Woodstock Film Fest & other weekend news

We are so lucky to be living in a culturally rich area and to have the energy and the wherewithal to take advantage of it.  I went today to the Woodstock Film Festival with colleague Sally Cross and her husband Mark.  We saw a panel about 'films that matter; do films matter?' with John Sayles, Haskell Wexler, Morgan Spurlock and Pamela Yates.  Very interesting and impressive.  Haskell Wexler is a FAMOUS cinematographer and director who has worked with John Sayles a number of times.  We went on to see "The Secret of Roan Inish," which is a Sayles/Wexler film.  More in a bit about the film.  Morgan Spurlock was very articulate and intelligent.  I have not seen either of his movies, but would gladly do so after having seen him.  Pamela Yates is a director of documentaries and has been doing so for 25 years.  They talked interestingly about being both in the film industry and outside of it.  Pamela Yates is the only one to have a career outside of the commercial industry, but the others have reaped many awards and rewards, all the while maintaining a distance.  I would have liked to hear more about how they do that.  "The Secret of Roan Inish" was very beautiful and lyrical and made me cry, but then I'm easy that way.  John Sayles talked about his movie "Silver City," which had a limited distribution schedule.  I would recommend that we all go out and buy/rent it today.  Sounds close to home re our current political situation.  I'm going to end this session to make dinner.