SARATOGA SPRINGS — January tends to be a sleepy month in Saratoga. 

The steady stream of eaters, drinkers, and shoppers who usually fill Broadway instead hibernate in their homes, perhaps weary from the holidays or wary of winter winds.

The Saratoga Film Showcase, which returns for its second year this weekend, is an invitation for 518-ers to hit the town, without having to spend too much time in the snow.

The festival, spearheaded by Spencer Sherry of Saratoga Arts and the 518 Film Network, includes in its 2026 lineup four blocks of short films (with each block running around 60 to 90 minutes), a special effects panel and demonstration featuring Oscar-winning makeup artist Annemarie Bradley, an opening night party with live music (Caity & the Gallaghers), a cocktail reception, and some secret off-the-books screenings.

“There will be a couple opportunities that pop up throughout the weekend, word-of-mouth only, to see some stuff that nobody’s ever seen before,” Sherry tantalizingly told Saratoga TODAY.

As a filmmaker himself, Sherry has attended countless festivals. Perhaps mentally taking notes to file away for a future opportunity, his experiences taught him what to do and what not to do. Some festivals demand that filmmakers pay hefty submission fees. Other fests are unable to house visiting filmmakers, making directors, writers, and actors less likely to appear in-person at screenings. And passes to film festivals can get pricey, presenting a barrier for cash-strapped artists who might’ve maxed out a credit card or two to finance their latest endeavor.

The Saratoga Film Showcase does things differently. The Holiday Inn in Saratoga donates rooms so that visitors have a place to warm up and snooze after a busy day of screenings and networking. There are no submission fees for those hoping to enter their work into the festival. Festival passes (good for the entire weekend) are sold at a sliding scale of anywhere from $10 to $100, making them affordable for nearly everyone. And free meals are dished out to filmmakers, who have access to their own lounge stocked with drinks and snacks.

“We try as much as possible to highlight [filmmakers] and showcase them and make it, structurally on our end of things, inherently worthwhile for them to be a part of this,” Sherry said. “We can bring filmmakers in from out of town that are hosted by our community, connect them with the local, independent filmmakers that are living and working here, and then all of that goodwill and energy goes directly towards inspiring the next generation of artists.”

It also doesn’t hurt that Spa City’s downtown is an ideal place to host a film festival, with multiple venues, restaurants, bars, and hotels all within short walking distances. This weekend, the showcase will be spread across Saratoga Arts, Putnam Place, and Harvey’s. If a festival attendee were to walk to all three locations in one go, it would take a grand total of about five minutes.

This year, the festivities begin at Putnam Place with “Shorts After Dark” on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. The films include “La Diablesse,” written and directed by Grace Perez; “Kombucha!” directed by Jake Myers; “Bloodercream,” written and directed by Elise Valderrama; “Baby Fat,” a film by Elliot Frances Flynn (who played Zora in James Gunn’s hit series “Peacemaker”); “Affirmation,” directed by Emily Bennett (winner of a 2023 Fangoria Chainsaw Award); “Vanilla,” directed by the duo Nora Kaye and Nadia Nadim; and “The Man & the Scarecrow,” written and directed by Justin Knoepfel.

Sherry calls this block of films “weirder, more adult, or boundary-pushing.” Last year’s “Shorts After Dark” was apparently a hit, with headlining filmmaker Brit McAdams (director of the Saratoga-shot movie “Paint,” starring Owen Wilson) declaring it to be one of the best blocks of short films he’d ever seen at a festival.

Following “Shorts After Dark” is the showcase’s opening night party, which starts at 9 p.m. at Putnam Place.

Day two begins at noon at Saratoga Arts, with the “Coming to Terms” block. This lineup features “Golden Afternoon,” directed by Mathilde Suissa (whose film “Hidden” premiered at Cannes); “Unsaid,” directed by Monique Moses (the co-head writer and co-executive producer of season four of the HBO series “A Black Lady Sketch Show”); “Unidentified Caller,” directed by Alexander Cope; “The Resonance,” helmed by the husband-wife team of Paul Robinson and Sashia Dumont; “Seedless,” directed by Keenan Gray; and “So Long,” written and directed by Brendan Mascherino and Joey LaFrance.

“A lot of the themes of the movies are somebody facing either an unexpected moment, or a fear, or catharsis, or whatever it might be,” Sherry said. “It’s mostly drama, but there is a really fun comedy in there as well, and a couple spooky ones.”

Following “Coming to Terms” is the special effects panel discussion and demonstration, which begins at 2:45 p.m. at Saratoga Arts. 

“[SFX makeup artist RJ Young] is going to come and actually apply a prosthetic to a model that has blood gags and bulge gags and air pockets and things in it,” Sherry said.

Next up after the demo is the “Art About Art” block, which starts at 4:30 p.m. One highlight of this lineup is “Portrait of God,” directed by Dylan Clark. This remarkable film went viral a couple years ago, accumulating millions of views on YouTube. It’s now being adapted into a feature helmed by Clark and produced by Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi. “I got to see it on a big screen with an audience—holy s**t, this thing is sick,” Sherry said.

Also featured in “Art About Art” is “Crying on Command,” directed by Nick Craven; “Cheat” directed by Jackie Mahoney; “You Don’t Say,” a musical short directed by Jeffrey D. Simon (who has worked in the art department of big-budget projects such as “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming”); and “Apricot,” helmed by Frank Fascella, who has worked as a writers assistant on the TV shows “Tulsa King” and “Mayor of Kingstown.”  

