Film Voyagers: Juanita Jones

Sunday, April 14th, 2:00pm

Film Voyagers

A program of films for younger children age 3 to 7 and their caregivers: films from around the world --most animation -- geared toward a young audience. $8 Suggested Donation

Juanito Jones

2002, 53 min, Spain

Juanito uses his imagination to travel on fantastic adventures and confronts all sorts of dangerous situations and always remembers never to use violence. Instead, he uses wit, skill, intelligence and help from his friend Sombra, a loveable teddy bear.

FB https://www.facebook.com/events/127883697393073/

BPT http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/348178

This Ain't California

Friday April 12th- Thursday April 18th, 7:30pm

4:00pm Matinee on Saturday, April 13th Just Added

Curated by Sylvia Savadjian

This Ain't California

U.S. Theatrical Premiere  

Marten Persiel, 2012, 90 min.

A hymn to the subversive power of vitality, this fast-paced documentary takes us on a trip through the strange unknown world of the ‘Rollbrettfahrer’ as skateboarders were known in the GDR (East Germany), a country where besides those loyal to the regime, there was also an avowed political resistance. Apart from this, there was also a movement of young rebels whose only raison d’être was the illusion of staying young, immortal and non-committal. In This Ain't California three kids discover their love of skateboarding on the cracked asphalt of the GDR – a madcap, even unacceptable sport that was perhaps so incredibly exciting because of its nuttiness. This punk fairytale created by a bunch of kids who luckily possessed sufficiently manic levels of energy to record their lives on Super-8mm film, shows us life in the GDR life as it has never been seen before. The film follows its three main protagonists from their childhood in the seventies, through their turbulent teens in the eighties right up to that autumn of 1989 when they were twenty and suddenly, everything they had known up to that point was about to change forever. Winner of the Dialogue en perspective prize at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival.

Following the 4:00pm screening on April 13th there will be a Skype Q&A with director

Marten Persiel

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2V2RX3fWok

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/352732

https://www.facebook.com/events/490192337696318/

Third World Newsreel Presents: Working in the Props Dept - and Making "Changing Face of Harlem" with Shawn Batey

Thursday, April 11th, 6:30pm

Third World Newsreel Presents Working in the Props Dept - and Making "Changing Face of Harlem" with Shawn Batey

A Co-sponsored workshop with the Maysles Institute

100% Free

Shawn Batey, TWN workshop alum, is a long time Props Assistant for television, commercials and feature films, on shows including “30 Rock,” Roll Bounce, Miracle's Boys, Inside Man, “Chicago Hope,” “Law and Order” and more. On top of this, she is also an award winning filmmaker. Her work includes Hair-Tage, Through My Eyes, 60+, Making the World Feel Better, and more. Shawn's films have screened at festivals and museums, and she is currently finishing her documentary, Changing Face of Harlem. Shawn will talk about how one gets into the industry in fields like Props, and how does one balance being an independent filmmaker at the same time.

Seats are limited - so register now by emailing workshop@twn.org.

Changing Face of Harlem Trailer: http://vimeo.com/26143081

Keeling's Caribbean Showcase: Roots Rock Reggae

Sunday, April 7th, 7:30pm

Keeling's Caribbean Showcase

Curated by Keeling Beckford

Roots Rock Reggae

Jeremy Marre, 1977, 60 min

Director Jeremy Marre places the viewer in the center of the Jamaican reggae scene at its pinnacle in this remarkable documentary. The film is worth it just to see The Gladiators perform a never released song, "Play on Mr. Music" with Lee Perry at the boards of his legendary Black Ark recording studio. But Roots Rock Reggae offers so much more, including performances by Jimmy Cliff, Joe Higgs, the Abyssinians and U-Roy. In addition, Roots Rock Reggae places the music in the social context from which it emerged, offering views of Jamaican life in Kingston and the countryside, Rastafarianism and political turmoil. This is a must see for any fan of conscious roots music at the height of its brilliance.

Trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2JyMg1LWgQ

https://www.facebook.com/events/459526607446310/

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/352728

The Invisible & Impactful Role of the Film Editor with Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez

Tuesday, April 2nd, 7:30pm

The Invisible & Impactful Role of the Film Editor with Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez

Join Sonia Gonzalez-Martinez, acclaimed filmmaker of Bragging Rights: Stickball Stories and editor of award-winning documentary Soul Food Junkies as well as Passionate Politics: The Life and Work of Charlotte Bunch and Antonia Pantoja, Presente! for a special guest workshop on the impactful role of the editor.  Sonia will share her expertise on craft of documentary editing, director/editor relationships, and how to keep up-to-date on current trends in digital storytelling.

