INSPIRED! 2023

People who create are inspirations to us all. But what inspires them? Find out at Rivertown Film’s 8th Inspired! on Friday, April 21 at Nyack Center. Online ticket sales end at 5:00 pm on Friday. Any additional tickets will be sold at the door starting at 7:30.  It’s a live fundraiser, the most important part of our income, allowing us to keep showing and discussing an unusual array of films and continuing to grow in amazing ways as we have even during the last three years. Now that we are back in the theater, we hope you will support Rivertown Film and our future by attending our signature fundraising event.

On April 21, fifteen local artists in varied disciplines share the sources of their inspiration, each using ten slides and twenty seconds per slide to explain them. Join us for a fast-paced night of creativity and enjoy the many ways that artists find inspiration. The program starts at 8:00, but arrive early for complementary hors d’oeuvres prepared with your health and safety in mind, and to look over our silent auction items and raffles. After the presentation, additional hors d’oeuvres, desserts and beverages will be available when the Inspired! performers have finished. Thank you to our food donors, including Bolzano’s Restaurant-Congers, Hudson House, Otto’s Full Service in Piermont, BJ’s, Prohibition River, Olde Village Inne, Dolce Vita, Stop & Shop in Orangeburg, Nanuet and New City, and Boxer Donuts.

Tickets to this unique, entertaining, and enlightening evening are $35 general admission and $25 for Rivertown Film Members. Light refreshments will be served and wine will be available for a small contribution, and there will be an opportunity to mingle with the artists before and after the presentations. Raffle and Silent Auction items include a Concord men’s watch, wine baskets, Yoga lessons, a handmade designer outfit from Toma, Karenderya, Maria Luisa and Black Parakeetz gift cards, classic vinyl records, a Goshen Green Farm basket, a 40″ smart TV and more to come.  Tickets are limited and are sure to go quickly.

EVENT SPONSOR:

Taking part this year are:

Event MC: GLENN SCHLOSS, Performer, Producer, Remixer and Multi-instrumentalist

The 2023 Inspired! Honorees:

DRU PLUHOWSKI, Choral director

ELLIOTT FORREST, Broadcaster, Director/Producer/Designer/Filmmaker

ELENA MELENER SCHLOSS, Voice Actor, Writer, Director and Content Creator

TREY BONHAM SCHLOSS, Drummer and Singer

RAY LEVIER, Drummer / Composer / Producer

KIM CROSS, Actor

DOROTHY GILLESPIE, Sculptor represented posthumously by her son Gary Israel

SUSAN HILLARY (aka SHAPIRO), Filmmaker & Painter

KIMBERLY FENNELL, Social Media Content Creator

HERNZ LAGUERRE, JR., Journalist / Video Storyteller

CHARU KRISHAN, Hindi Storyteller / Writer and Translator

J. FAITH ALMIRON, Cultural Studies Scholar and Critic

PETER ARTIN, Sculptor

OSCAR GONZÁLEZ-BARRETO, Scholar /Teacher / Playwright / Radio Host

DAVID SHIRE, Composer

“A film that could have settled for being a masterclass in technique, but instead goes deeper, exploring questions of artistry, authorship, legacy.” NPR

“Had The Christophers just been a cross-generational punch-up, the sort of flinty showdown designed to throw off pleasurable sparks, you’d still walk away content. It remains a conduit for two of the best performances you’ll see all year.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone

“The Christophers is largely a comedy, but it’s also about all that we gain and lose with age, and about how we sometimes need young people to bring us back to ourselves.” – Stephanie Zacharek, TIME

“Having lost the inspiration that guided him to greatness, Julian is an artist who can no longer paint, and Lori is an artist who has lost all confidence in there being a place for her work in the larger world. For all the undercurrents about fame, commodification, and reputation that flow through The Christophers, at its core is a more plaintive lament about what it feels like to love something that doesn’t love you back.” – Alison Willmore, Vulture

“Go see The Christophers. Show up, and support a tiny, talky experiment that has no relationship to IP or sequels or box-office projection. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s also never, as Lori grudgingly notes about Julian’s work, uninteresting. And in this cultural moment, that’s an authentic win.” – Elizabeth Weitzman, Time Out

“The Christophers is a work of criticism that deftly distinguishes different approaches to criticism.” ­– Justin Chang, The New Yorker 

“Brims with hilarious dialogue, lightly satirical observations of a culture that treats art as a commodity, and satisfying payoffs to a number of story elements planted early on.” – Seth Katz, Slant Magazine

“In the end, this film about artists becomes a work of art in its own right. The more you look at it, the more its many components reveal themselves to you.” – Chase Hutchinson, The Wrap

“Ian McKellen plays Julian Sklar, a sardonic art legend who meets his intellectual match in frank preservationist Lori Butler (Michaela Coel). In a test of wits and wills held mostly in a single-setting, Soderbergh pushes both characters to return to their former passions through philosophical conversations that reflect his own career.” – Robert Daniels, Screen International

“It bats about ideas pertaining to art, commerce, ownership and legacy with dexterous aplomb and boasts two equally superb leads who make the material crackle.” – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“The Christophers is a talky, at times incredibly funny, comedy drama with plot reversals that make it feel like it’s on the verge of a thriller. It doesn’t end up there, at least not strictly, but it’s unpredictable enough to never make us entirely sure just where it’s heading.” – Benjamin Lee, Guardian

“There’s no room for anything shy of genius in The Christophers, a crackling original drama about artistic legacy in all its facets, directed by Steven Soderbergh , from a script by Ed Solomon (No Sudden Move) and starring two top-notch English actors of wildly different backgrounds and styles, Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel, at the top of their respective games.” – Peter Debruge, Variety

“With Ian McKellen in superbly crotchety form and Michaela Coel exuding chilly cunning, it’s further proof that Soderbergh remains one of American Cinema’s most inimitable, and adventurous, auteurs. – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast