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RFH 2010, Arts

Second Slater Brothers Film Festival has Large, Impressive List of Activities

Thu, Jul 15, 2010

Second Slater Brothers Film Festival has Large, Impressive List of Activities

At the end of the inaugural Hamilton Film Festival a year ago,Todd Slater, one of the event's organizers, received a robust round of applause when he announced there would be a second such gathering. In about three weeks Slater and his brothers Wade and Grant make good on that promise in a big way.

The second Slater Brothers Entertainment’s Hamilton International Film Festival, returns to local movie screens Aug. 5-8. And, this year it comes with more films, more celebrities and even more dedication by the Slater brothers to have the event benefit the village.

The festival was founded a year ago by brothers Wade, Grant and Todd, whose father, Terry Slater, was the head hockey coach at Colgate University for 15 years. Now, working in sports, art and entertainment, the three brothers wanted to collaborate on something that would be meaningful to the greater Hamilton area.

“My brothers and I started this festival and awareness weekend to give back to the area we grew up in," said Todd. "We couldn’t think of a better way to promote the festival and the arts of Central and Upstate New York than by hosting this annual event.

"This year we have been able to secure not only great films and filmmakers, who will all be in attendance and accessible to the people who attend the weekend events, but we are also lucky enough to have great sponsors who have made bringing in musical acts like the Mark McKay Band and others possible.“

Some of the confirmed names and faces that are set to appear include Harold Ramis, who created such iconic comedies as Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, Stripes and last year's Year One. Ramis' classic Groundhog Day will be shown during the weekend.

Among the other participants and their films this year are:

  • director and Colgate grad Joe Berlinger,  who will show his film about oil exploration in the Amazon, Crude;
  • director Vicki Abeles, who was just profiled on Oprah for her documentary Race To Nowhere, which examines education in America;
  • ESPN Films and producer and film executive Mark Durand will be presenting one of their new films;
  • director Josh Easdon will screen Keep Eye On Ball: The Hashim Khan Story, about the great Pakistani squash player;
  • director Rob Sorrenti and his film about "love, life and destiny" Wednesday,
  • director Alec Asten and his film The Curse of Micah Rood,
  • producer, director and actress Renee O’Connor (in photo) -- who starred as Gabrielle in the successful TV program Xena: Warrior Princess -- and her film Words Unspoken,
  • director Jeffrey Bliss and his film Telefone,
  • foreign filmmaker Yang Yi and her film Into The Women’s Kingdom;
  • and HCS grad and now SUNY OSwego film student Kenny MacBain and his short film The Crown.

Abeles will be on hand to meet the public at the Colgate Bookstore at 7 p.m, Friday, Aug. 6 She will discuss her documentary, about which Todd Slater said, "This is one powerful film that every parent, coach, teacher and high school administrator should see.”

The weekend's events also include a hunger awareness walk to benefit the Food Cupboard on Saturday Aug. 7 starting at 8 a'm. Registration is on the village green at 7:30 a.m. 

The festival weekend will be capped off with a filmmakers party Saturday night at the Palace Theater immediately following the film screenings. The Mark McKay band will perform.  

“We wanted to bring a fun event back to the area we grew up in," said Grant Slater, who played hockey for HCS and at Colgate. "Hamilton and Central New York are special places. Hopefully we can bring some famous faces and some talented filmmakers back to Central New York for years to come.

"The addition of some major sponsors and live music this year has let us bring the festival weekend to another level. Anyone interested in entertainment and filmmaking should enjoy this weekend. The directors, celebrities and producers will all be accessible to the audience. It’s not an everyday event when you can speak directly to executives and producers from ESPN or a Hollywood director like Harold Ramis.”

For more details visit  www.slaterbrothersentertainment.com.

For ticket information and other details visit www.hamiltontheater.net. 

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