In the Hudson Valley, there's Mafia warfare. Johnny Marzano vs Louie Benson. Trapped in the middle of this is Tommy Andreas.
John Vanderlyn “...is pronounced to be the first painter that
now is or ever has been in America.” ~ Aaron Burr, 1802 “The First Artist in America” is the story of John Vanderlyn, the celebrated artist who portrayed seven American presidents, rose to fame as a 19th century neoclassical history painter, and died penniless and alone in his hometown of Kingston, New York.
In the Gilded Age and beyond, high fashion decreed that violets were the flower of choice for Valentine's Day, Easter, and a fragrant corsage. At its height, in the years before World War I, Rhinebeck, New York, growers shipped millions of sweet violets (viola odorata) to New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and beyond.
RAILS TO THE CATSKILLS is a history of the dynamic railroad industry in the Catskills of New York State. Catskill railroads have roots in the canals of the 1820's and the post Civil War railroad boom.
The 45-minute documentary celebrates the history of the Catskill Water System with rare archival film footage and historic photographs. Deep Water tells the story of the building of the Ashokan Reservoir, Shandaken Tunnel, Schoharie Reservoir, and the Catskill Aqueduct. Narrated by Robb Webb (the voice of "60 Minutes II"), Deep Water documents how several Catskill Mountain towns were destroyed and flooded, how immigrant workers built the dams and tunnels, and how brilliant engineering and political maneuvering allowed the system to be built.
The 73 minute film, MOUNTAIN RIVER, follows the Esopus Creek, from its headwaters on Slide Mountain in New York’s Catskill Mountains, to the Ashokan Reservoir, and on to the Hudson River at Saugerties - a fascinating journey of 65 miles. The story begins with the ancient geologic forces that formed the Catskills and goes on to explore the Native American and colonial settlements along the Esopus. The documentary covers the history of New York City’s Ashokan Reservoir, the development of water-power on the stream, and the innovative beginnings of the American Industrial Revolution along the Esopus in Saugerties. The film celebrates the Upper Esopus as a world class trout fishery, a recreational resource and a critical source of clean, unfiltered water for millions of New Yorkers. Below the Ashokan Reservoir, the Lower Esopus flows through steep gorges, rich agricultural lands and several towns on its way to the Hudson River.
There isn't much left of the once-grand Catskill Mountain House. The lavish resort hotel was perched on a precarious ledge in Greene County for over a century. During its 19th-century heyday, the hotel embodied the peak of luxury for a generation of the rich and famous. But like many resort hotels of the Catskills' glittering past, the Mountain House fell into disuse in the 20th century and was finally destroyed by the state of New York in 1963 to return its scenic overlook to wilderness. The Catskill Mountain House and The World Around was given the Gold Remi Award by the 44th WorldFest Houston International Film Festival!
'Local Heroes' combines exhaustive research, rare archival film footage, fascinating still photography and revealing original interviews to bring viewers a fill range of the area's diamond history, from its mythical beginnings with Ballston Spa native Abner Doubleday to Heritage Park in Colonie - and everything in between.
An exploration of skate culture in upstate NY.
A group of young skateboarders find direction in their lives when they move to New York and start a pickle business.
"City of Joel" is documentary - with unprecedented access - to a 1.1 square mile shtetl in the suburbs that is home to 22,000 members of an one of the most insular and orthodox Hasidic sects. We follow the battles they are waging to survive. Just 50 miles north of New York City, the Satmar sect has built Kiryas Joel as a religious haven where they can be fruitful, multiply and follow the 613 rules of the Talmud. But with some of the highest rates of marriage, birth and religious observance in the country, they have been almost too successful. Developers have come up with a plan to double the size of the village to keep up with this growth, but their neighbors fight back because they believe it will harm the environment and tilt the balance of political power.
A hate-crime has been committed in a the small city of Braxton, N.Y. Five migrant laborers have been beaten, shot, then ditched. This will upset the delicate balance of an ethnically diverse populace.
A cattle rancher comes to the aid of farmers by heading to NYC to stop the racketeers hijacking their produce shipments.
The last surviving Native Americans on Long Island are the focus of The Lost Spirits. The film chronicles their struggles as an indigenous people to maintain their identity amidst relentless modernization and a heartless bureaucracy.
A family from the city decide to spend a weekend away at a friend's country farmhouse. But a fluke accident sets off a chain of events that alters their lives forever and conjures up the ferocious spirit of the Wendigo.
Strangers June and Charlie wind up double-booked in the same upstate New York Airbnb during the start of COVID-19. Exasperating the situation, the lockdown forces them both to stay and confront the unexpected feelings that develop between them.
A young woman goes searching for answers after her friend mysteriously vanishes in Whitehall, NY, an Adirondack town known for its Bigfoot sightings. She quickly learns that hiding in the woods is an evil more sinister than she could ever imagine.
When an entire town in upstate New York is closed down by an unexpected snowfall, a "snow day" begins when a group of elementary school kids, led by Natalie Brandston, try to ensure that the schools stay closed by stopping a mechanical snowplow driver by trying to hijack his plow truck. Meanwhile, Natalie's big brother Hal is using this day to try to win the affections of Claire Bonner, the most popular girl in his high school, while Hal and Natalie's father Tom, a TV meteorologist, faces off against a rival meteorologist for weather coverage of the day's events.
Hank marries the divorced Joan, who's the mother of teens Sebastian and Jessica. After living with his new family for years, Hank announces that he's getting a sex change operation. The family deserts Hank, with Jessica going her own way and Sebastian staying with his mom. But Joan becomes an alcoholic, so Sebastian moves back in with Hank — now Henrietta — who turns out to be far more supportive than anyone else.
The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.