Alex Jacobs, Watertown Daily Times (January 3, 2008)
POTSDAM — Potsdam’s first film festival will start with a slaying – a midnight screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”- and end with one of the greatest love stories of all time, “Casablanca.”
In between, the festival will feature student and amateur work and an awards ceremony. It’s all free at the Roxy Theater this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. About 15 movies by students and area filmmakers will be screened at the North Country Film Festival, and judges will award the winners cash prizes Saturday night.
“You can go to any theater right now and see the same 10 movies that are playing all over the country,” said Tyler R. Moulton, who is organizing the show along with Steven M. Madeja. “We’re presenting pieces of art that don’t normally get to be presented, let alone in big screen format.”
Entries include “At the Corner of Second and Cross” by Watertown residents Scott Higby and Ricky D. Snyder, a SUNY Potsdam alumnus. The film is a documentary about Mr. Snyder’s grandfather, Raymond Campany.
Buffalo student filmmaker Jeremy Wolford’s movie “Wintertime” is an homage to cinema legends Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. The black-and-white silent film will be accompanied by a live piano performance.
SUNY Buffalo student Jacob Warren, also a Potsdam native, will present his film “Obfuscation and Edification.” The work displays the bewilderment and enlightenment of everyday movement by playing a variety of actions backward.
“Potsdam is a really artistic community,” Mr. Madeja said. “There are a lot of things represented here – art galleries, concerts, museums, photo exhibitions. The one thing we don’t have is a film festival.”
The two Potsdam Central School graduates got the idea to hold a film festival in their hometown after attending the Lake Placid Film Festival last year. Both are senior film majors; Mr. Moulton attends the University at Buffalo while Mr. Madeja attends Vassar College, Poughkeepsie.
They said that they want to share their love of film with the community, and Potsdam is especially receptive. Cinema 10, a nonprofit organization, screens foreign and independent flicks each semester in the Roxy Theater.
“This could really add to the quality of films being shown in Potsdam and the rest of the north country,” Mr. Madeja said. “Hopefully people seeing the submissions will be inspired to go and make a film of their own.”
Highlights of the North Country Film Festival include film classics “The Red Shoes,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and “Casablanca” on Sunday.
“It’s classic Hollywood entertainment,” Mr. Madeja said. “When you see these films on the big screen, you get to see the detail in sets and costumes and the effort that went into everything. It’s more impressive than seeing a movie on your own little box.”
Cash prizes will be given for outstanding work, including $200 grand prizes for the best student and local films. A panel of judges will select their top five favorite films, and the audience will choose their overall favorite movie.
“Film is a universal language,” Mr. Moulton said. “No matter what you present, virtually everybody will be able to understand it.”
Through their North Country Film Society, the two film students hope to expand local offerings to include a screenwriting competition and summer showings of 1950s science fiction flicks at the 56 Auto Drive-In, Massena.
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