community involvement and helped revitalize the city.
Aside from filmmaking credits at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, Silverman”™s background includes experience as artistic director of the Taos Talking Pictures Festival and as part of the Telluride Film Festival. He also worked as a journalist for a decade and a half.
Silverman had been involved with Sturtz”™s True/False Film Fest in the past, so the two knew each other before starting out at Upstate. In fact, when each found out the other was applying for the position, for which Upstate”™s board of directors conducted a nationwide search, they decided to apply as a pair.
“It was just a coincidence,” Sturtz said. “He was at my festival, True/False, and we discovered that we both were applying. And I only thought, well, rather than competing, let”™s make it a joint effort and have fun with it. So it”™s been a great time so far and we just feel very appreciative that we have each other to bounce off of.”
According to Sturtz, the pair hopes to bring the theater to the next level in terms of its influence in the region, which may prove to be no small task considering how many filmmakers and artists have made visits to Upstate in the past, including Jonathan Demme, John Sayles, Todd Haynes, Errol Morris, Jim Jarmusch and Debra Granik, and even politicians such as Ralph Nader.
“We”™re basically transitioning the organization from being sort of a mom-and-pop movie house to being an arts organization that will have more of an impact all over the mid-Hudson Valley,” Sturtz said.
Although Sturtz and Silverman decided to close Upstate”™s Woodstock location earlier this year due to an inability to bring the facility up to their standards as renters, they are now overseeing the establishment of a new Upstate Films location at the Orpheum Theatre in Saugerties, which the organization bought in July.
The new location will mark the first time Upstate owns its theater in the last five decades, according to Sturtz.
The theater will mainly be used to show films and bring an alternative to mainstream theaters to people in Saugerties and the surrounding area, akin to Upstate”™s original mission. It will also serve as a venue for the organization to carry out its tradition of community involvement.
“We”™ll be primarily showing films, but we”™re going to be using it as a community center of sorts and having it open for anything, including anything from high school singing competitions to small theater productions to music shows, community forums … all sorts of things.”
The theater is currently set to open on Oct. 21 after some modest changes and improvements are completed. The directors hope that the future will bring more opportunity for large-scale improvements, which may not be possible until 2023. Intended improvements include an expansion of the main theater and the installation of a multipurpose space with a possible cafe and lounge, although plans are still in the process of being finalized.
Even with all the new developments, it has still been a difficult year for Upstate, much like all other theaters. The organization was able to benefit from government funding and arts grants to stay afloat.
“It allowed us to weather an incredibly difficult time,” Sturtz said. “You know, I don”™t know if we”™d have a very bright future, if not for that. It was a significant amount of money at a much-needed time and was really important for so many movie theaters, as well as performing art centers. And it”™s really a boost and a vote for cultural organizations and their importance within these different communities as we recover from these pretty terrible blows over the last year and a half.”
While Covid-related difficulties still loom, especially for nonessential services such as movie theaters, Sturtz expressed hope that he and Silverman will expand the reach of Upstate Films even further, and that it can be a catalyst for community connection and inclusion.
“We see ourselves wanting to encourage more community cohesion in all the towns where we”™re in,” he said. “And I think there is a tremendous amount of potential in that and in other places beyond Rhinebeck and Saugerties. We think, there are other communities that could use an organization with our mission statement, which is basically connecting the Hudson Valley through these transformative cinematic experiences, and ”¦ we would like to be impactful all over the mid-Hudson Valley.”
