Harlem Homegrown

Friday, April 2nd, 7:30pm

(For Harlem, By Harlem)

Luther T. Jones

George Lamboy, 1991, 60 min.

Released the same year as Spike Lee's glossy Jungle Fever, the verite gem Luther T. Jones, tells the story of a Harlem based black man and his fetish for white women. However, in the end through a series of bittersweet, comic events Jones comes to appreciate the girl next door. Shot in and around Harlem in real apartments, local nightclubs, bars and parks Luther T. Jones evokes early 90s, real deal NYC perhaps on a level that most films (documentary or narrative) can't claim. Luther T. Jones features James Dickson as the title character. Dickson, a Harlem resident, has appeared in a wide range of stage, screen, and television productions including We Wear the Masques, New Jack City and The Cosby Show.  Stars Dickson as well as Lorin Johanson, Jessie Eccles, Carole Lynn Oswald.

Q &A with James Dickson

Human Rights in Haiti

Thursday, April 1st, 7:00pm

The People's Choice

(Audience Curated Screenings)

Dirs. Isabelle Abric and Simone Guidi di Bagno, 1999, 56 min.

In a delicate blend of paintings and exclusive footage, this documentary - the first of its kind - takes viewers through the history of Haitian people and the struggle for their rights.

Q&A with Dr. Steeve Coupeau of NYIHA MEDIA

Pumping Iron

Dir. George Butler, 1977 85 min.

From Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach California to the showdown in Pretoria, amateur and professional bodybuilders prepare for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests in this documentary film. Five-time champion Arnold Schwarzenegger defends his Mr. Olympia title against Serge Nubret and the shy young deaf Lou Ferrigno, whose father is his coach; the ruthless champ psyches out the young lion as Bodybuilding and a celebrity-to-be go mainstream. 

Q&A George Butler & Larry Silk

Pumping Iron II: The Women

Dir. George Butler, 1985, 107 min.

“One of Gloria Steinem’s favorite films!” Four women who have devoted their lives to the pursuit of their conception of the “perfect” female form, spending grueling hours torturing themselves on Nautilus machines and browning themselves under tanning lamps prepare for the 1983 Caesars Palace World Cup.

Strongman

Dir. Zachary Levy, 2009, 113 min.

Strongman follows the dreams and heartbreaking humanity of Stanless Steel—the only man alive who can bend a penny with his fingers—as he struggles to gain control of a world that seems constantly out of his grasp.

Q&A with Zacharay Levy

Cosponsored by NYFVC

JockDocs: Muscles (Sports on Film) Double Feature

Barmasters Extreme

Harlem’s Barmasters will screen clips from their self-titled film followed by a panel/demonstration “showcasing the most extreme calisthenics you’ll ever witness in the universe.”

9:00 pm - La Lute (“Wrestling”)

Dirs. M. Brault, C. Jutra, et al. 1961, 27 min.

La Lutte is disarming in it’s presentation and subject matter. The filmmakers used then new handheld technology to shoot a documentary that covers the local wrestling circuit of the day. What Jutra et al. were really interested in was the fact that the audience of such an event are fully aware that entertainment wrestling is fake. Nevertheless, people allow themselves to be swept away in the illusion the drama of “sport” provides.

Sen One Graphics and the Universal Zulu Nation Present:

Hip-Hop Hieroglyphics

(A Fundraiser for the Afrika Bambaataa Cultural Center) 

Style Wars

Dir. Tony Silver, 1983, 69 min.

Style Wars is the holy grail of graffiti, hip hop and early 80s NYC urban culture. Was also awarded the Grand Prize for Documentaries at the 1983 Sundance Film Festival. This documentary is regarded as the indispensable document of New York Street culture of the early '80s, the filmic record of a golden age of youthful creativity that exploded into the world from a city in crisis.

Panel and Art Exhibit Featuring: Sen One, James Top, Lava 1 and 2, Henry Chalfant

Book Signing: Henry Chalfant, "Subway Art," 25th anniversary addition

Reception with Legendary DJs Lord Yoda X and EZ Rock

Under the Influence of Ego Trip

Public Enemy and LL Cool J Live In Europe

1987, 30 min.

Hip-Hop Deities Public Enemy and LL Cool J, live in Europe, at their power's epoch. Never before screened in the U.S. 

Big Fun In The Big Town

Bram van Splunteren, 1986, 40 min. 

Interviews and rare footage of Run-DMC with Jam Master Jay, Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew, Biz Markie, Roxanne Shanté, Russell Simmons, the late, great Mr. Magic, Marley Marl, MC Shan, Grandmaster Flash, and the one and only Schoolly-D.

Panel: Schoolly D, Bill Adler, & filmmaker Bram van Splunteren

Curated with Andreas Vingaard

Harlem In Tibet: Spotlight on Emerging Filmmakers

Monday, March 22nd, 7:30pm

Miss Taken

Thupten Chakrishar, 2009, 6 min.

 History of Momos

Tsenzin Tsetan Choklay, 2007, 11 min.

Dramnyen: The Tune of life

Tashi Eugyal, 13 min.

In Tibetan with English Subtitles

Seeds

Tenzin Dazel, 2009, 28 min.

In Tibetan with English Subtitles

Four Rivers

Dir. Tenzin Phuntsog, Unit Director, Anders Uhl, 2010, 127 min.

An experimental composition of site-specific vignettes based in Western Tibet’s remote Mount Kailash region, the source of Tibet’s Four Rivers.

