Woodstock Film Festival

Twenty years after her sudden retirement, Tanya Tucker is convinced by Brandi Carlile to make a new album. And how lucky we are to be in the room where this happens. Man, can Tanya Tucker sing! Through art, music, humor, patience, and love, Brandi Carlile produces success for a 60-year-old woman who thought she had no future in music. Not one to say no to a shot of tequila or an extra cigarette, Tanya Tucker overcomes insecurities and sings every note with honesty and passion. A powerful film, adding rare archival footage to the mix, and weaving together the past, the present, and leading us to hope for the future. In the end, this is a story about pure love – for music and for a friendship between two women who could not be more different and yet very much in sync. A beautiful, beautiful story, full of music and heart. – Sabina Barach 

In this immersive thriller directed by Amy Redford, a young love affair becomes a menacing game of cat and mouse. Nothing and no one are as they seem….

Stuck in their small Virginia town, two brothers side track their futures to help their prescription drug-addicted single mother. Derek dreams of being an actor, but has a dead-end job at the local bowling alley. Gifted high school senior Ethan contemplates college. Devoted to their mother, the brothers are constantly putting her problems first and their own plans on the back burner. Try as she may, Michelle can’t quit her prescription pill habit, and rather than lose her sons, agrees to go into rehab. There’s never any doubt that Michelle wants to recover or that she loves her boys and wants them to realize their dreams. But love is not always enough when you suffer from the disease of opiod addiction. Superbly acted and based on the filmmaker’s adolescence, Stay Awake is a personal exploration of the roller coaster ride that families go on while trying to help their loved ones battle a disease that affects millions every day. – Adam Schartoff

With an effortlessly affable performance by Jim Gaffigan, Linoleum takes an unusually inventive look at the disappointments of middle age by exploring what it means to grow up. Gaffigan hosts a failing children’s science show, as well as being part of a failing marriage. While attempting to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut by building a rocket ship in his garage, a series of strange, scientifically inexplicable events cause him to question his day-to-day reality, as well as his life’s history, past and future, as both a father and a son. The remarkable supporting cast, the nostalgia, the absurd occurrences, and the peculiar aesthetic create a film that plays out as a seemingly light-hearted adventure, but ultimately packs a keen emotional punch.  – Peter Wortmann