Robert Redford as Dan Rather in ‘Truth’
LAURIE ANDERSON FILM ESSAY and ROBERT REDFORD’S DAN RATHER FEATURE HEADLINE FILMCOLUMBIA LINEUP
(CHATHAM and HUDSON, N.Y.) – FilmColumbia brings prize-winning films, including recent work by masters of modern cinema, to Columbia County for seven days from Monday, October 19, through Sunday, October 25. FilmColumbia will screen narrative and documentary features, animated and live-action short films and contenders by regional filmmakers at venues in both Chatham and Hudson.
Highlights include “Heart of a Dog,” a unique experimental essay on film by musician/performance artist/painter Laurie Anderson; “Truth,” starring Robert Redford as Dan Rather and Cate Blanchett as CBS producer and Peabody Award winner Mary Mapes, in a film based on the 2004 investigative reporting scandal that cost Rather his job at CBS; “Brooklyn,” based on the bestselling novel by Colm Toibin; “45 Years, “about a couple on the eve their 45th wedding anniversary who receive startling news that threatens the foundation of their marriage and starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, who both won Best Acting Silver Bears this year at the Berlin Film Festival for their roles; and “The Lady in the Van,” based on Alan Bennett’s short story and hit play of the same name, starring Maggie Smith as Miss Shepherd, a bag lady who lived out of her van parked in Bennett’s driveway for 15 years.
Melora Creager (photo Seth Rogovoy)
RASPUTINA BRINGS NEW LINEUP and ‘UNKNOWN’ TOUR to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Melora Creager’s ever-evolving indie-rock cello band Rasputina returns to its hometown rock venue Club Helsinki Hudson on Thursday, October 15, at 8pm, as part of its “Unknown” tour, so named for the latest album of original material by the group, its first in six years. Since 1991, singer-songwriter and cellist Melora Creager – who calls Hudson home — has been exploring the affinities among modern rock, cello, and Victorian folk with Rasputina. Her original songs connect the dots between Renaissance madrigals and Nirvana-like grunge-rock. In fact, Creager toured as a cellist with Nirvana on the group’s final European tour.
Carl Hancock Rux and Theo Bleckmann
CARL HANCOCK RUX and THEO BLECKMANN PERFORM ‘THE EXALTED’ at BARD
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – Writer/performer Carl Hancock Rux and composer/musician Theo Bleckmann perform their two-man show, “The Exalted” – the story of the last days of German-Jewish art historian Carl Einstein, one of the first critics to affirm the importance of African sculpture, thus influencing the development of Cubism and the European avant-garde – at the Fisher Center at Bard College on Friday, October 16, and Saturday, October 17, at 7:30 p.m. Through music, video, text and installation, Rux and Bleckmann re-imagine the atrocities of occupation, the ‘discovery’ of African art by the West, and Einstein’s dream-like encounter with a metaphysical Diorama, as a metaphor for survival and self preservation.
David Amram
HUDSON VALLEY PHILHARMONIC KICKS OFF BARDAVON SEASON with DAVID AMRAM’S TRIBUTE to WOODY GUTHRIE
(POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.) – The Hudson Valley Philharmonic’s 56th season kicks off with “This Land,” a program featuring new compositions by David Amram on the 75th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s American anthem, “This Land is Your Land”; a video program of historic Dust Bowl images set to Samuel Barber’s haunting Adagio; and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, lending a decidedly Russian view to the event, at the Bardavon on Saturday, October 17 at 8pm. Amram, who lives in the Hudson Valley, knew Guthrie, and often played his music along with Guthrie’s friends Pete Seeger and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, his son, Arlo Guthrie, and other musicians.
Fred Eaglesmith
FRED EAGLESMITH’S TRAVELING STEAM SHOW SWINGS BACK into HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Fred Eaglesmith’s Traveling Steam Show rolls back into Club Helsinki Hudson on Saturday, October 17, at 9pm. A longtime favorite of Helsinki audiences, rootsy singer-songwriter Eaglesmith headlines this old-fashioned roadshow, which includes an opening set by singer-songwriter Tiffani “Tif” Ginn, who is also a member of Eaglesmith’s band.
Acclaimed singer, songwriter and bandleader Eaglesmith is a genuine iconoclast and true original. He’s also hysterically funny, and a Fred Eaglesmith concert is nearly as much a stand-up comedy show as it is a musical performance.