Haunting songs from indie films take the stage in free outdoor event

Join the Big Eddy Film Festival at the Cochecton Pump House on Saturday, July 17, for a free evening of outdoor music from favorite indie film soundtracks.

Independent filmmakers have a knack for unearthing musical gems and putting a new spin on classic tunes to create a distinct emotional response. Who can forget David Lynch’s unsettling use Roy Orbison’s 1963 hit “In Dreams” in Blue Velvet? Or Sofia Coppola’s choice of Roxy Music’s “More Than This” to express the tenderness between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation?

In other cases, music written specifically for a movie soundtrack has come to embody the spirit and story of the film through song, as in the case of Dionne Warwick’s “Theme from the Valley of the Dolls,” written by Andre and Dory Previn.

DJ Jason Tougaw will take over the audio waves inside the open air eatery to celebrate the festival’s 10th anniversary. He has created a setlist of songs and audio clips from a wide array of movies, spanning from the 1960s to today, from John Singleton’s “Boyz n the Hood” to Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” and Cameron Crowe’s “Say Anything” to Julie Delpy’s “Two Days in Paris.”

The Big Eddy Film Festival, sponsored by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, will be held Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 in Narrowsburg, N.Y. Big Eddy will present a series of live special events throughout the summer leading up to the expanded four-day festival.

Since 2012, the festival has been advancing the traditional art of storytelling by screening the newest and best independent films from around the world and our own backyard. Produced by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, the annual event draws filmmakers and film lovers to a picturesque Catskill Mountains.

Each year the festival presents approximately 30 fiction and non-fiction films and hosts visiting filmmakers and workshops. Screenings are held indoors at the Tusten Theatre and outdoors on the Terrace Stage at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, N.Y.

The activities of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance are made possible in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.