BPT http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/362980

 

The Karlton Hines Story

Monday, April 1st, 7:00pm

Doc Watchers

Curated by Hellura Lyle

The Karlton Hines Story

Troy Reed, 2005, 57 min

Karlton Hines was one of the most fierce basketball players on the streets of New York City. From the age of 12, he dominated the game. His talent caught the eye of every top Division I college in the nation. Coaches and scouts flocked from suburban areas into the inner-city projects to recruit him. In the end, he disappointed them all.

Post-screening Q&A with director Troy Reed.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCJqLeFJo3c

BPT http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/357730

FB https://www.facebook.com/events/154713401358245/

Ms.Mujer.Mwanake.

Friday, March 29th, 6:30pm

Ms.Mujer.Mwanake.

Women around the world have something in common: Power.

Documentaries on making history.

Curated by Amanda Lopez, Tatiyana Jenkins and Erika Howard of Docwomen.com

A Women's History Month Special

**Winner of the 2013 Best 'Documentary Short Subject' Oscar**

Inocente

Andrea Nix and Sean Fine, 2012, 40min

In San Diego, a young teenage girl’s eyes stare into a compact mirror. She paints a dramatic black swirl around her eye. She never knows what her day will bring, but she knows at least it will always begin with paint. Inocente is an intensely personal and vibrant coming of age documentary about a young artist’s fierce determination to never surrender to the bleakness of her surroundings. Hers is not just a story of survival, but of resilience. At 15, Inocente refuses to let her dream of becoming an artist be caged by her life as an undocumented immigrant forced to live homeless for the last nine years. Color is her personal revolution and its extraordinary sweep on her canvas creates a world that looks nothing like her own dark past— a past punctuated by a father deported for domestic abuse, an alcoholic and defeated mother of four who once took her daughter by the hand to jump off a bridge together, and an endless shuffle year after year through the city’s overcrowded homeless shelters.

Post screening Q&A with Inocente producer Yael Melamede.

This is the first of a quarterly series with Erika Howard and Docwomen.com

Docwomen is a film screening series highlighting social issues that affect women and girls within the US and internationally. The initiative also creates meaningful outreach and audience engagement through insightful panel discussions, and collaborates with art institutions, universities, and non-profit organizations to inspire advocacy and social change on grassroots and policy levels.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=008ZofyIRHo

BPT http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/357729

FB https://www.facebook.com/events/476978522351343/

 

Under the Influence of Ego trip Pt. 3

Thursday, March 28th, 7:30pm

Under the Influence of ego trip Pt. 3

Presented with Andreas Vingaard

(ego trip, the New York-based creative collective behind the top-rated VH1 reality programs The (White) Rapper Show and Miss Rap Supreme, as well as the critically-acclaimed “Book of Rap Lists” and “Big Book of Racism!” proudly presents the follow up to its celebrated 2011 Classic Hip Hop film series, Under the Influence of ego trip Pt. 2.)

The Big Breakdance Contest

Joanne Wolper and Diane Dates, 21 minutes, 1983

Originally aired on New York’s WABC in 1983, The Big Breakdance Contest documents a Tri-State wide b-boying competition at world-renowned NYC nightclub The Roxy. The prize: $2500, an appearance on music video program New York Hot Tracks and a role in the film Beat Street. Hosted by actress Leslie Uggams and WKTU radio legend Carlos DeJesus, produced by Larry Rickel and featuring an oddball crew of celebrity judges (e.g. footballer Hershel Walker, soap opera stars Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams and New York Knick legend Earl “The Pearl” Monroe amongst them), it’s a highly entertaining time capsule of early ’80s pop culture. But beyond the headspins, windmills and electric boogie maneuvers (provided by dance crews like the Magnificent Force, Uptown Express, the Fantastic Duo, the Flash Dancers, Larry Watson and Jason Twigg, the Heartbreakers, and the Dynamic Breakers), it’s a reverential celebration of hip-hop at one of its early high points of global influence. A brief video package featuring Afrika Bambaataa that precedes the compeititon touts hip-hop as, “The first youth culture since the ’60s [to] put a premium on individual imagination.” And it don’t stop…

Post screening Q&A with Kim-A-Kazi (Dynamic Dolls), Duce Martinez (Dynamic Breakers), Loose Joint (Fantastic Duo / Elite Forice) and moderated by Chairman Mao of ego trip.

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/348204

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/432909926783609/

Ms.Mujer.Mwanake.

