We are super excited to co-host a very special evening with FiberFlame. Reel Voices is a celebration of creativity through animation, video, and music.
The evening starts with a screening of recent stop-motion animation shorts created by our young students, age 9 to 15. The program includes Lego vs. Nature by Hudson Cherrits (age 8), The Frost Giant (working title) by Etolie Steinlage (age 10), and The Stick Man by Giona Kleinberg (age 12), among many others. Then we will introduce our recent trend, collaborative projects with adult artists, including a premiere of Macondo Blowout, an animation about the Gulf Oil Spill by Christy Rupp.
- Video still from Macondo Blowout by Christy Rupp
The video section will end with a premiere of the Woodstock Meats Project, one of our pilot projects in transitioning from after-school kids’ program to a community video production team. We are focusing on the potential of video and stop-motion animation production as a tool to bring our community together—kids with adults, artists with businesses, locals with globals. In this project, we asked Kevin Christofora of Woodstock Meats and Deli to let us make their promotional video. Kevin is a quintessential community guy. He is the president of the Mountain Valley Little League, has organized Kids’ New Year’s Eve Bash at the Bearsville Theater, among many other community events and activities. His store is an old-fashioned butcher and deli, where he carries local meats and produces as much as possible without any frills.
We matched Kevin with Marlon DuBois, a 6th grader from Bennett Elementary School, to write, direct, and edit this video. Marlon is a talented young artist who has a huge collection of videos he directed in his Youtube channel. He is funny and friendly, and works well in a spontaneous situation.
What started out as a simple, small project turned out to be a community video shoot, requiring a lot of extras to come out in the wee hours of still chilly April Sunday morning, to run in a mob on Woodstock’s Tinker Street. It seemed doable when Marlon came up with the idea, but 2 days before the mob shoot, we still had no idea how to convince people to come out. We took the easiest and fastest way, and posted a photo message (see above) on our Facebook page, and asked friends to share it. It was posted at night, and by next morning, the photo was already seen by more than a thousand people! Within 24 hours, the post was shared by 22 people and was seen by 2500 people.
In a brief meeting on Saturday, Marlon, Kevin and I all agreed that we had no idea what to expect, so we would just improvise as we go. The next morning, about 50 people showed up. Kevin brought boxes of doughnuts and gallons of apple cider, taking the edge off the pain of getting out so early on Sunday morning. We also got help from Franco Vogt, a local professional photographer. The shoot could not have gone more smoothly. It took two takes to get a perfect mob scene running down the street.
Then the mob moved inside the store, grabbing everything in sight in a frenzy. To quote Mariella Bisson’s comment on our Facebook page, “running amok in the store was just great.”
Everyone involved felt the morning shoot was perfect, which is curiously paradoxical, because it was hardly planned at all.
We shot a few additional scenes in the following week, and Marlon took a full advantage of abundant footage from multiple camera shots. He showed an utter brilliance in editing, and we now have a great video to share with our guests on May 11.
After a short break, the evening will move onto live performances. The first set will be performed by Tofu Decoy, a youth band based in Woodstock and Phoenicia. The lead vocal and guitarist Lucia Legnini is a talented 9th grader at Onteora, already busy in performing arts, with her recent appearances in Rent and Hair at Colony Cafe, and a solo performance at last year’s Festival of Voices in Phoenicia. The bassist Dante Kanter, an eighth grader at the Woodstock Day School, is a perennial at New Genesis production of Shakespeare plays. Jack Warren, also a 9th grader at Onteora, is on drums, and is very active in various musical scenes.
From the Rondout High School, we welcome the Lighthouse, winner of the recent Battle of the Bands in Rosendale. They were originally formed in 2011, but in April of 2012 got a new drummer and vocalist, Paul Maczaj. Matt Conde plays bass, and sings. Ihor Shuhan, is on vocals, and lead guitar, Their lead singer, keyboardist, and rhythm guitarist, is Andrew Cymbal. In their own words, “the Lighthouse’s sound varies greatly. Their music sounds almost like that of Led Zeppelin, with inspiration from Rush, the White Stripes, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Doors, and The Foo Fighters. They play a variety of classic rock, punk rock, progressive rock, blues, jazz, acoustic, and funk. The Lighthouse has played at many shows. Some as far as The Room, in Connecticut. They’ve played at BSP, in Kingston, the Rondout Music Lounge, Market Market, in Rosendale, the Rosendale Cafe, and have recorded a single, at Gimme That Sound Productions, with producer Stephen George, in Stone Ridge. They’ve played at school, as well as an unplugged show at Family Traditions, in Stone Ridge.”
Christina and Shea of FiberFlame, and I, share a strong belief in the joy of creativity as a powerful engine for a healthy community. Reel Voices is our celebration—a time to eat, laugh, and rock on together.
Details:
- Date: Saturday, May 11
- Time: Door opens at 6:30, food catered by the Tin Cantina. Animation screening starts at 7. The event ends between 8:30 and 9.
- Admission: $5 (purchase tickets in advance)
- Location: FiberFlame (1776 route 212, Saugerties, NY 12477, map)
- Phone: 845.679.6132 or 845.616.4635
