CHERRY VALLEY — For the last three years the Old School Film Series in Cherry Valley has remained committed to bringing the best in world cinema to local audiences.

Since Richard Saba and Chris Barown became co-chairs of the Old School Film Series, it has taken on a life of its own. The momentum has been nurtured in part by a $3,000 grant recently awarded by the New York State Council on the Arts, Saba said.

This season's program will be in three parts: films dealing with visual artists, writers & poets, and musicians.

On Saturday Sept. 15 the 1986 film "Caravaggio" by British director Derek Jarman will be shown. Far from the standard Hollywood biography of a great artist, Carravaggio is hip, campy and streetwise, while remaining true to the painter's life story, Saba said.

On Saturday Sept. 22 will be "Goya In Bordeaux" directed by Terence Davies. This film is in Spanish with English subtitles, and shows the last days of the great Spanish painter. It has Goya staggering through hallucinations and memories, encountering the real and imaginary subjects of his paintings along the way.

The showing of the award winning Ed Harris movie "Pollock" will be held Sept. 29. This film takes the audience on a riveting journey through the mysteries of artistic creation as it re-creates the stormy life of one of the most radical painters of all time.

The festival has undergone a metamorphosis since its debut, when films from nearly every genre were shown in an effort to gauge interest. Children's cartoon were juxtaposed with the science fiction hit "Blade Runner." The quintessential festival favorite, Alfred Hitchcock, was tossed up on the screen.

Saba's feeling is that people can see that stuff on cable. Barown and Saba have taken an invigorated approach, infusing the series with life by showing films people wouldn't otherwise have access to. Last year they showed the documentary "Koyaanisqatsi" (a way of life that calls for a better way of living), which chronicles the downward spiral of technology moving the pace of life at breakneck speed, and Van Gogh, a pseudo-documentary telling the story of the famous painter's last sixty days.

Saba, a painter himself, said the film was one of the most memorable he's ever seen. Barown said the same.

Choosing which films to show is an increasingly difficult task, given the availability of catalogues, like one Barown recently received from the Museum of Modern Art. The NYSCA grant specifies that only 16 or 35 millimeter films be shown, but the co-chairs try to acquire video tapes so that the films shown in the festival can be borrowed later from the library.

"I used to go to the movies two or three times a week," said Saba. "But now I don't. Like so many things in our culture, like symphony orchestra, there's no integrity because the production costs are so high that what they have to do is fill the hall."

Saba said that what it boils down to is an ethical issue for him.

"I don't want a film to take me away from reality. This should not be a medium of illusion, but rather autonomous and abstract," Saba said.

The festival is personal. The people who attend mostly know one another already, and they drink coffee and chat while Barown and Saba are changing the reels. Last year, the audience had to listen to the clacking of the film because there was no projection booth to muffle the sound. That's one change people can expect this year, Barown said.

Saba said he's hoping to incorporate the festival into a larger cultural oasis, providing the community, and especially young people, an access to the arts they simply don't have now. Sponsors interested in funding the festival should contact Barown or Saba.

All films will be shown at the Old School Cafi on Genesee Street in Cherry Valley at 8pm. Admission is $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for students.