FilmColumbia, Columbia County’s premier annual cultural event, screens the very best upcoming American and international films. The 2025 festival will run from October 17-26.
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The most popular cult classic of all time comes to the Crandell’s big screen on Halloween night, with a shadow cast featuring many local Chatham-ites!
“It is a genuine one-off, a movie whose own identity has now overshadowed its ostensible purpose: to spoof the classic movie chillers of yesteryear.” — Peter Bradshaw, The GuardianGet Tickets more…
Check out Rural Intelligence editor Jamie Larson’s interview with executive director Mirissa Neff in his article about all the exciting changes at the Crandell. Read the full article here
by Larry Kardish The Toronto International Film Festival just celebrated its 50th anniversary. It began a half century ago with typical municipal bravado as “The Festival of Festivals,” and indeed, it quickly became one. A behemoth with over 210 feature films, all of major interest, shown over ten packed days, TIFF 2025 was expansive, inclusive, and a true treasure chest of recent cinema. Films that premiered at other major festivals like Berlin, Cannes and Venice, were shown along with a significant number of world premieres. Many of those films were from the U.S., as Hollywood jumpstarts its Oscar campaigns in Toronto. Torontonians love their festival and attend it in droves, filling theaters as early as 8:30 am every morning and enduring long waits in rush lines to take the seats of no-shows. TIFF is located in a hideous but contained…
Crandell Theatre Reopening Schedule October 15, 2025 11 am – 1 pm: Public Open House. Members of our community will be among the first to see the new Crandell, before screenings restart just 48 hours later for the opening of FilmColumbia25. October 17, 2025 FilmColumbia 2025 Opens. The Crandell will resume public film screenings on Friday, October 17, to coincide with the opening of the FilmColumbia festival. This year’s 25th anniversary festival will feature 40+ expertly curated films and talkbacks with filmmakers and stars. Actor Stephen Lang will be honored at the festival’s catered Kick-Off Party during opening weekend. His latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is set to release this December. Advance discounted tickets for members only will go on sale online and outside the theater, during Chatham OctoberFeast, on October 4. Join today to receive this premium member…
25 Years of Exceptional Films Past FilmColumbia patrons know that for two weeks in October you’re in for a fall harvest like no other. This 25th anniversary year, we look forward to welcoming you back into a newly renovated, restored and refurbished Crandell Theatre. A few of the festival’s many exciting highlights include: Nuremberg, featuring powerhouse performances by Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon and Richard E. Grant during the trial of the century Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater’s delightful tribute to Jean-Luc Godard that recreates the making of the film that launched the auteur’s singular style A Private Life, a sophisticated and spritely whodunit starring a French-speaking Jodie Foster as a renowned American psychoanalyst in Paris Sentimental Value, writer/director Joachim Trier’s follow-up to his hit The Worst Person in the World, once again starring actress Renate Reinsve in an intense family drama with…
It is with great sadness that we share the tragic news of former Executive Director Brian Edward Leach’s unexpected and untimely death. His sister, Diana Leach Stumpf, wrote movingly on Facebook about his passing on July 12. “He was at home with his rescue dog, Ace, by his side, who he loved more than anyone or anything in this life,” she wrote. Said Crandell President John Lillis, “I heard the news of Brian’s passing with disbelief. Brian was full of life, his love for theater and his love for the Crandell. In the short time he was with us in Columbia County, Brian established himself as a wonderful friend and neighbor. We are grateful for his contributions to the Crandell Theatre.” At the Crandell, Brian was the lively host of many first-time Crandell LIVE! events; he championed the Crandell’s “Have…
(Chatham, NY—July 1, 2025)—Effective today, the Crandell Board of Directors is thrilled to announce the appointment of Mirissa Neff, former board member and VP of Programming, as the theater’s new Executive Director. Neff, a journalist and filmmaker with decades of experience telling human stories through the lens of art and culture, is deeply knowledgeable about all aspects of the film industry. She and her family have longstanding ties to Chatham, and her son is a student in the Chatham Central School District. She is strongly engaged in Chatham and the surrounding communities, and is committed to new and diverse programming. “The Crandell will be excellently positioned, under her leadership, to explore and present amazing film and non-film programming in our newly renovated theatre,” says President John Lillis. “We cannot believe our luck in having this wonderful opportunity to have Mirissa…
(Chatham, NY—June 23, 2025)—Sue Baer fell in love with the movies at the Crandell in middle school. Now she’s bringing that passion for cinema full circle as a new Board Director of the Crandell Theatre Board of Directors. An accountant and lifelong Ghent resident, Baer was appointed by the Board at their May meeting. Led by Board President John T. Lillis, the Crandell Board is comprised of six Executive Committee Officers and nine Directors. Crandell Executive Director Brian Edward Leach is an ex officio member of the Board. Baer, a mother to two children who is retired from public accounting, now travels, rides horses, and teaches yoga on Main Street in Chatham at Roots Holistic Wellness. She will join the Crandell Board’s Finance Committee. “Sue’s considerable acumen as a CPA for 32 years and as a very successful local business…
by Larry Kardish Cannes is the mother of all film festivals. Not only because of where (on the Cote d’Azur) and when (mid-spring) it takes place, but because, at its core, Cannes is a festival for film professionals. Unlike most other festivals, which serve the citizens of their locations, Cannes requires anyone who attends its Official Selection to be accredited. If in its Paris office the organizers of the festival grant an accreditation (there are more applications than accreditations) to someone as a professional in a particular cinema field (actor, director, producer, writer, press, film festival organizer, etc.), then that person is invited, free of charge, to attend screenings. Free of charge is nice, but one still has to get to the south of France, only to find both accommodation and food, especially in Cannes itself, quite pricey. The Competition…
by Larry Kardish We don’t yet know what film will reopen the restored Crandell in October but we do know what was the first to play in our beloved theater when it opened on December 25, 1926: Michael Strogoff, a mission-impossible, action-packed epic that at two-and-a-half hours is virtually as long as Tom Cruise’s latest adventure. Strogoff, a young soldier and the tsar’s “courier,” travels incognito across Russia and into far Siberia with a secret message to prevent an alliance between invading Mongol hordes and a traitorous provincial governor. Along the way he is mauled by a bear, fights many battles, is twice captured, tortured, perhaps blinded, and finds love. Based on Jules Verne’s immensely popular 1876 novel of the same name, it has been made into at least seven movies and two television series. But the version that inaugurated…
