Taking Woodstock Benefit Screening at the Crandell on July 30

• Chatham Film Club Announces Gift to Regional Food Bank
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CHATHAM, NY — Take the trip this summer to Main Street, Chatham on Thursday, July 30th for a benefit screening of Taking Woodstock. The Chatham Film Club and Focus Features are pleased to announce the special screening of the locally filmed Taking Woodstock at the Crandell Theatre in Chatham, New York. Directed by Academy Award winner Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) with a screenplay adaptation by Ghent resident and Academy Award nominee James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain; The Ice Storm), Taking Woodstock was filmed in and around northern Columbia County in August through October of 2008. A Focus Features release opening in August 2009, Taking Woodstock stars Demetri Martin, Dan Fogler, Henry Goodman, Jonathan Groff, Eugene Levy, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Imelda Staunton, Emile Hirsch, and Liev Schreiber. The comedy is rated R and runs 120 minutes.

Based on the book Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Elliot Tiber with Tom Monte, the movie recounts Tiber's tale of working at his parents' motel in the Catskills and inadvertently playing a role in setting the generation-defining happening of August 1969 in motion.

The evening will be a fundraising event for two important local causes, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and The Chatham Film Club. The Chatham Film Club has recently embarked on a campaign to purchase and operate the historic Crandell Theatre, which anchors Chatham's Main Street. The Chatham Film Club will host a premiere party attended by James Schamus, Ang Lee, and Demetri Martin, among others, from 7:00 PM until Midnight under a tent near the Crandell Theatre.