Tickets are now on sale for the inaugural Lake Champlain International Film Festival. The film festival features a diverse program with submissions from 23 countries including, Canada, Japan, Spain and France to name a few. Presented by The Strand Center for the Arts and the Plattsburgh Renewal Project, the festival will take place on Saturday, November 15 and Sunday, November 16 at the Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh, New York. VIP and multi-ticket packages are available as well as single ticket purchases.

This 2-day festival showcases the best of local film productions – including shorts and feature-length films – as well as a diverse selection of work from around the world.

Festival Highlights

Highlights include a special guest appearance from New York’s North Country native Ian Thomas Ash, who graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2000 and has been living in Japan. He will be screening a pair of documentaries investigating the fall-out from the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.

Closer to home, Mountain Lake PBS will be screening its Emmy award-winning broadcast, “Songs to Keep,” which traces the footsteps of New York’s Adirondack folklorist Marjorie Lansing Porter, who recorded and preserved hundreds of folk songs from 1940 to 1960.

In addition to a range of documentaries, the film festival contains a range of fictional work, from drama to comedy to experimental. Dramatic feature films include “Bridges,” by Vermont filmmaker Harry Goldhagen and “Echoes,” by Lake Champlain International Film Festival Programming Director Jason Torrance.

“The highlights are just skimming the surface of the depth and breadth of work that will be shown, from blocks of family-friendly short films to science fiction and cult comedy classic ‘Sordid Lives,’ there is truly something for everyone. My favorite part is the majority of the programming is full of original work you won’t see anywhere else,” said Chris Rosenquest of the Plattsburgh Renewal Project.

These films will be viewed on the newly installed digital projection equipment at the Strand Theatre. This equipment was purchased in part with grant funds from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and support through the ANCA-led Go Digital or Go Dark campaign. Originally built as a vaudeville theatre in 1924, many local residents recall the Strand Theatre’s previous days as a movie theatre. Over the past decade, the Strand Theatre has undergone a multi-million dollar restoration, positioning the theatre as a catalyst for the arts and revitalization in Plattsburgh and the surrounding communities.

“Filmmakers from over 23 countries submitted films for this year’s festival. The stories they are presenting showcase a tremendous creative range with highly developed plot-lines, picturesque cinematography and professional-level production value. Audience members should definitely take advantage of the opportunity to meet some of the filmmakers who will be in Plattsburgh for the festival and check out their films,” said Jessica Dulle, Executive Director of The Strand Center for the Arts.

Tickets are on sale at www.plattsburgharts.org.

Event: The Inaugural Lake Champlain International Film Festival
Date: Saturday, November 15 and Sunday, November 16, 2014
Location: The Strand Theatre, 25 Brinkerhoff Street, Plattsburgh, New York 12901

The Schedule

See the Lake Champlain International Film Festival program below for the full schedule (Click image to read at full size.):

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