Focus Features is a company committed to bringing moviegoers the most original stories from the world's most innovative filmmakers. Currently in development is the 1969-set true story, Taking Woodstock, as the next project for Academy Award winner Ang Lee to direct, and Focus Feature's CEO, James Schamus, to write.

The screenplay will be an adaptation of Elliot Tiber's memoir, Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, A Concert, and A Life, published last year by Square One Publishers. It was written by Mr. Tiber along with Tom Monte, another very accomplished writer.

"Elliot's exuberant and heartfelt story is a perfect window onto the Woodstock experience, exploring an inspiring historical moment when liberation and freedom were in the air," says Mr. Schamus.

Elliot Tiber played an unexpected, but pivotal role in making the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the famed happening it was. As a part-time manager of a Catskills motel, he had become the local town's issuer of event permits, granting himself one annually for a small music festival.

When he heard that the planned Woodstock concert had had its own permit denied by a neighboring town, he called to offer his own. Before he knew it, about a half a million people were on their way to Mr. Tiber's neighbor's farm in White Lake, New York, and Mr. Tiber found himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American culture, forever.

Keep checking back with us for more updates on Taking Woodstock.

The Duo That is Ang Lee and James Schamus

Mr. Schamus has had a long collaboration as writer and producer with Mr. Lee on ten feature films. The duo most recently reteamed on Focus' Lust, Caution, which Mr. Schamus co-wrote and produced. Lust, Caution swept Asia's Golden Horse Awards this year, with eight wins, including Best Film; it is one of the highest-grossing and most critically acclaimed films in the history of Chinese-language cinema. Wow, an incredible achievement!

Some of Lee and Schamus's earlier films together include Brokeback Mountain, Focus' all-time top-grosser, with global ticket sales of over $180 million; The Hulk; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Ride with the Devil; The Ice Storm; Sense and Sensibility; Eat Drink Man Woman; The Wedding Banquet; and Pushing Hands.

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