Documentary filmmaker to discuss Washington Irving

First written in 1820 as part of author Washington Irving’s The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has alternately been called “a classic of American literature” and “The Great American Ghost Story.”

In this presentation at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, documentary filmmaker Jim Ormond will outline Irving’s life up to the publication of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and discuss the context of the story. He will also show his new half-hour film adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (airing on PBS stations this fall), which features a narrator using Irving’s original language from the 1820 tale.

Filmmaker Ormond specializes in short films on local history. His recent releases have included Hudson River Brick Makers, which chronicled the rise and fall of the Hudson River brick industry and The Enslaved Africans’ Rain Garden, which examined slavery in New York state from the founding of New Amsterdam in the 1600s up to 1840, when slavery was finally phased out in the state. His forthcoming documentary on Irving will be released in 2015.

This presentation is recommended for adults and children in third grade and up. Registration is requested. Ormond will have copies of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on DVD for purchase after the show. Visit butterfieldfieldlibrary.org to learn more and register.

Image courtesy of Butterfield Library

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