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Meira Blaustein

Thurday, October 12----As the 7th annual Woodstock Film Festival kicks into gear this evening with the avant premiere of Douglas McGrath’s INFAMOUS, Festivals Editor Sandy Mandelberger sat down with Festival Director Meira Blaustein to get her thoughts on this year’s edition.

Sandy Mandelberger (SM): What is new this year that you might be experimenting with?

Meira Blaustein: Most of the new elements are more of the inner structure and perhaps not so visible. In terms of the programming, the quality is getting much better and the audience interest is peaking, not only for the bigger films but also for the specialty films that we are showing.

SM: You were able to get some advance premieres from distributors. Are you finding that more films that already have distribution are coming to the Festival before they open?

MB: We are developing closer relationships with the independent distributors, from Miramax to Focus Features to Fox Searchlight, both during the Festival and for programming during the year. Our relationship is growing with all those companies and it is very important to have those films included. However, our reputation as being a “fiercely independent