5th Annual Albany Film Festival - Presented By The New York State Writers Institute

About this event

Join us for the 5th Annual Albany Film Festival, a full-day celebration of film and storytelling featuring conversations with award-winning actors, filmmakers, and writers, as well as screenings of feature-length and short films, and an awards ceremony.

5th Annual Albany Film Festival
10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 29
University at Albany Campus Center
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany NY 12222
Free and open to the public
For more details, visit our website.

DISCUSSIONS
• George Carlin’s American Dream – Conversation with Kelly Carlin, actress, screenwriter and author of A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George (2015).
• Featured Guest Gregory Maguire, UAlbany graduate and author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (the basis of the hit Broadway musical and the 2024 movie blockbuster), and author of the new novel Elphie: A Wicked Childhood (2025)
• Featured Guest Frank Whaley - Discussion with UAlbany graduate and iconic character actor (“Ironweed,” “JFK,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Field of Dreams”)
• Hollywood's Outside-Insiders: Joan Didion and Elaine May - Discussion with Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times film critic and author of New York Times film critic is the author of We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine (2025), and (2025), and Carrie Courogen, author of Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius (2024)
• "Books" TV Pilot - Panel discussion of new comedy -- filmed at Troy’s Marketplace Books -- with creators Kristina Libby, Tim Cahill, and director Micah Khan.
• "The Peasants" - Virtual Q&A from Poland with Sean M. Bobbitt, producer of the hand-painted animated film that was Poland’s official entry at the 2024 Academy Awards

SCREENINGS & DISCUSSIONS
• 40th Anniversary of "Desperately Seeking Susan" - Film screening and discussion with director Susan Seidelman
• 10th Anniversary of "The Neighborhood That Disappeared" - Film screening and discussion with writer/director/producer Mary Paley
• "Cajita" - Film screening and discussion with director Luis Gispert and film editor/producer Ryan Murphy. Cajita won the Best U.S. Narrative Feature Award at the 2024 New York Latino Film Festival
• "Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom" - Film screening and discussion with co-director and Emmy Award winner Nicole London
• "It Starts With Us" - Screening of the 2024 documentary about Fran Brown, the new, celebrated head coach of the Syracuse University football team, and discussion with director and 12-time Emmy winner Paul Camarata and Jordon Kligerman
• "The Flagmakers" - Screening of the 2022 documentary that follows workers – many of them immigrants and refugees -- at the country’s largest maker of American flags. Discussion with co-director Sharon Liese
• "When My Sleeping Dragon Woke" - Screening of actress/playwright Sharon Washington’s film about her childhood living with her family in the New York City Public Library. Discussion with Washington and director Chuck Schultz

IRONWEED AWARDS
The Ironweed Award for Exemplary Achievement in Film will be presented to director Susan Seidelman (“Desperately Seeking Susan”) and actor and UAlbany alumnus Frank Whaley (“Ironweed,” “JFK,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Field of Dreams”).

SHORT FILM SCHEDULE AND AWARDS
Screenings of the finalists’ films will take place throughout the event from 10:30 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. in the Campus Center West Boardroom.
The short film awards – for Dramatic, Comedy, Experimental, Documentary, and the Brendan Fahy Bequette Student Short Film Award -- will be announced at the closing ceremony in advance of the Ironweed Award presentations.

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“We are forever grateful to our sponsors, whose generosity allows us to keep this community-wide event free and open to all.” – Paul Grondahl, Opalka Endowed Director, NYS Writers Institute

PRESENTING SPONSORS:
George and Kathleen McNamee
The Opalka Endowed Directorship
The Towne Law Firm, P.C.

SUPPORTING SPONSORS:
The Brendan Fahy Bequette Fund, per Patricia Fahy & Wayne Bequette
The Lasch Family
The Lee Thaw Charitable Trust, Richard J. Miller Jr., Trustee
NYS Writers Institute Classic Film Series Endowment
The Swyer Family Foundation
Times Union
University Auxiliary Services

FRIENDS:
Laurie Bank and Stuart Freyer
Business for Good
Skip Casano and Bella Pipas
Clover Pond Vineyard
Paul and Mary Grondahl
David and Lauren Hayes
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel J. Hogarty Jr.
William Kennedy
Doris Fischer Malesardi
Steve McKee Foundation
Allie Middleton & Newell Eaton
Paula Mosher
Annette Nanes
Dan O'Connell
Scott & Lucie Schuster
Herb and Cynthia Shultz