Films about Art, History, and Architecture

• WE START WITH THE THINGS WE FIND

• RICARDO AND PAINTING

• DAHOMEY

• TAKING VENICE

• WILFRED BUCK

• WRITTEN ON THE LANDSCAPE: MYSTERIES BEYOND CHACO CANYON

• A LIFE LIKE THIS, NOTE OF DEFIANCE, TRACING IMPERFECTIONS, and A PLACE FOR US (short films part of Selections from the Thomas Edison Film Festival program)

• 13 DRIVER'S LICENSES, UNDER THE HAT: THE COMPLICATED HISTORY OF THE PITH HELMET, and THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN (part of Shorts+Cake program)

Issue-Driven Films You’ll be Talking about

• ALL ILLUSIONS MUST BE BROKEN

• AS THE TIDE COMES IN

• HOW TO COME ALIVE WITH NORMAN MAILER

• THE DAY ICELAND STOOD STILL

• A BOSTON (R)EVOLUTION

• TOXIC ART and WINGS OF DUST, part of the Boundaries Shorts Program

Films with Compelling Personalities and Communities

• FARMING WHILE BLACK

• CHECKPOINT ZOO

• SECRET MALL APARTMENT

• WILFRED BUCK

• A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS (winner of the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance)

• WE START WITH THE THINGS THAT WE FIND

• TAKING VENICE

• GAUCHO GAUCHO (New York State Premiere!)

• BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY, part of the Selections from the Thomas Edison Film Festival program 

What’s Old is New

Take a fresh look at these films or enjoy them for the first time.

• SPEEDY (1928) This zany silent film with live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton, features a scene with Babe Ruth and views of the original Yankee Stadium.

• Rutkoff Brunch: Robert Frank Centennial with discussion leader Peter Rutkoff, commemorates what would have been Robert Frank’s 100th birthday, with screenings of his films PAPER ROUTE (2002) and PULL MY DAISY (1959). Includes a brunch of diner classics. ($35)

• INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS (2004) Mark the 20th anniversary of this film, which was the debut of Zak Penn as both a director and a producer, as he clashes with co-writer Werner Herzog, the iconoclast director and pioneer of New German Cinema. Cash bar with a selection of whiskeys, complimentary snacks

• NETS (1936) This film (Redes in Spanish) was commissioned by a progressive Mexican government and recounts a political awakening among Mexican fishermen after one worker’s terrible loss. 

Who doesn’t love a great story?

Enjoy these narrative features.

• PERFECT DAYS

• GOOD ONE

• EVIL DOES NOT EXIST

Films about Nature, Sustainability, the Environment

• ALL ILLUSIONS MUST BE BROKEN

• AS THE TIDE COMES IN

• THERE WAS A CEDAR FOREST, part of the Boundaries Shorts Program

• FLOW

• EVIL DOES NOT EXIST

Films with Filmmakers and Speakers Present

Like the chance to hear directly from filmmakers? To delve into the topic of a film and ask questions? These films feature filmmakers and guest speakers.  

• THE NIGHT VISITORS with director Michael Gitlin

• WE START WITH THE THINGS WE FIND with director Thomas Piper and film subjects and architects Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano

• DAHOMEY with scholar Mikayla Brown

• A BOSTON (R)EVOLUTION with director Daphne McWilliams

• SPEEDY 1928 silent film with live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton

• Rutkoff Brunch: Robert Frank Centennial with discussion leader Peter Rutkoff

• Selections from the Thomas Edison Film Festival (TEFF) with TEFF executive director Jane Steuerwald and BETWEEN EARTH & SKY director Andrew Nadkarni and producer Katie Schiller

• Shorts+Cake program with UNDER THE HAT: THE COMPLICATED HISTORY OF THE PITH HELMET director Olympia Stone and 13 DRIVER'S LICENSES director Ryoya Terao and writer/producer Elisabeth Gareis 

Film and Food!

• RICARDO AND PAINTING features a cash bar and complimentary cheese and charcuterie selection ($20)

• INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS features a cash bar with a selection of whiskeys and complimentary cheese board and salted oat cookies

• FLOW features complimentary popcorn, apple cider and hot cocoa

• The Taste of Argentina dinner on Saturday, November 9 will mark the New York State Premiere of GAUCHO GAUCHO , which will be shown earlier that day.

• Selections from the Thomas Edison Film Festival features cash bar, complimentary movie snacks.

• Lunch between Films are available with advance purchase. Friday, November 8, enjoy an Indigenous Flavors Lunch prior to the free film WRITTEN ON THE LANDSCAPE: MYSTERIES BEYOND CHACO CANYON. On November 11, enjoy Alex's World Picnic Soup just before THE DAY ICELAND STOOD STILL.

• Shorts+Cake (need we say more?)

• In addition, The Farmers’ Museum will have snacks to purchase during films shown at the Jones Center. 

Films that Go Beyond the Boundaries of Genres

Sometimes called hybrid documentaries, these films use staged reenactments and other methods associated with fiction filmmaking to tell a nonfiction story.

• WILFRED BUCK

• DAHOMEY

• AS THE TIDE COMES IN

• ALL ILLUSIONS MUST BE BROKEN

• INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS

• NETS (REDES)

Films With Local/Regional Ties

• GAUCHO GAUCHO  Gregory Kershaw, one of the film’s directors, grew up in Utica

• GOOD ONE was filmed in the Catskills

• Rutkoff Brunch: Robert Frank Centennial commemorates Frank who had a farm in Cherry Valley

• Shorts+ Cake features SCARS ALONG THE MOHAWK, a documentary short about Canajoharie, and ANOMALY, a narrative short filmed at Cohoes Music Hall in Cohoes, NY by Otsego County natives Ryan Jenkins and Spencer Sherry.

Shorts Programs

• Boundaries Shorts Program

• Selections from the Thomas Edison Film Festival

• Shorts+Cake

Free Films: Just Reserve a Ticket

• WRITTEN ON THE LANDSCAPE: MYSTERIES BEYOND CHACO CANYON

• FLOW Free Family Film

When In Doubt: Choose Opening and Closing Films

The Film Days Program Team of Peggy Parsons, Xander Moffat, and Joey Katz selected all the films for this year’s Film Days. They selected The Night Visitors for the Opening Film, and Checkpoint Zoo for the Closing Film. These are prestigious spots, and let you know the Program Team especially recommends you see these films.

Opening Film: THE NIGHT VISITORS
November 7, 5:30 pm National Baseball Hall of Fame Grandstand Theater

In large and small fragments, through a critical lens that is by turns social and personal, THE NIGHT VISITORS closely examines moths as aesthetic beings and as carriers of meaning. Director Michael Gitlin will take part in a post-screening Q&A

Closing Film: CHECKPOINT ZOO
November 11, 5:45 pm
National Baseball Hall of Fame Grandstand Theater

CHECKPOINT ZOO documents a daring rescue led by a heroic team of zookeepers and volunteers who risked their lives to save thousands of animals trapped in a zoo behind enemy lines in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"Will amaze you from the first frame to the last" - UNSEEN FILMS

In addition to the Opening and Closing Films, ALL ILLUSIONS MUST BE BROKEN, WE START WITH THE THINGS WE FIND, and PERFECT DAYS will be shown in the early evening at the state-of-the-art Grandstand Theater at the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum.

When you buy tickets in advance, you’ll save at least 20% off the door price, and ensure you get a seat. And, with the Take Five Pass, you can get five film tickets (any combination, feel free to share with a friend or two), you save 30% off the door price. First buy the pass, then select the film tickets you want, using the pass as payment.