‘My Annie Hall,’ A Charming Short Film Starring Senior Citizens, Has Woody Allen’s Blessing

A pair of twenty-something filmmakers made a 30-minute short called “My Annie Hall,” starring members of a New York City senior center.

Matt Starr and Ellie Sachs did not seek writer-director Woody Allen’s approval to use copyrighted material from “Annie Hall” — the winner of four Oscars, including Best Picture of 1978 — but received it nonetheless.

Allen’s publicist told The New York Times via email that the 82-year-old auteur “thought it was funny,” and “saw no reason to interfere with those seniors’ enjoyment of life.”The project began after Starr was pleased to learn that watching “Casablanca” with his grandmother — a dementia patient — allowed them to have a normal conversation.

He and his girlfriend and fellow artist, Sachs, next led a weekly Interpretive Cinema class at the Upper East Side’s Lenox Hill Neighborhood House.

They showed their students 10 classic trailers, took a vote, and then decided to make their own version of “Annie Hall.

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