2025 FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Friday, October 31, 4:00 PM
Doors Open at 3:15 PM
Location: THE COMMON GOOD BOOKSTORE
119 Canal Street, Ellenville

A seriously intimate and casual chat with Emmy winner Judy Gold, the outrageous comedian and actor, about her extensive career and how her Jewish identity and the Borscht Belt shaped it. Moderated by Alan Katz, Founder & CEO of The Mountains Media. After a Q&A, Gold will sign her book about freedom of speech, Yes I Can Say That.  

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: Chutzpah Coffee Co., Joyva, The Mountains Media, and Zabar’s.

Friday, October 31
Reception: 5:30 to 7:00 PM
Location: BORSCHT BELT MUSEUM
90 Canal Street, Ellenville
Movie: 7:30 PM
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

A little “Dirty Dancing” and a side dish of Borscht Belt humor with our Guest of Honor JUDY GOLD are on the menu for the opening night party + movie for the second annual Borscht Belt Film Festival in Ellenville, New York.

Opening Night Party hosted by Linnea Sage, creator and star of the hit monthly NYC show The Jewish Dating Game.

The “Mensch Award" trophy was crafted by the Borscht Belt Museum artist-in-residence, Robin Schwartz.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: The Borscht Belt Deli, City Winery, Streit’s, and Tuthilltown Spirits.

OPENING NIGHT FILM

Friday, October 31, 7:30 PM
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

During a Catskills summer in 1963, teenager Frances "Baby" Houseman begins spreading her wings to the distress of her overprotective parents, and falls for a charismatic dance teacher at her resort.

If you have tickets to the opening night reception, you do not need to purchase separate tickets to this screening. It's included!  

A Conversation with Film Screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein and Former New York Times Journalist Joyce Wadler.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: Bold Gold Media, The Borscht Belt Deli, The Mountains, Streit’s, and Tuthilltown Spirits.

Saturday, November 1, 9:30 - 10:15 AM
Location: THE COMMON GOOD BOOKSTORE
119 Canal Street, Ellenville
Doors open at 9 AM with coffee and breakfast available for purchase.

From his roles in award-winning Broadway shows to TV work to directing films, like this festival's "Villa Encanto," Joel Pérez is on the rise. 

Get your film fest morning going with a discussion with Joel Pérez where he will share stories about his dynamic career with Liz Nord, an Emmy-winning producer, writer, and filmmaker, currently Head of Programs and Creative Development at the New York University Production Lab. 

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: NYU Production Lab.

Saturday, November 1, 10:30 AM
Documentary / 2006 / 79 min
Director: Alexandra Shiva
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

Aspiring actors and singers prepare for stardom at a unique summer camp in the Catskills: Stagedoor Manor. This documentary follows five campers as they grow their skills in music, comedy, and drama -- while also navigating the cringe factor of adolescence.

A Conversation with Director Alexandra Shiva, Moderator Jay Blotcher, Borscht Belt Film Fest Programmer, and former camper Linnea Sage.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: Zandra Bender, Sprague & Killeen and the Jewish Dating Game.

Saturday, November 1, 11:00 AM

Location: BORSCHT BELT MUSEUM
90 Canal Street, Ellenville

Join historian & founding board member Peter Alan Chester for a nostalgia-filled tour of the museum's latest exhibition, "And Such Small Portions: Food and Comedy in the Catskills Resort Era."

Saturday, November 1, 12:45 PM
Documentary / 2008 / 97 min
Director: Andrew Jacobs
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

Holocaust survivors, mostly Polish Jews, some in their ninth decade, gather every summer at the Four Seasons Lodge in the Catskills. Here they strive to focus on their current lives and the chosen family who fill the void. 

A Conversation with Andrew Jacobs, Historian and Borscht Belt Museum Board Member, Peter Alan Chester, and Moderator Jewish Film Historian Isaac Zablocki.

Thank you to our sponsors of this event: Elliott and Judi Auerbach, Jack Godfrey, Jackie Leitzes, Stephen Lizardo & Marcel Calarco Jr., Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan's The Carole Zabar Center for Film, Billy and Erika Rosenblatt, and Shawangunk Journal.

Saturday, November 1, 2:45 PM

Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

ALL ABOUT AMY
Documentary / 2015 / 7 min

Directors: Samuel Centore, Gene Fischer

A widowed transgender taxi driver living in Ellenville considers a liberating future while she also navigates financial challenges and a complex dynamic with family members. 

CASA SUSANNA
Documentary / 2022 / 97 min

Director: Sébastien Lifshitz

An unlikely true-life tale of a long-hidden Catskills community. In the 1950s and 1960s, a bungalow colony in the Northern Catskills became a finishing school for a network of male cross-dressers, now recognized as pioneering trans activists.

A Conversation about both films with Eve Papp of the New Paltz Pride Coalition, and Gene Fischer, with Moderator Jay Blotcher, Borscht Belt Film Fest Programmer.

All are welcome to attend this screening at no cost. A donation to the museum in ticketing is optional but seats must be reserved. Pay what you wish.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: Ward Mintz & Floyd Lattin, Bjorn Qorn, CPW, Stockade Works, The Common Good, and Upstate Curious.

Saturday, November 1, 5:30 PM
Fiction / 2025 / 16 min

Director: Joel Perez
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

A Saturday night in the 1960s in lower Ulster County, regarded as the Latino Borscht Belt. A father and daughter musical act celebrates their current popularity but still ache for their former life in Puerto Rico.

