WFF to Screen FOR ELLEN with Paul Dano, 8/18

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The Woodstock Film Festival is excited to announce the one-time screening of the indie film For ELLEN, starring Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, Ruby Sparks), Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, The Hunger Games) and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite, Blades of Glory). The screening will take place at Upstate Films in Woodstock on Saturday, August 18, 3 pm.

Actor Paul Dano will be in attendance along with writer/director So Yong Kim (a part-time Hudson Valley resident) and producer Jen Gatien for a Q&A after the film.

"This film has been on our radar for awhile now," said WFF co-founder and executive director Meira Blaustein. "Dano is brilliant and Kim has an amazing way of getting the audience involved in more than just the story. When you see this film, you somehow become a part of the fabric by investing your own emotions."

Aspiring rock star Joby Taylor (Dano) has wanted nothing more than to “make it”, having flirted with fame but never crossed over into true success. In the midst of a low period in his life, he agrees to sign divorce papers with his estranged wife (Margarita Levieva- “Revenge,” “How To Make It In America”) in order to see money from the sale of their home, only to discover that by signing the papers, he will forfeit all custody of his six-year-old daughter, Ellen (newcomer Shaylena Mandigo). With a good-natuRed Lawyer (Heder) unable to make headway in reversing the decision, and a girlfriend (Malone) that represents an era of his life that he might be ready to graduate from, Joby negotiates a visit with his daughter to explore whether he is able to walk away from his child, and whether it might be too late for reconciliation.

FOR ELLEN stems from Kim’s desire to understand her own father, and an imagined confrontation if he ever returned to her. Using the stark beauty and vast farmlands of an American winter as its backdrop, the film charts Joby’s emotional journey as he realizes what he has lost—and what, if anything, can still be saved. (Tribeca)

Total run time is 94 minutes. Tickets are available online at www.woodstockfilmfestival.com.

*For Ellen will be released in theaters September 5 at New York's Film Forum, courtesy of Tribeca Film.