**Special work in progress screening**

The Search

Padma Tseten, 2009, 112 min. 

Director’s second feature film. Far removed from the western imagery of a dreamlike Shangri-La, mythologized by years of political seclusion a Tibetan film director travels from village to village across the country looking for an actor and an actress to star in his next film., He hears talk of people with the skills he needs, but they always seem to have just left or living somewhere else, as if he’s come too late. The Search is a road movie exploring a disappearing culture, taking the viewer straight into the heart of contemporary Tibet. This elegant film recently debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and is the first ever to be shot entirely in Tibet in the Tibetan language by a local crew.

In Tibetan with English Subtitles

 Q&A with filmmaker and closing night reception to follow

Presented by The Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University, Maysles Cinema, Machik and the Kham Film Project

The Grassland

Padma Tseten, 2004, 22 min. 

Director’s first film.When an elderly woman’s yak goes missing, her husband is sure he knows who the culprits are, but the woman is more concerned about avoiding further suffering for the suspects. A careful and moving study of different views of resolving conflict in a nomadic community. Many are suspected, but the village head is shocked when his investigation reveals an unexpected thief.

In Tibetan with English Subtitles

The Girl Bumo Lhais

Rigdan Gyamtso, 2005, 25 min. 

Director’s first work. Lhari is a young bride sent to a country village to live with her in-laws, who increasingly use her as a servant and even lock her out at night, with even her husband not daring to intervene. Lhari decides to find her own, quintessentially Tibetan solution to her situation.

In Tibetan with English Subtitles

Panel discussion with both filmmakers and reception to follow

Milarepa

Dir. Sonam, 2006, 95 min. 

Director’s first work. A delightfully personal rendering of the story of Tibet’s best-known and most respected yogi-poet, Milarepa, made by a self-taught director who wrote, lit, set and edited the entire film himself, using amateur actors in a remote Tibetan village. As a young man, Milarepa uses sorcery to murder his aunt and uncle who have stolen his family’s fortune. Later he regrets his actions and To purify his negative karma, Milarepa seeks out the famous venerable Lama, Marpa who submits his student to and undergoes years of hardship before becoming the first being to attain complete enlightenment in a single lifetime understanding can be achieved.

In Tibetan with English Subtitles

The Silent Holy Stones

Padma Tseten, 2005, 102 min. 

Director’s first feature. The debut feature from the preeminent Tibetan filmmaker working today. The Silent Holy Stones is a restrained, unhurried story of a 10-year old Tibetan monk who has the chance to spend a few days at New Year with his family in their village a day’s horse ride away. The boy’s journey to his village and back to the monastery bring to light explores the powerful intertwined forces of westernization and consumerism that are a powerful presence even in a small Tibetan farming community on a 10-year old boy in China who is sent by his family to train as a Buddhist monk.

In Tibetan with English Subtitles

Q & A with filmmaker to follow

Tantric Yogi

Dorje Tsering Chenaktshang,2005, 50 min. 

Director’s first documentary. This documentary follows a Yogi and his fellow villagers as they pass travel through challenging territory to reach the 100,000 Ga rare gathering of thousands of lay tantric practitioners in Eastern Tibet.

Narrated by Jim Broadbent.

16 Barkhor South Street

Duan Jinchuan, 1996, 100 min.

No.16, Barkhor Street is an old courtyard in the heart of Lhasa and the site of the office of the Barkhor Neighborhood Committee. This masterful cinema verité documentary, the landmark work in the history of independent documentaries about Tibet, provides is a photographic study of rich insight into the basic workings of government in Tibet as it that follows the local Party Secretary, Deputy Director, Director for Women’s Affairs, and Community Policeman, among others, as they implement official policies and manage neighborhood affairs.

In Tibetan and Chinese with English Subtitles

Prince of the Himalayas

Sherwood Hu, 2006, 108 min. 

Director’s first feature on Tibet. Setting Hamlet in a completely new context in early Tibetan history, Prince of the Himalayas is a visually ravishing historical epic that is richly suggestive of the enduring relevance of Shakespeare’s tragedy for the modern world and the most successful example so far of artistic cooperation between a Chinese director and Tibetan writers (Dorje Tsering Chenaktshang and Tashi Dawa).

In Tibetan with English Subtitles, opening night reception to follow

Tibet In Harlem II: Origins

Sunday, March 14th - Saturday, March 20th

The second annual series of Tibetan and Tibet-related films at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem. This year’s program showcases a collection of rarely screened early films – both documentary and fiction – by some of the most important Tibetan and Chinese filmmakers working in Tibet today.

The Messenger

Faux Real: (Truth Telling in Narrative Film)

Oren Moverman, 2009, 113 min.

Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband’s death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship, and survival. 

Q&A with Dir. Oren Moverman, actor Ben Foster, and composer Nathan Larson

The Fixer

Documentaries in Bloom:  New Films presented by Livia Bloom

Ian Olds, 2008, 84 min.

Twenty-four-year-old Ajmal Naqshbandi is a "fixer," someone hired by foreign journalists to facilitate the gathering of news stories. In 2007 he was captured with an Italian journalist by the Taliban in Afghanistan. With the aid of his government and high levels of publicity, the Italian was spared, but the Afghan wasn't so lucky. After the dust of his murder settles, Ajmal's friends, family, and his fellow abductee try to make sense of the harsh fate that befell him. 

In English, Dari, Pashto, Italian with English subtitles.

*Shown for 7 days