5th Annual Village of Brewster Film Festival: More Indie Films, More Great Locations

The Village of Brewster (VOB) Film Festival is celebrating its fifth year of showing great independent films and this year will be showing more films in more locations throughout Putnam County.

The festival received over 150 film submissions this year, which was a record and will also be screening a record number of six different venues. "Every year we seem to have an even greater number of films coming into the festival," says Bob Dumont, Festival Chairman. "We were grateful to have so many film reviewers and volunteers to help us watch, rate and evaluate these projects. But we are especially proud of the quality films we will be showing."

Among the films being shown is "The Congressman" starring Treat Williams, who as a Maine U.S. Congressman is at a crossroads in his life personally and politically. "It was appropriate for our times, a compelling story, and is stunning visually," Dumont continued. The film also stars Elizabeth Marvel, Ryan Merriman, George Hamilton and features Kim Blacklock (as lobsterboat Captain Matty Pierce); Kim a local SAG-AFTRA Actor from Putnam who also leads H. G. Fairfield Arts, a not-for-profit based in Brewster which promotes arts, culture, and environmental stewardship. "Kim brought the film to our attention. Once we saw it, we knew it had to be our featured film for our fundraiser night."

"The Congressman" will be shown at the annual "Dinner and a Movie" night, which is the Village of Brewster Film Festival’s annual fundraiser held during the festival. The event takes place Friday September 2nd at The Bull and Barrel Brew Pub in Brewster. The event sells out quickly and reservations are highly recommended.

This year the VOBFF will also have a new venue - Arts on The Lake in Carmel. Ed Durkee, who is Executive Director of the organization opened their facility in a very welcoming fashion. "We started speaking last year. One of our board members was active in the screening committee and we are happy to host this event," said Mr. Durkee.

The VOBFF will be doing something new this year. For the first time it will run two events simultaneously. "We have had tremendous success the past four years, but we’ve never run two events going on at the same time," Dumont continued. This year the festival will show films at both Arts on The Lake and Studio Around the Corner on Sunday, September 4th. "We hope they are both very well attended and would be a true break through for us."

The number of venues makes this festival unique. Only one movie theater is involved in the screenings. The remainder are art studios, farms, and even historic restorations. Some of the best of Putnam is on display during this event. This year VOBFF is also expecting a record number of filmmakers who will attend. "We expect to have a small contingent of people coming from international destinations and a very large turnout from many of the US based directors and casts." The VOBFF is showing films from 15 different countries.

You can book your tickets at VOBFilmFestival.com. The fundraiser night is $50 and includes a full dinner and 2 hours of films, including "The Congressman," which will be introduced by Kim Blacklock, with a Q&A afterwards. If you are looking for something to do Labor Day Weekend, Putnam County has four great days of independent film to enjoy.

From the VOB Film Festival