Friday, March 22nd, 6:30pm

Ms.Mujer.Mwanake.

Women around the world have something in common: Power.

Documentaries on making history.

Curated by Amanda Lopez and Tatiyana Jenkins

A Women's History Month Special

 

The Anderson Monarchs

Eugene Martin, 2012, 76 min.

The Anderson Monarchs is a feature length documentary about an all-girls soccer team competing, living, and thriving in an at-risk urban neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Anderson Monarchs play soccer with virtually no funding on a borrowed patch of field just like the great players of the world did when they were children - Messi, Rooney, and Marta.  But they have something special, a sisterhood that is supported by their community of parents and their coach, Walter Stewart. And they win all the time against well heeled suburban opponents.  Nominated in 2008 by Sports Illustrated as Sports Team of the year, they were also hailed as "the future of American soccer" in the London newspaper, The Guardian. Over three years, we follow five girls, their families, and their dedicated head coach, Walter Stewart.  Coach Walt gave up a partnership in a prestigious Philadelphia law firm to become an elementary school teacher and coach all three Select teams of The Anderson Monarchs year round.  His story and the story of the girls who play on the Monarchs are intimate, personal, and profound. One supporter calls the film "soccer as ballet meets justice".

Q&A with director Eugene Martin to follow screening.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ser7zBl8neU

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/357723

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/154059428090570/


 

Monday, March 25th, 6:30pm

Ms.Mujer.Mwanake.

Women around the world have something in common: Power.  Documentaries on making history.

Curated by Amanda Lopez and Tatiyana Jenkins

A Women's History Month Special

 

Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock

Sharon La Cruise, 2011, 78 mins.

Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock is the story of a seven-year journey by filmmaker Sharon La Cruise to unravel the life of a forgotten civil rights activist named Daisy Bates. Unconventional and egotistical, Bates became a household name in 1957 when she fought for the right of nine black students to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. As head of the Arkansas NAACP and protector of the nine students, Bates achieved instant fame as the drama played out on national television and in newspapers around the world. In the late ‘80s when she talked to journalists about her role in the 1957 crisis she said, “When we took on segregation in the Little Rock schools I don’t think we had any big idea we were gonna win it then. But they were gonna know they had had a fight!” Their struggle culminated in a constitutional crisis — pitting a president against a governor and a community against itself. But that fame proved fleeting and Bates paid a hefty price for her attempts to remain relevant. When historians and filmmakers began retelling the stories of the Movement—there was no place for a Daisy Bates in that history. Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock asks why and offers a rare opportunity for viewers to experience the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of one of its female leaders. The film travels with Daisy Bates on her long and lonely walk from orphaned child to newspaperwoman to national Civil Rights figure to her last days in Little Rock. Bates’ journey, full of triumphs and defeats, parallels the ongoing struggle of generations of African Americans who have challenged America to live up to what it claims to be for more than 200 years.

A woman who was both beautiful and deeply flawed—Bates was fearless in her quest for justice, stepping into the spotlight to bring national attention to issues — and some say herself. The approach to Bates and her life is what makes Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock such a unique film. In attempting to resurrect Bates’ place in American history the film deliberately steered away from the easy path of hagiography. Instead it tells the story of a complex woman who was as hated as she was loved, who stood apart because she refused to allow society to define her. In the bitter irony of history, Bates’ fight to be accepted on her own terms ultimately led to her being forgotten beyond her native state. Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock tells her story and that of the unspoken price that was paid by America’s civil rights pioneers.

Q&A with Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine and director Sharon La Cruise, moderated by daughter of Ernest Green and Maysles Cinema director Jessica Green.

Reception to follow Q&A.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_3cgDcAQM

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/157744677716915/

BPT:http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/350115

Documentary in Bloom

Monday, March 18th-Sunday, March 24th, 7:30pm

(Friday, March 22nd at 4:00pm only)

Documentary in Bloom

(Curated by Livia Bloom)

 

108 (Cuchillo de Palo)

U.S. Theatrical Premiere

Renate Costa Perdomo, 2010, 91 min.

When Rodolfo Costa was found naked on the floor of his home in Paraguay, he

had been dead for days. He also had a secret fortune, a secret alias—Héctor Torres—and an entirely secret life. In a powerful debut feature that unfolds like a mystery novel, director Renate Costa Perdomo investigates the shadowy circumstances of Rodolfo's death. Witnesses and clues gradually reveal Rodolfo's true identity as a persecuted gay man and his encounter with the terrifying "108" homosexual blacklists that ruined lives, careers, and families.

