2026 Woodstock Museum Film Festival Films
Sept. 7 – Monday
12pm Threads of Gold 12:21 Directions 1pm Plucked 3:10 Apples Don’t Float3:20 The Son of the Tundra
12pm Threads of Gold
Oboist enriches musical sound by wraqpping reed in gold thread and wears gold lame gown for performance. 6m
An oboist from Iran comes to America to pursue her musical dream. She tries to enrich the sound of her oboe by any means necessary, including wrapping her reed in gold thread and donning a designer gold lame gown for performance. The results may surprise you!
Director Biography – Randall W Vemer
I had the good fortune to pursue a career in two Art forms; Music followed by Art. My profession as a musician was a long road from a farm in Missouri to music conservatory and eventually Principal Viola of The Oregon Symphony. After 20 years a neurological condition peculiar to professional musicians ended my career. Since music was my passion and identity I had to follow a different path. I thought if I could master violin being one of the most difficult tasks known to man; I could certainly learn to paint. Since my training was classical violin, why not pursue classical painting. I have since brought the poetry of music and painting to filmmaking; having since made 3 award winning documentaries shown in film festivals, theaters, galleries, and even the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington DC in 2026.
Director Statement
Threads of Gold is an immersive multimedia exhibit that weaves together music, visual art, poetry, fashion, and film into a unified artistic experience. The exhibition features ten original oil paintings by Randall Vemer, each accompanied by original poetry written specifically for the gold-themed works by Fahime Taglavi. Complementing the paintings are ten large-scale photographs by Hector Salazar depicting a violinist in a flowing gold gown, 60 feet of gold lame fabric on walls or ceiling, along with a striking installation of ten violins with gilded strings, each attached to long gold ribbons suspended from the ceiling, creating a resonant visual metaphor for sound made visible. The exhibit also includes four designer gold gowns displayed on mannequins by noted fashion designer Tony Vincente of Rossario George, with the potential for a live fashion presentation. One of the mannequins will have an ‘installation’ gown by noted costume designer Diana Kirkpatrick.
A documentary film, “Threads of Gold”, further expands the experience, featuring Fahime Taglavi on oboe and an original score by Grammy-winning composer Kira Rugen
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12:21 Directions
Taxi driver listens to passengers’ stories 11m12s
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Taxi driver listens to passengers’ burdens while silently reflecting on his own past and direction forward.
John spends his days behind the wheel of his taxi, ferrying strangers across the city—each carrying their own burdens. As he listens to their stories, he quietly reflects on his own past. Though he appears composed, the weight of his experiences lingers. But when he returns home, his true purpose becomes clear. In the stillness of his own world, he finds his anchor—proving that even in life’s chaos, connection is the ultimate direction forward.
Director Biography – Ramez El-Hajj
Ramez El-Hajj is an award-winning filmmaker known for his distinct storytelling and humanistic approach to cinema. With critically acclaimed works such as Companionless, Aisha, HUSH, and The Target, El-Hajj has a talent for crafting deeply emotional narratives that resonate with audiences worldwide.
His films often explore themes of connection, resilience, and the human condition, weaving compelling characters into universal stories. El-Hajj’s ability to balance realism with poetic nuance has earned him recognition at prestigious film festivals.
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1PM Plucked
Rebellious woman plans to divorce emotionally unstable husband. A polite and civilized evening spirals violently into pandemonium.1hr50m
In Gilded-Age New York, a rebellious woman plans to divorce her emotionally unstable husband. Consequently, a polite and civilized evening spirals violently into pandemonium. Some things never change… until they do.
Director Biography – Usher Morgan, Katie Vincent
Usher Morgan and Katie Vincent: Co-Directors of Plucked (2026)
Usher Morgan is an award-winning screenwriter, film director, and producer based in New York City. Born in Israel, he started his career in book publishing before shifting to filmmaking. His directorial debut, the dark comedy short Prego (2015), won awards at multiple festivals. Morgan’s first feature, Pickings (2018)—a neo-noir spaghetti western hybrid—earned critical praise, a limited theatrical run via AMC Independent, and recognition from the Los Angeles Times as “a talent to watch.” He has helmed numerous shorts, including Windblown (2019), Homebound (2021), Dual Action (2022), Trapped Inside, and The Z Word (2023), amassing over 15 wins and 30 nominations across his career. Currently, he’s in post-production on his third feature, Anna’s in the Woods, eyeing festivals before a 2027 release.
Katie Vincent is a versatile actress, screenwriter, producer, director, and singer-songwriter also based in New York City. A film buff and visual artist, she has starred in indie projects like Prego (2015) as Emily, Pickings (2018) as Scarlet Lee-Haywood, Windblown (2019) as Beth Reeves, and Homebound (2021) as Jamie Rockwell. She has garnered 2 wins and 2 nominations, including top prizes for Windblown at film festivals.
Morgan and Vincent frequently collaborate, blending his stylistic vision with her performance-driven creativity.
