By Fran Montagnino
Woodstock, New York is an idyllic setting to attend a film festival. The 2021 Woodstock Film Festival is ongoing at the time of this writing from Sept. 29 – Oct. 4. Many of the restaurants here are vegan friendly and have outdoor seating. The artistic scene is very visible. There is a museum and galleries in the town, including the Byrdcliffe Guild, where panel discussions are held. Local musicians and drumming circles play on “The Green” in the center of the town and at local venues such as the Colony.
The film festival showcases different genres every year, hosts awards, panels, and speakers.
Still from Daughter of a Lost Bird
This year I headed out to see Daughter of a Lost Bird, a documentary feature at the Bearsville Theater.
The film is a poignant story about a Native woman adopted into a white family, who reconnects with her Native identity and meets her birth mother, April. We follow Kendra Mylnechuk Potter on her journey to the Lummi Nation and watch as her newly discovered relationship with April develops amidst the history of the Lummi tribe.
There are various creative achievements in the film. The hug between April And Kendra is most notable and deepened by the subtle beat in the background, creating an emotional and quiet poetic moment. The intercutting of black and white archival footage from the Lummi people along with the dialogue of April and Kendra deepens the emotional effect of the film and history of Lummi tribe. The consistent use of close-ups throughout the film visually enhances the relationship the viewer experiences with Kendra and April, as well as our understanding of the Lummi people.
April Kowalski and Brooke Pepion Swaney
(photo credit: Fran Montagnino)
The cinematography, editing, and musical composition interweave deftly throughout the film, which was directed by Brooke Pepion Swaney, an NYU alum. The film, along with Swaney, her creative staff, and April Kowalski received a standing ovation at the Bearsville theater screening I attended! They were on hand afterward to answer audience questions, and April Kowalski standing next to Brooke Pepion Swaney told the audience this was the first time she had seen the film. She also said that it was an unbelievable honor to be in the place the story was told. It was an emotional moment for both attendees and filmmakers.
I walked out of the theater, took off my mask, took a deep breath and walked across the parking lot to Nancy’s of Woodstock Artisanal Creamery, where I had a delicious almond milk cappuccino.
Brooke Swaney received the New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) Award Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking for Daughter of a Lost Bird at the 2021 Woodstock Film Festival. The NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking at Woodstock went to Rachel Winter for The Space Between. NYWIFT Board Member Kim Jackson presented both awards in person at the festival’s closing awards ceremony.
Learn more about the Woodstock Film Festival at https://woodstockfilmfestival.org/
Fran Montagnino
Fran Montagnino is a writer, producer, creative consultant, and an American dreamer – and potential host – who has been part of the vibrant cultural landscape of New York for many years. Her academic background is in Television and Film. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the New York Institute of Technology and has studied at Columbia University. She has worked on and been associated with various projects in both fiction and non-fiction genres and is currently working independently on treatment ideas for television and film.
Related Posts
NYWIFT Member Spotlight: Kristen Golden
Kristen Golden is a writer and producer whose creative work runs the gamut of genres. She wrote the screenplay AWE, for which she won the 2023 Athena Film Festival’s Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award, and was selected as a 2025 Screenplay Semi-finalist by the Cordillera International Film Festival. Kristen is a producer of the narrative short film Irving Berlin’s View of the East River, shot in Spring 2025. She is the co-author with her wife, Barbara Findlen, of the book Remarkable Women of the Twentieth Century: 100 Portraits of Achievement. Kristen is the speechwriter for the Women's Media Center. In our interview, Kristen discussed her award-winning screenplay AWE, the connection between advocacy and storytelling, and her advice for future female leaders.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Tenzin Sedon
Welcome to NYWIFT, Tenzin Sedon! Tenzin Sedon is a Tibetan filmmaker from Tibet, and an MFA candidate in the Graduate Film Program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her work spans narrative, documentary, and experimental forms. She has received numerous awards, including the Hot Docs Best Canadian Short Documentary and the Golden Mountain Award, and has been nominated for the Hot Docs CrossCurrents Doc Fund (CCDF) and Docs Port Incheon. She is a recipient of the 2025 Ang Lee Scholarship. Her films have screened internationally and been exhibited at major institutions.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Farah Otero-Amad
Welcome to NYWIFT, Farah Otero-Amad! Farah Otero-Amad is a trilingual video producer and host for The Wall Street Journal, where she writes, shoots, and edits short-form vertical videos that reach millions across platforms. She recently directed and produced her first award-winning short documentary, Breaking the Cycle, which follows a hip-hop school in Medellin, Colombia, where students compete for the title of the city’s top breakdancer. Previously, Farah worked for The New York Times, Apple TV’s The Problem with Jon Stewart, and NBC News. She is a graduate of Columbia’s Journalism School, a Fulbright Scholar, and a former Division I athlete.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Isabel Cama
Welcome to NYWIFT, Isabel Cama! Isabel Cama is a Brazilian screenwriter, filmmaker, and editor based in New York City. A recent Bard College graduate with a BA in Film Production, her thesis film, Tiny Dancer, screened at the Albany, Coney Island, and East Village Film Festivals. Isabel’s professional experience spans production roles with Disney Brazil and Ventre Studio, post-production research with Academy Award-nominee Petra Costa, and Operations work at the Woodstock Film Festival. Currently working as the first Social Video Fellow at BuzzFeed, she is passionate about stories that explore layered female characters and bridging cultures through film and media.
READ MORE
Comments are closed