Tyrel joins his friend on a trip to the Catskills for a weekend birthday party with several people he doesn’t know. As soon as they get there, it’s clear that (1) he’s the only black guy, and (2) it’s going to be a weekend of heavy drinking. Although Tyrel is welcomed, he can’t help but feel uneasy in “Whitesville.” The combination of all the testosterone and alcohol starts to get out of hand, and Tyrel’s precarious situation starts to feel like a nightmare.
Taking Woodstock is the new film from Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee - and it’s a trip! Based on the memoirs of Elliot Tiber, the comedy stars Demetri Martin as Elliot, who inadvertently played a role in making 1969’s Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the famed happening it was. Featuring a standout ensemble cast, and songs from a score of ’60s musical icons Taking Woodstock is a joyous voyage to a moment in time when everything seemed possible.
Working as an interior designer in Greenwich Village, Elliot is still staked to the family business - a dumpy Catskills motel called the El Monaco that is being run into the ground by his overbearing parents. In the summer of 1969, Elliot has to move back upstate to the El Monaco in order to help save the motel from being taken over by the bank.
Upon hearing that a planned music and arts festival has lost its permit from the neighboring town of Wallkill, NY, Elliot calls producer Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) at Woodstock Ventures to offer his family’s motel to the promoters and generate some much-needed business. Elliot also introduces Lang to his neighbor Max Yasgur (Eugene Levy), who operates a 600-acre dairy farm down the road.
Soon the Woodstock staff is moving into the El Monaco - and half a million people are on their way to Yasgur’s farm for “3 days of Peace & Music in White Lake.” With a little help from his friends and with a little opposition from townspeople Elliot finds himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life - and popular culture - forever.
Cast: Demetri Martin, Dan Fogler, Henry Goodman, Jonathan Groff, Eugene Levy, Emile Hirsch, Liev Schreiber
Directed by Ang Lee
Script: James Schamus, Elliot Tiber, Tom Monte
Producer: Ang Lee, James Schamus