"Critic's Pick! The style is simple but the emotions highly sophisticated...Patiently photographed by Carlos Vasquez, 108 peels back layers of delusion and dishonesty." —Jeannette Catsoulis,

The New York Times

link to: http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/movies/108-cuchillo-de-palo-directed-by-renate-costa.html?ref=movies&_r=0

 

"9/10 Stars! An extraordinary documentary...The film reveals how such history comes to be repressed. It’s frightening to contemplate, certainly, and also shapes your understanding of the world, your place in it, and your capacity to affect it." —Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters

 

"Full of quiet artistry...Costa understands the power of awkward silences, holding the camera to explore discomfort and her own accusatory gaze. Even when discussing the horrors of the dictatorship, she maintains an unwavering calm that cuts through the hedging and the calculated avoidance of larger issues—hers is a selfless righteousness that nevertheless confronts her personal history." —Jay Weissberg, Variety


Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVQyiGCu9ZU

Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/316611

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/460395137341956

Ms.Mujer.Mwanake.

Friday, March 15th, 4:00pm

Ms.Mujer.Mwanake.

Women around the world have something in common: Power.

Documentaries on making history.

Curated by Amanda Lopez and Tatiyana Jenkins

A Women's History Month Special

 

Cuban Women Filmmakers U.S. Showcase

 

La Costurera (The Seamstress)

Ivette Ávila, 2010, 6 min

A seamstress tries to fix the pains and evils of the world in this animated short.

 

El Pez De La Torre Nada En El Asfalto (The Fish of the Tower Swims on the Asphalt)

Adriana F. Castellanos, 2007, 3 min

A writer is trying to make a poem while his son is watching

a rated-R movie and his wife is complaining about the unbearable

heat. Desperate, he uses violence in order to find inspiration. Fiction.

 

Itacas (Ithacas)

Yanahara Mauri, 2009, 2 min

The Island and the man as territories of isolation, frontier

and lack of communication. Animated.

 

El Mundo de Raul (Raul's World)

Jessica Rodríguez, 2010, 22 min

Raúl lives a calm life in his town. He is in charge of his

sick mother and is a commendable worker. However, he is hiding a

secret in this documentary.

 

Espiral (Spiral)

Miriam Talavera, 1992, 14 min

An approach to a living myth of dance, Alicia Alonso, from

the viewpoint of her passion, tenacity and devotion to art. This documentary short

includes fragments of the ballet Giselle, choreographed by her, based on the

original by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, and of the La Diva (The

Diva), choreographed by Alberto Méndez.

 

Post-screening Q&A with Award-winning filmmaker and head of the Cuban Women Filmmakers Mediatheque, Marina Ochoa; award-winning Afro-Cuban documentary filmmaker, Gloria Rolando; award-winning feature filmmaker Milena Almira and one of Cuba’s most internationally acclaimed film and theater actresses, Claudia Rojas.

https://www.facebook.com/events/563117413706369/

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/352711

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem Presents Under the Influence of “Tajah” Murdock

Tuesday, March 12th, 7:00pm

The National Jazz Museum in Harlem Presents

Under the Influence of “Tajah” Murdock

(A Women’s History Month Special)

Famed dancer and historian Jacqie "Tajah" Murdock hosts an evening of jazz dance film from the 1930's and 40's. She danced at the Apollo Theater with the Count Basie band in 1948, and went on from there to a distinguished career, and now lectures for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Last year, Tajah was featured in a major Lanvin ad that ran around the world!

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/507928179248218/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/343731

Film Voyagers

Sunday, March 10th, 2:00pm

Film Voyagers

A monthly program of films for younger children age 3 to 7 and their caregivers: films from around the world --most animation -- geared toward a young audience. $8 Suggested Donation.

Junior And Karlsson

Boris Stepantsev, 1969, 20 min, Russia

Karlsson-on-the-Roof (Swedish: Karlsson på taket) is a fictional character in a series of children's books created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. The cartoon adaptation became popularised in the USSR with its release in the 1970s. To this day, the adaptations are still celebrated as an integral part of the Russian cartoon industry, with Karlsson being recognised as a national icon, together with Cheburashka and other such characters.

Винни-Пух (Winnie-the-Pooh)

Fyodor Khitruk, 1969, 10 min, Russia

Based on Chapter 1 of the original Winnie The Pooh story.

FB https://www.facebook.com/events/519867634730956/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/346334

 

The Fifth Annual ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival

Saturday, March 9th, 7:30pm

The Fifth Annual ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival

(ReelAbilities takes place in New York in over 25 venues, across eight counties, from March 7th through March 12th followed by a new expansion into New Jersey from March

13th  through  17th.  The  festival  will  feature  over  20  NY  premieres  of  internationally

acclaimed films, and bring to the public the lives and stories of the largest minority in

America – the disabled community.)