Director Statement
“Hope is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words— And never stops—at all.” — Emily Dickinson
Every film begins with a question. For us, the question was simple: What comes after heartbreak?
When “Plucked” began to take shape, one of us was coming through a breakup; the other had just wrapped a debut feature and was staring into the void, asking, “What’s next?” Out of that collision of grief, exhaustion, and reckless possibility, this film was born.
Dickinson’s poem haunts us because it strips life down to its most brutal simplicity: storms will come, but hope insists on singing. That’s what Plucked is about. Not a polished kind of hope, but the ragged, almost absurd determination to keep moving forward when everything around us feels broken.
This film is a mirror. It reflects back the mess of being human – our failed systems, our crooked laws, our endless attempts to force circles into squares. It’s about power, and how casually we abuse it. It’s about the inevitability of heartbreak, and the stubborn music we cling to just to survive.
Of course, cinema lets us take liberties. We heighten, we bend, we amplify. But at its core, Plucked is rooted in something deeply human: the simple struggle to love, to lose, and to somehow make it out alive – with a kick-ass soundtrack to boot.
And because she says it best, we’ll let Emily close:
“And sweetest—in the gale—is heard— And sore must be the storm— That could abash the little Bird— That kept so many warm—”
Fade out.
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3:10 Apples Don’t Float
Animation. During Mexico City’s decadent carbaretera, alcoholic prostitute forms surreal bond of intimacy. 9m20s
During Mexico City’s decadent cabaret era, Yolanda—an alcoholic prostitute with a mannequin-like appearance—is trapped in a life of disillusionment and yearns for intimacy. Amid drink and daydreams, she forms a surreal bond with an apple, projecting onto it her deepest unmet desires.
Director Biography – Marina Castañón
Marina Castañón, animation artist from Mexico City (2000), uses a surreal and dreamlike style to address social issues like prostitution, sexuality, and loneliness. She pursued studies in fine arts in Xalapa, Italy, and Belgium, and graduated in Animation and VFX from SAE Institute Mexico. She has worked on award-winning projects like Carne de Dios and continues to explore new disciplines to enrich her artistic vision. Her passion for urban aesthetics and marginalized worlds drives her to create adult animation with a strong social voice.
Director Statement
I believe cinema is the best way to highlight the flaws of a society that, among other things, normalizes the consumption of women’s bodies and the stripping of their subjecthood through money and the reinforcement of male virility. In addition to personal inspiration and experiences, I found it crucial to use my feelings as a bridge to connect with the true suffering of sex workers.
I intended to give them a space where we move beyond seeing their daily lives through actions other films have shown, and create an immersive experience in the mind, desires, and fears of a woman who is abused, raped daily, unprotected, alone, and shaped by the trauma of childhood abuse. It’s important to understand what it means for them to imagine love, as the short
film explores where the apple comes from, while also delving into the interest in prostitution.
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3:20 The Son of the Tundra
“Nenets” an ethic group in Russia spend 260 days a year living on ice and snow. They live on eating raw reindeer meat & blood. Chinese filmmaker documents this ethnic group. 1h35m40s
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“Nenets”, a Russian ethnic group, spend 260 days a year living on ice and snow. surviving through fishing, hunting, and reindeer herding.
The Nenets are one of the 194 ethnic groups in Russia. In their native language, “Nenets” literally means “person” or “human.” According to recent population surveys, there are more than 44,000 Nenets people. Most of them live in the Nenets Autonomous District, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, and Taimyr Dolgan-Nenets District—coastal areas near the Arctic Ocean within the Arctic Circle in Russia. Traditional Nenets make a living through fishing, hunting, and reindeer herding. Nowadays, most Nenets living in the Arctic tundra primarily engage in reindeer herding. They migrate seasonally each year, and the length of their nomadic journeys is among the longest in the world. They spend 260 days a year living in ice and snow. They live in chums，and their bedding and clothing are made from reindeer hides. They eat raw reindeer meat and drink reindeer blood. All of their life and culture are closely related to reindeer. This film documents several days of shared life between a Chinese person and a Nenets family.
Director Biography – Qiong Wu
Qiong Wu, a documentary filmmaker, is dedicated to exploring historical, cultural, and contemporary social themes, with a particular passion for ethnological and anthropological subjects. He has directed five documentaries, all of which have been selected for multiple international film festivals.
Director Statement
I believe that documentary filmmaking is not just about capturing images — it is an act of listening, of bearing witness, and of building bridges between worlds.
My work has always been drawn to the quiet depths of human experience — to the stories shaped by history, culture, and the weight of tradition. I am particularly moved by ethnographic and anthropological subjects: the lives of indigenous communities, the resilience of nomadic peoples, and the subtle ways in which modernity reshapes ancient ways of being.
My five documentaries are not merely observations — they are conversations. Between past and present. Between silence and voice. Between one culture and another.
I do not seek to explain. I seek to reveal. To honor. To remember.
This is why I make films.
—Qiong Wu, Director
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