Buffalo Film: Legendary actor and teacher will present new film, ‘The Dutchman’

By M. Faust

This year’s edition of the Buffalo International Film Festival will pay tribute to actor Stephen McKinley Henderson, who will present his new film The Dutchman as well as an older one he personally selected, Everyday People (2004). 

Henderson was born in Kansas City and trained at Juilliard, but he has called Buffalo home since he joined UB’s Department of Theatre and Dance in 1987. He retired as department head in 2016. Equally active in theater and film, he came to prominence performing the plays of August Wilson. He has received nominations for two Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award. He has been featured in seven Broadway plays, numerous off-Boadway shows and performed in theaters around the country. In 2023, Drama Desk awarded him its Harold S. Prince Lifetime Achievement Award.

On film, Henderson has appeared in six Best Picture Oscar nominees: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Lincoln (2012), Fences (2016), Manchester by the Sea (2016), Lady Bird (2017) and Dune: Part One (2021). He has also been in Tower Heist (2011), Beau Is Afraid (2023), Civil War (2024) and two films for Spike Lee, Red Hook Summer (2012) and Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014). On Oct. 17, you can see him alongside Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogan and Aziz Ansari in Good Fortune. 

Henderson’s resume also includes plenty of television work, including a recurring role on Law and Order, appearances on The Newsroom, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Devs, Fear the Walking Dead and many others. He will be reprising his role alongside Ted Danson in the new season of Man on the Inside, debuting on Netflix on Nov. 20 

On Sunday, Oct. 12 at 7:00 p.m., Henderson will appear for an extended conversation following a screening of Everyday People. The festival will also feature The Dutchman, from the play by Amiri Baraka, on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 4:45 p.m., with Henderson in attendance for a live audience Q+A. Both screenings will be at the North Park theater. 

Advance tickets for both screenings are strongly recommended, though the really smart thing to do is buy the Festival Pass, which gets you into everything for all for only $80. The festival will feature over 200 feature films, shorts and episodic works from 37 countries. Screening venues include the historic North Park Theatre, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo Toronto Public Media (WNED Studios) and Burchfield Penney Arts Center. 

Buffalo Hive film writer M. Faust is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Buffalo International Film Festival.