FilmColumbia returns to the Crandell Theatre at 48 Main Street from October 16 to 25. This year's slate is 42 features and seven shorts, and the honoree is Jane Schoenbrun, a writer and director who grew up in Chatham. The festival is in its 26th year. Its own count is more than 750 films shown, 158 of which went on to Academy Award nominations and 58 of which won. Those numbers explain why people drive in for it. The 2026 schedule is also easy to use if you live close by. Daytime tickets cost less, the box office sells seats on the day, the opening party is on Depot Square, and an exhibition on Depot Square runs until late December.
The honoree's films have already played here
Schoenbrun is honored on opening night, Friday, October 16. The ticketed package starts with a screening of "I Saw the TV Glow" and a Q&A with Schoenbrun. Then comes the kick-off party at 7 p.m. at Masonic Hall, 2 Park Row, with its entrance on Depot Square. According to The Columbia Paper's festival announcement, Bimi's Canteen on Main Street is providing the appetizers and buffet.
Schoenbrun has shown work at this theater before. Her latest film, "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma," played at the Crandell in August. The Columbia Paper calls it a horror-comedy that nods to everything from Sunset Boulevard to 1980s horror. Her novel, "Public Access Afterworld," comes out October 27, two days after the festival ends. Party guests and anyone visiting the Crandell during the festival can preorder it. A party ticket is $300, or $340 with the book.
Opening night also has a regular screening. "The Dreamed Adventure" plays the Crandell at 7:30 p.m. on October 16, so you can start the festival without buying a party ticket.
Prices change at 4:30 p.m.
Ticket prices depend on the time of day more than on the film. Single tickets for screenings before 4:30 p.m. cost $12 for members and $14 for everyone else. From 4:30 p.m. on, they cost $16 and $18.
| Ticket | Member | General |
|---|---|---|
| Single film, before 4:30 p.m. | $12 | $14 |
| Single film, 4:30 p.m. and later | $16 | $18 |
| All-Film Pass | $325 | $375 |
| Producer Pass, with reserved seat | $800 | $1,000 |
The table shows how much you'd need to see for a pass to pay off. At the general evening price of $18, the $375 All-Film Pass beats single tickets only after about 21 evening films. At the $14 daytime price, the break-even point is closer to 27 films, more than half of the 49 titles. A general-admission buyer who sees six films, all before 4:30, spends $84. The same six films in the evening cost $108.
Several films in this year's lineup play during the day. "The Condor Daughter," a Bolivian film shot in the Andes in Quechua and Spanish with English subtitles, screens on opening day at 2:30 p.m. The free Children's Program on Saturday, October 17, at 10:30 a.m. is a selection of classic cartoons. The festival describes it as its gift to the community.
Some of the most talked-about titles play in the evening. Jesse Eisenberg's "The Debut" stars Julianne Moore as a suburban housewife cast in a regional musical and Paul Giamatti as its director. It plays Monday, October 19, at 7:30 p.m. Eisenberg's "A Real Pain" was a highlight of FilmColumbia 2024. The lineup also includes Tony Gilroy's "Behemoth!" with Pedro Pascal, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "All of a Sudden," which is Japan's official Academy Award submission. Chronogram's festival preview adds "The Art of Adventure," "Fatherland," "Bitter Christmas," "Rehearsals for a Revolution," "Wild Horse Nine" and "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York." Check the Crandell's schedule for each film's screening time.
The Producer Pass has one rule to know. It comes with a reserved seat, but the seat is released if it's empty when the screening starts.
Buying tickets after advance sales
Advance sales opened to members at noon on September 25 and to the general public at noon on October 2. If you live nearby and haven't bought yet, the Crandell's in-person sales work like this:
- The box office opens 30 minutes before the day's first screening.
- It sells tickets only for screenings that haven't sold out.
- Sales continue until the last evening film of the day starts.
- All sales are first-come, first-served, with no refunds.
The Crandell hasn't published a rush or standby policy for sold-out screenings. A film listed as sold out should be treated as unavailable. Because of the no-refund rule, check the schedule before you buy. The ticket information page has the current details.
Festival events beyond the Crandell
Most screenings are on Main Street, but the schedule also uses other buildings in the village. The kick-off party is at Masonic Hall on Park Row, entered from Depot Square. Two screenwriting workshops are scheduled at Tracy Memorial.
Depot Square has an art exhibition opening the same week. On October 9, the Shaker Museum opened Kiki Smith's "Visiting" at 4 Depot Square. It is the third show in Shaker Outpost, the museum's pop-up exhibition series, and Smith is its guest curator. The show is about welcome. It pairs Smith's blankets, woven works, works on paper and sculptural objects with Shaker cabinets, chests and other storage pieces, and it includes a photogravure by Lothar Osterburg. The museum lists hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Those weekend hours overlap the festival's Friday-through-Sunday screenings.
The theater the film club bought
FilmColumbia is closely tied to the building it runs in. The Crandell opened on Christmas Day in 1926. The Chatham Film Club formed in 1998 and worked with the Columbia County Council on the Arts to produce the first FilmColumbia in 2000. When the theater closed in 2010, the film club raised about $600,000 to buy it. It reopened on July 9, 2010, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community theater. In August 2018 the organization changed its name to Crandell Theatre.
The festival is run by a community nonprofit that owns its theater on Main Street, which fits with the matinee pricing, the free cartoon morning and the day-of sales at the door. Membership gets you the lower prices in the table above, and members were able to buy tickets a week before the public this year.
After October 25
The festival ends on October 25 with "The Blood Countess" at 8 p.m. The book and the exhibition continue after that. "Public Access Afterworld" comes out two days later. Kiki Smith's "Visiting" stays on Depot Square through December 20, about eight weeks after the last screening.
One festival-week dining option isn't ready yet. Chef David Israelow bought the former Blue Plate restaurant to open Four Corners. Chronogram reported in August 2025 that it was expected to open in spring 2026. The Albany Business Review later described the project as moving toward a complete makeover of the property. The Chatham Area Business & Arts directory now lists Four Corners at 1 Kinderhook Street with an opening in 2027. The restaurant won't be open for this year's festival.
FilmColumbia shows what makes a village like Chatham work: an independent theater, a museum's pop-up on Depot Square, and a well-known chef renovating a corner restaurant. If you're thinking about a primary or second home within reach of Main Street in Columbia County, The Legacy Team can explain how village life compares with the country properties around it. Get Expert Guidance.