“The idea was born on a snowy night in February 1997…” and, as our resident film historian John Huttlinger further writes, “Over 300 people braved a raging blizzard to come to the Palace Theatre in Lake Placid for a screening of Atom Egoyan’s new film “The Sweet Hereafter.” The film was based on a novel by local author Russell Banks, who was on hand to present the film, along with Mr. Egoyan and New York Daily News Film Critic and Lake Placid native Kathleen Carroll. Russell and Kathleen delightedly remarked to themselves after the screening, “With this kind of enthusiasm, we could hold a film festival here!”

As we celebrate and push the limits on our 20th Festival, as conceived some 24 years ago, we still commit ourselves to building “an event designed for filmmakers and film aficionados.” A festival whose “focus is on the interchange of ideas, accomplished via talks, roundtable discussions and intimate master classes.”

We think you’ll find these elements in abundance at this year’s festival. We have some of the vaunted industry luminaries hosting seminars — Jacob Krueger, “The Art of the Pitch,” and Steven Beer, “Rethinking Film Distribution in a Post Pandemic Landscape” — with other remarkable instruction occurring throughout the weekend for both budding and accomplished filmmakers. And there’s one of this year’s “can’t miss” panels, “Women in Comedy,” sponsored by NY Women in Film and Television, and its upstate counterpart UPWIFT, with a reception and live comedy performances following the panel’s presentation.

Combine that with some 80 films, with many of their makers; tributes and special screenings with Raoul Peck, and special guest Jeffery Brown of the PBS Newshour. Add a spattering of screenings of local filmmakers, and even a place to duck out of it all, into the filmmaker’s lounge, and you have both the contemporary, and the historic, Lake Placid Film Festival.

And as we’ve taken to saying: “In this 20th anniversary year, we are proud to celebrate the community of film industry amateurs, professionals, students and just plain movie buffs, with award-winning shorts screenings, cutting edge feature length films, educational seminars, mixers, receptions, tributes, directors, producers and you — all wrapped in the mystical, magical village of Lake Placid.

It’s great to be able to call this home.

Gary D. Smith

Chair, Adirondack Film, Lake Placid Film Festival