To the editor:

The 2017 Lake Placid Film Forum was planned as an ambitious and diverse schedule of films, workshops, and guest appearances. Your editorial staff recognized this early on and commented favorably in an editorial.

The event would have lived up to its reputation were it not for an eight-hour power outage that occurred on Sunday, June 11. Two films were in progress when the power went out. Russell Banks bravely salvaged the “I Am Not Your Negro” program by convening an impromptu roundtable discussion in the gallery of the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

Six other films had to be cancelled completely, including a new film by local filmmaker Aaron Wolf.

The finale of the weekend was to be a boisterous salute to director Jonathan Demme by showing his rock documentary film “Stop Making Sense” about the band The Talking Heads. This never happened.

Of the 25 films that were scheduled for the weekend, eight were interrupted or cancelled. This represents one-third of the programming.

Estimated lost box office sales were between $1,600 and $2,000. There were no refunds for films not shown or for travel expenses incurred by guests.

More important, at a time when the Lake Placid Film Forum is poised to regain its reputation as a nationally recognized and respected event, we are in the position of not being able to assure our guests and followers that a power outage will derail the programming. This uncertainty will radically change our approach to future planning unless a solution can be found.

Fortunately our guests from Havana, Moscow, Los Angeles and New York took the inconvenience in stride. In order to meet a project deadline, our resourceful Cuban guests found a ride to Plattsburgh and were able to finish their project there.

The town of North Elba and village of Lake Placid were very supportive of this year’s Film Forum by sponsoring a free screening of “Eddie the Eagle.” Now let’s hope we can figure out a way to keep the lights on during these major events!

John B Huttlinger Jr., chair

Adirondack Film Society