Festival Director Meira Blaustein says, "Wavy Gravy’s is a message that will have special resonance for audiences here in Woodstock where the spirit of the festival that bears its name lives on. It's a treat to get a sneak preview of this exciting new work and special joy to welcome back Wavy Gravy to a place where he is so loved."

Beginning with Woodstock '99, director Esrick has spent the past seven years documenting the life of Wavy Gravy.
Saint Misbehavin' journeys from the hills of California to the Himalayan Mountains to reveal the life of this oft-misunderstood servant of humanity. Blending Wavy's own words with magical stories from an extraordinary array of luminary fellow travelers both cultural and counter-cultural, the film tells the full story of the man behind the clown's grin and the fool's clothing. In it, Wavy is revealed as so much more than the tie-dyed entertainer and ice-cream flavor name-sake that too often defines him in the popular imagination. The film's audience will come to know the activist, the optimist, and the healer who reaches beyond political, economic, and cultural divisions in his commitment to social change and his efforts to alleviate human suffering.
Wavy's life is his message, serving as deeply needed inspiration and a wake-up call to humanity that we can change the world and have fun doing it. "If you don't have a sense of humor, it just isn't funny anymore" Wavy says. It's a sentiment not lost on the members of Woodstock Nation, those who were at the historic festival to hear Wavy famously declare from the stage, "What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000!", and those who weren't yet born yet are fueled by its activist and creative legacy in a place where tie-dyes and peace signs are more than just pop symbol reminders of a bygone era.

Satirist Paul Krasner describes his friend as "The illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Theresa, conceived one starry night on a spiritual whoopie cushion," to which Wavy has replied, "Some people tell me I'm a saint, I tell them I'm Saint Misbehavin'."

Director Esrick is a filmmaker, actress, activist, and poet, and she has worked on documentaries and events which mirror those interests including: My Generation, the doc about the three Woodstock Festivals directed by this year's Maverick Award winner, Barbara Kopple; and producing the events Activism With a Sense of Humor (2001) and Poems Not Fit for the White House (2003) with Arthur Miller, mos Def, and Andre Gregory at Lincoln Center, and Unconventional Heroes: An Evening of Performance to Honor Courageous Resisters (2004) with Steve Earle and Odetta.

ABOUT THE WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL: The seventh annual The Woodstock Film Festival takes place October 11-15, 2006. The ‘fiercely independent’ event will include more than 150 films, panels, concerts, and special events that will be featured at venues in Woodstock and the neighboring towns of Rhinebeck, Hunter and Rosendale.

Visit www.woodstockfilmfestival.com for ticket and more detailed program information. For information contact (845) 679-4265.

Download a PDF (1.8mb) of the prefest program online at

http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/pdf/2006-wff-prefest-program.pdf