The River Town Film Festival

The inaugural River Town Film Festival & Art Expo will feature films, fine art and music on November 10-12 at The Red Mill in downtown Clinton.

The festival will explore the theme of community in films as a way to enhance our understanding of community, invite dialogue and encourage relationship. The films focus on everything from communities found through foster system, the human trafficking world, the breast cancer community, to a community of 50 people in rural Pie Town, NM who serve pie to people who are hiking the Continental Divide.

In addition to the short and feature-length films (narrative and documentary) in competition, the festival will feature a screening of the community-made film HEAVENLY ANGLE followed by a Q&A by the Academy Award/Golden Globe winning writer of ON GOLDEN POND, Ernest Thompson, a project that embodies the heart and soul of the festival’s mission to embrace and promote the theme of community. Other highlighted films include a screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary A TIME FOR BURNING, with a Q&A with the director Bill Jersey about how 50 years later we are still having the same conversation about race today, as well as the world premiere of NO REWIND, a performance documentary about THE ORCHESTRA Starring ELO Former Members, with a Q&A with the band.

Many world-renowned fine artists will be featured at the festival’s fine art expo at Wild Radish Gallery and Clinton Frameworks on Main Street. Opening night parties will have live music, food, and mingling with the filmmakers and artists. Band members from “THE ORCHESTRA Starring ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA Former Members” will close out the River Town Film Festival with a rock concert after the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, November 12. These rock and roll legends have also performed and recorded with John Lennon, Billy Joel, Styx, Bonnie Tyler, James Taylor, KISS, Aerosmith, Celine Dion, Meatloaf, Carly Simon, and many more.

A nationally recognized panel of distinguished film industry professionals will judge selected films and determine award winners. They include Ernest Thompson (Oscar winning screenwriter of ON GOLDEN POND); Executive Producer Marc Rosen (Sense8); Marc Reid (CFO of Lakeshore Entertainment); Lynne Litt (TV writer of LOST, LAW & ORDER, THE PRACTICE, NCIS NEW ORLEANS); Virginia Longmuir (EVP of RatPac Entertainment); and Producer, Director, Actor and Composer Allan Nicholls (DEAD MAN WALKING, THE PLAYER, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE).

Located only one hour from New York City, Clinton is a small town that embraces strong community spirit, and is a meeting point between cosmopolitan East Coast culture, fine artists, multi-generational farms and salt of the earth people.

“At a time when our country is divided in such a heart-wrenching way, it’s a healing exercise to focus on finding community in places where we least expect it. Our films find community in the most surprising places. It is our hope that the River Town Film Festival will help start a larger conversation so people will begin to realize that we are really all a part of one big global community of people, and we need to be kind to one another,” said Co-Founder and Program Director Kee Kee Buckley.

“Clinton is the embodiment of community and I’m excited for the opportunity to share the city with all of the festival participants. We are thrilled to host the River Town Film Festival and Art Expo. It is an amazing opportunity not just for the town, but also for the residents and business community,” commented Co-Founder Janice Kovach, the mayor of Clinton.

“Art is one of the earliest forms of communication, a way for communities to pass along information and preserve a specific moment. Art has no limits of time, age, class, religion, size, race or gender. We are so fortunate to have world-class artists in our “Community” gallery show that will spark an intimate dialogue and sense of connection and lead us to making our own unique imprint in the present time,” said Deborah Argyropoulos, Co-Founder of the Art Expo.

Tickets are available on the festival’s website: http://rivertownfilmfestival.org.