The showcase’s busy second day concludes with a 7 p.m. cocktail reception at Harvey’s Restaurant and Bar. 

Last but certainly not least is the “Home-Grown” lineup of shorts on Jan. 25 at Saratoga Arts (the action begins at noon). These projects feature local filmmakers, familiar filming locations, and 518 cast and crew members. On the docket is “Pizza Cutter: A Bite Sized Slasher,” directed by Noah Manglapus; “2 Soldiers,” directed by Perrin Mercer (who lived in the Capital Region for more than a decade); “Dennis,” helmed by the Caldwell brothers; “Servants,” directed by Taylor Jarvis; “Hot Boy Summer,” a film by Albany High School senior Ian Roach; “Casualty,” by Juliette Monarch; “Born a Secret,” written by Miriam Russell; “The Family Coin,” by Jermaine Wells; and “Stakeout,” starring Seth Gillam (of “The Wire” and “Walking Dead” fame) and directed by Micah Khan, a prominent local filmmaker whose work was screened at last year’s showcase.

Perhaps the best thing about this mighty lineup is that, as of Jan. 19, the Saratoga Film Showcase broke even, meaning that all proceeds after that date will be sent straight to Camp Stomping Ground.

“The Saratoga Film Showcase aims to inspire the creation of more art in our community, and is proud to donate all profits to Camp Stomping Ground to continue making art more accessible to our youth,” the showcase states on its website.

A good cause, scary scenes, a jammin’ band, locals networking, and cinephiles tossing back a few—the Saratoga Film Showcase will have it all.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir faded away on Saturday, though, as any true Deadhead knows, his music will never stop.

Weir launched one of the most beloved bands in American history, one that inspired countless people to pile into vehicles and explore their country, trailing the Grateful Dead on tour. With the group’s improvisation, experimentation, and innovation also came new ways of performing and thinking about music. Their influence on American art and culture is vast and impossible to measure.

One could not truly experience the Dead without hearing them play live, in an environment that, more often than not, inspired warm feelings of community and, at times, even spirituality. The Grateful Dead’s very name seemed to suggest that although life is brief, it’s still an experience to appreciate (“Such a long, long time to be gone and a short time to be there,” sang Phil Lesh on “Box of Rain”).

The group made its mark almost everywhere, from its origins in San Francisco to the Giza pyramids in Egypt, the site of two 1978 Dead shows. It’s unsurprising then that the Dead’s influence can still be felt here in Saratoga Springs.

The band holds (and may forever hold) the record for the largest crowd to ever gather at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). In 1985, 40,231 Deadheads convened in the Spa State Park, surpassing the previously held attendance record (also set by the Grateful Dead) of 37,801. 

Since then, both SPAC and Saratoga at large have become jam band hotspots. Phish and the Dave Matthews Band have played here dozens of times, stopping by almost every summer. Rising acts such as Goose, Dogs in a Pile, and Eggy have all performed in the Spa City multiple times. Grateful Dead tribute bands play here so frequently that one might think they’ve somehow stumbled into Haight-Ashbury circa 1967.

Weir brought Dead & Company (a successor group to the Grateful Dead that featured John Mayer on lead guitar) to Saratoga for the final time in the summer of 2023. He’d been here many times with several different bands. His sound—which could sometimes be joyful, haunting, tender, and invigorating all at once—seemed to fill the air of the park, swaying the leaves of towering trees and hovering above the ancient mineral springs. For those who enjoy this sound (Jerry Garcia famously compared the Dead to licorice, quipping, “Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice”), witnessing Weir play in a bucolic setting was practically nirvana.

Though few can faithfully replicate Weir’s singular playing style, the songs he wrote and sung will be played long after his departure, which is exactly what he wanted.

On Jan. 17, Bearly Dead will take the stage at Putnam Place for an 8:30 p.m. show. The group describes itself as “not just another Grateful Dead cover band,” but rather, “a cosmic exploration of the Grateful Dead catalog.”

“I truly believe that Bob Weir is the most important rhythm guitar player in rock history,” wrote Bearly Dead guitarist Nick Swift in a social media tribute to Weir. “It’s amazing to me how he kept playing music and touring this long into his life. I keep reading tribute posts from musicians who knew him who cite his ‘need’ to play music – that it wasn’t just something fun to do, that it was something that filled a deep void in his soul and he couldn’t stop. He basically lived his life on stage, but not in some need to be an inauthentic celebrity. He just wanted to make music with people for people. And there’s something very magical about that… I look forward to finally getting to play again this Saturday in Saratoga. I’ll give it all I’ve got. We’ll miss you Bobby. We will do what we can to carry your spirit forward into the future.”

Another local tribute to Weir will come in the form of a special, celebratory memorial yoga class at Yoga Mandali on Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m. The event, organized by yoga teacher and writer Natalli Amato, will send proceeds to the Rex Foundation, which was created by the Grateful Dead in 1983 to provide philanthropic grassroots support.

“I was born in the post-Jerry era,” Amato told Saratoga TODAY. “For me, the person at the spiritual center of the Dead has been Bob Weir. Over the past ten years, Dead and Company gave me some of the best memories and adventures of my adult life. But more important than that, loving this music has brought me into deeper connection with friends, family, and even strangers. Our yoga class Sunday is a place to celebrate that!”