A Conversation with Joel Perez, Latino Borscht Belt Historian Ish Martinez, Blogger Carla Ramos, and moderator Jay Blotcher, Borscht Belt Film Fest Programmer.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: 81 North, HUDSY, and M&T Bank.

Saturday, November 1, 7:00 PM
Documentary / 2013 / 76 min
Directors: Mevlut Akkaya, Ron Frank
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

The birth of American stand-up comedy started right here in the Borscht Belt. Few people know that the Catskills served as the cradle for American stand-up comedy. Countless legends of TV and film, many of them Jewish-American, developed their acts before the demanding audiences at Catskill resorts.

A conversation with director Ron Frank and moderator and comedian Alex Grubard.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: Chronogram, Filis Forman & Andrew Marcus, The Forward, Tony & Nick’s, and Tops Friendly Markets.

Sunday, November 2, 10:00 AM

Walk with Elliott Auerbach, lifelong resident of Ellenville and Borscht Belt Museum Board Member.
Location: BORSCHT BELT MUSEUM
90 Canal Street, Ellenville

On day two of the Borscht Belt Film Fest, start your day with a walking tour of Ellenville by Elliott Auberbach– former mayor, village manager, and state deputy comptroller. He will take you on a walking tour of Ellenville, where you'll learn about hidden landmarks, striking architecture, and reveal things that only the locals know. Limited to 12 people. Must register in advance! Meet at the Borscht Belt Museum at 10 am, where the tour will start.

Cost: $15 Donation to the Borscht Belt Museum

Sunday, Nov. 2 at 10 am 

Join Borscht Belt Museum archivist Allen Frishman for a private tour of his home, a veritable museum chockablock with ephemera saved from oblivion. An author, preservationist and former building inspector for the town of Fallsburg, Frishman rescued countless objects -- telephone switchboards, bungalow kitchens, swizzle sticks and hotel signs -- before the bulldozers arrived. Many of them make up the Borscht Belt Museum's core collection.

Location to be provided after purchase.
Duration 1 hour
Limited to 12!

Sunday, November 2, 11:15 AM

Comedy-Drama / 1976 / 1 hr 35 min

Director: Martin Ritt
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

In the 1940s and 1950s, conservative politicians launched a witch hunt to root out dissent. The resulting blacklist destroyed countless show business careers -- and lives. This comedy-drama depicts those frightening times, starring several real-life blacklisted actors, including Zero Mostel and Herschel Bernardi. Some scenes were shot on location at the famed Brown's Hotel in Loch Sheldrake.

A Conversation with Jewish Film Historian Eve Sicular, Borscht Belt Insider Lita Slutsky Newman Moses, and Historian Daniel Noah Moses, and Moderator Jay Blotcher, Borscht Belt Film Fest Programmer.

Thank you to our sponsors of this event: Jeffrey & Marla Kaplan, Radio Catskill , Reunion, Eric Taras & Marisa Catanzaro, and The Workers Circle.

Sunday, November 2, 1:00 PM

Location: BORSCHT BELT MUSEUM
90 Canal Street, Ellenville

Join historian & founding board member Peter Alan Chester for a nostalgia-filled tour of the museum's latest exhibition, "And Such Small Portions: Food and Comedy in the Catskills Resort Era."

Sunday, November 2, 2:00 PM
Documentary / 1992 / 58 min

Director: Dave Davidson
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

The remarkable story of Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates, the famous one-legged black tap dancer and Catskill resort owner, who provided a vacation retreat for Blacks still burdened by segregation and Jim Crow laws. Archival film clips and interviews with Ruth Brown, Percy Sutton, Chuck Green, Buster Brown, and tap greats Honi Coles and Gregory Hines.

A Conversation with Dave Davidson,  Producer Amber Edwards, and Moderator Gammy Singer of the NAACP, Ellenville.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: Arts Mid-Hudson, SUNY New Paltz, Department of Digital Media and Journalism, Mill & Main, and Ulster County Tourism.

Sunday, November 2, 4:00 PM
Location: SHADOWLAND STAGES THEATER
157 Canal Street, Ellenville

SHORT FILMS ABOUT THE BORSCHT BELT

AMERICA’S FORGOTTEN PARADISE
Documentary / 2025 / 10 min
Director: Erik K. Swanson

Dr. Peter Alan Chester of the Borscht Belt Museum, a key staff member at many of the area’s premier resorts back in the day, gives a capsule history of the rise and fall of the Borscht Belt.

VILLA ENCANTO
Fiction / 2025 / 16 min

Director: Joel Perez

A Saturday night in the 1960s in lower Ulster County, regarded as the Latino Borscht Belt. A father and daughter musical act celebrates their current popularity but still ache for their former life in Puerto Rico.

ELLENVILLE RISING
Documentary / 2023 / 12 min

Director: Jack Huppert

For generations, a popular destination for Borscht Belt vacationers, Ellenville fell on hard times when the resorts closed. But a remarkable resurgence is now underway.

LET'S FALL IN LOVE: A SINGLES WEEKEND AT THE CONCORD HOTEL
Documentary / 1993 / 25 min

Director: Constance Marks

Before online dating, thousands of singles would flock to the Concord Hotel’s famed matchmaker weekends. At one such weekend event in the 1990s, unattached people reveal their dreams for happily-ever-after.

Thank you to the sponsors of this event: TJ & Debbie Briggs, Robin & Michael Kauffman, and Janice & Roy Wayne.