Floating Cinema Sails into Poughkeepsie

Larissa Pahomov Contributing Editor

There’s no question that Vassar is devoted to the art of film. With the new facilities at Avery Center and film screenings almost every day, students hardly have a reason to set foot off campus in order to satisfy their movie needs. But when The Floating Cinema sails into town on Saturday, any film-loving student should head to the riverfront for this unique movie-going experience.

Literally a screen on a 40’ barge pulled by a tugboat, The Floating Cinema is a part of a larger project called “Watershed: The Hudson Valley Art Project,” and is the brainchild of Minetta Brook, an organization whose mission, as stated on their website, is to present projects that “strengthen the relationship between contemporary artists and communities throughout New York State.”

The Watershed project, which opened in May of 2003, commissioned ten artists to create works based on the Hudson Valley in a variety of mediums. Filmmaker John Hutton, a celebrated video artist and chair of the Film Department at Bard College, created the silent feature Two Rivers about Henry Hudson’s attempt to discover a trade route to the Great China Sea.

The film was shown for six months in a storefront setting in downtown Beacon. Still, Minetta Brook wanted to expand the exposure of Hutton’s work. Hutton had also made two other Hudson-based films prior to the Watershed Project that could be shown in concert with Two Rivers. Minetta Brook began to seek a larger venue.

“Our goal was to bring the films to the broadest possible audience,” said Minetta Brook director Diane Shamash. The group decided to collaborate with The Floating Cinema, a program run by filmmaker Jon Rubin. Rubin has used the Cinema to screen both his own work and the work of others primarily in the New York City harbor, but Minetta Brook wanted to bring the cinema up the river.

“Poughkeepsie was chosen because it has a great waterfront location,” said Shamash. “Vassar and Marist were very enthusiastic about it.”

The Watershed Project has already organized an art exhibit at SUNY New Paltz, and an agricultural exhibit called “Hudson Valley Tastemakers” is currently ongoing at Bard College. While this is the first event the College has sponsored, a number of faculty members have are involved with the project. Several faculty and administrators are even on its steering committee, including President Fergusson.

Minetta Brook is only one of a number of arts organizations that has recently been drawn to the Mid-Hudson region. In addition to Vassar’s own Lehman Loeb Art Center, two high-profile openings within the past few years, namely the Dia:Beacon center and the Fischer Performing Arts Center at Bard College, have also increased interest in the area’s cultural offerings.

The change has not gone unnoticed. “The Hudson Valley has gone from being a ‘best-kept secret’ to very much on the map,” Media Relations Director Jeffrey Kosmacher said.

The Office of the President initiated Vassar’s involvement in sponsoring The Floating Cinema, although several other campus groups have signed on to help support the screening. As one of the leading sponsors of the event, the College gave $6,000 towards the screenings.

The screening will be held on Saturday, Oct. 9 starting at 6 p.m. and running until 10 p.m. The rain date for the screening is Sunday, Oct. 10. The event is open to all, and shuttle vans will be running from the College to Waryas Park. If you can’t make it Saturday, there is also a screening of the same films at Waterfront Park in Hudson, NY on Friday, Oct. 8. Screening times in Hudson are the same.