Meira Blaustein, the cofounder and driving force behind the Woodstock Film Festival since its inception, will step down as executive director and head programmer at the end of 2026. She plans to remain involved with the organization in an advisory role.
Blaustein launched the festival in 2000 with her then-husband, the late Laurent Rejto. Neither had previously lived in Woodstock, and the enterprise began without significant funding or institutional backing—just an idea developed at their kitchen table and a belief that the region could support an ambitious independent film festival.
Over the next quarter-century, Blaustein transformed that idea into an internationally recognized event and a cornerstone of the Hudson Valley’s cultural calendar. Chronogram has covered the festival from its beginning, watching it expand from an audacious newcomer into an Oscar-qualifying showcase that has presented thousands of films and welcomed filmmakers, actors, writers, producers, and other industry figures from around the world.
Blaustein’s fingerprints could be found across virtually every aspect of the festival. In addition to overseeing its operations, she shaped its programming, cultivated relationships with filmmakers and industry professionals, and helped create an atmosphere in which emerging artists shared the spotlight with established names.
Among the renowned artists who developed close ties to the festival were cinematographer Haskell Wexler, composer Elmer Bernstein, and documentarian Leon Gast, all Academy Award winners. Blaustein and Wexler also established the festival’s annual cinematography award bearing his name.
Her tenure included several periods when simply holding the festival became an achievement. In 2001, its second year, the event proceeded nine days after the September 11 attacks, offering filmmakers and audiences a place to gather amid the national trauma. During the pandemic, Blaustein and her team reconfigured the festival around online screenings and presentations at three regional drive-ins, including a temporary pop-up venue.
“Founding and running the Woodstock Film Festival for the past 26 years has been the honor of a lifetime,” Blaustein said in announcing her departure. “What began as a dream jotted down at my kitchen table has grown into one of the most respected regional film festivals in the US.”
Before founding the festival, Blaustein programmed films for several regional festivals and worked as a filmmaker, directing, producing, and consulting on narrative features, documentaries, and screenplays.
“There would be no Woodstock Film Festival as we know it without Meira,” says board chair Claude Dal Farra. “Meira gave this festival not only her leadership, but her heart.”
The 27th Woodstock Film Festival will celebrate Blaustein’s legacy alongside its customary slate of screenings, filmmaker conversations, educational programs, and special events. The board has begun searching for her successor and expects to announce new leadership before the 28th festival. Programming and other festival operations will continue during the transition.
“I leave with great hope for independent filmmaking itself,” Blaustein says. “Long live independent cinema.”
