Viggo Mortensen to open Snowtown Film Festival

Celebrated actor will present CAPTAIN FANTASTIC and take questions from the hometown crowd

Watertown, NY – Viggo Mortensen will kick-off Snowtown Film Festival (STFF

) on Friday, January 27th with a screening and panel of his critically acclaimed 2016 film CAPTAIN FANTASTIC. The festival will open in downtown Watertown, NY at the Dulles State Office Building at 6:00pm with a “flannel-casual” red carpet reception and 7:00pm screening of the film. Following the film Mr. Mortensen will participate in a panel discussion including Q&A with the audience.

The event, in its third year, celebrates winter and Northern New York through film. The weekend’s activities will continue on Saturday with a full day of film selections and filmmaker panels, as well as a short film competition and award ceremony.

Tickets are $25 for a VIP Red Carpet Package that includes the Friday reception, screening of CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, and panel discussion, as well as an all access pass for Saturday. The first 100 guests will receive a commemorative CAPTAIN FANTASTIC booklet. All access Saturday passes are available for $10. Tickets are available online at www.snowtownfilmfestival.com and can be purchased at the event (subject to availability).

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC is a story set deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, where a father (Viggo Mortensen) devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, beginning a journey that challenges his idea of what it means to be a parent.

The film has been widely regarded as one of the best of 2016 and celebrated with numerous accolades and nominations. Mortensen was nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role” and “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture,” and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for “Performance by an actor in a motion picture – Drama.” He also received a nomination for a Critics Choice Award, Spirit Award for Lead Actor, and CAPTAIN FANTASTIC was named by the National Board of Review as one of the 'Top 10 Independent Films' of the year.

Mortensen, a 1976 graduate of Watertown High School, has consistently earned acclaim for his work in a wide range of films. Some of these include JAUJA, LOIN DES HOMMES, THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY, A DANGEROUS METHOD, THE ROAD, EASTERN PROMISES, APPALOOSA, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, ALATRISTE, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. He has received various nominations and awards from groups including the Screen Actors Guild, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Apart from acting in movies and plays, Mortensen is a poet, photographer, and painter. He founded and is the editor of Perceval Press, an independent publishing house specializing in poetry, photography, painting, and critical writing.

Snowtown Film Festival is a 501(C)(3), not-for-profit corporation. This year’s festival is supported by Car Freshner Corporation, Coughlin Printing, Atomic Signs, and Party Rentals. Best Western Watertown/Fort Drum is the official hotel of the festival.

Snowtown Film Festival is also on Facebook and Twitter. For information contact us at snowtownfilmfestival@gmail.com