 

Dancing Outside the Box

David Block, 2012, 15 min

Wheelchair users and able-bodied partners bring their two worlds together on the dance floor - proving that everyone can dance.

 

Getting Up

Casky Ebeling, 2012, 73 min

After being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and rendered almost completely paralyzed, graffiti artist TemptOne regains his creative voice through technology that reads the movement of his eyes and enables him to create art once again.

Post screening Q&A with Alex Truesdell (Founder and Executive Director of Adaptive Design Association, a design firm developing adaptive design and technology for the disabled) & Ben Lieman (Assistive Technology Specialist at ALS Association NY, which develops provides technology solutions specifically for people who have ALS) and Dancing Outside The Box director David Block.

website: http://www.reelabilities.org/about-us

Dancing Outside the Box Trailer:

Getting Up Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM30JGnnvno

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/485122548217465/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/343707

Doc Watchers Curated by Hellura Lyle

Monday, March 4th, 7:00pm

Doc Watchers

Curated by Hellura Lyle

(A Women’s History Month Special)

 

Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê

Carolina Moraes-Liu, 2010, 20 min

Directed by Carolina Moraes-Liu

Filmmaker Carolina Moraes-Liu's documentary Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê tells the story of three young women searching for identity and self-esteem as they compete to be the queen of Ilê Aiyê. The documentary explores the contest’s role in reshaping the idea of beauty around Afro-centric notions of beauty, as opposed to prevailing standards in Brazil, a country famous for slim supermodels and plastic surgery.

Cinderella of the Cape Flats: Volume 2 of Real Stories from a Free South Africa

Jane Kennedy, 2004, 58 min.

Everyday the working class women of color in the garment industry of the windswept flats around Cape Town toil anonymously to make clothes so that other women will look beautiful. Invariably they cannot afford these garments themselves. But for one day a year they come out in all their glory at the Annual Spring Queen pageant. The pageant is created by the workers and their trade union to bring their families together for an evening of solidarity and fun. After working for weeks on glamorous costumes, which one will be queen for a day? Set against the preparation for the 2003 pageant, this film explores the lives of working women and celebrates them as creators of beauty. Although the end of apartheid has not taken away the drudgery of repetitive factory labor, this pageant shows working class women inventing their own lively folk culture.

Reception to follow screening.

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/343704

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/436026016477243/

Oscar Viewing Party

Sunday, February 24th, 7:00pm

Oscar Viewing Party

100% Free

Our Elections Returns Party worked out so well that we are doing it all over again. A free community event where any and all donations are welcomed. Come watch the Academy Awards with us in our main screening room as well as our downstairs lounge. Stop by or stick it out until the very end. Big bonus: you get to tell us when to flip the channels on the red carpet pre-show. Also, as always, we’ll provide unlimited refills of organic popcorn.

fb: https://www.facebook.com/events/499815456724423/

The Future is Changing: Experimenting with Rituals for Spatial Change

Thursday, February 21st, 7:30pm

The Future is Changing: Experimenting with Rituals for Spatial Change

A screening of the film Brewster Douglass, You're My Brother accompanied by performance and experimentation in video, song and dialogue.  

Brewster Douglass, You're My Brother

Oren Goldenberg and Paul Abowd, 2012, 27 min.

Brewster Douglass,You're My Brother is a response to the 'blank canvas' narrative that has been perpetrated by local and national media campaigns about Detroit. In 1935 Eleanor Roosevelt came to Detroit to break ground on the Brewster Homes, the first public housing project in the country built for black people. Seventy-five years later, half of the neighborhood has been demolished and redeveloped. The other half stands windowless and seemingly vacant. This 27 minute documentary takes an unconventional look inside the historic buildings, introducing the viewer to lifelong residents, activists who fought to keep the projects open, and squatters – themselves former residents – who struggle to stay warm through Detroit’s harsh winter.

TIme I Change

Oren Goldenberg, 2012, 4 minute loop

A new work by Oren Goldenberg featuring the dancing of Haleem Rasul (a.k.a. Stringz) of Hardcore Detroit and the sounds of Sterling Toles. An experiment of spatial transformation through body movement, this piece depicts a man and his image struggling through the changes in history.  

Music

Improvisational musical performance and accompaniment by Kwami Coleman.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/332449410200411/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/338613

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/44287434

A Black History Month Special: Woke Up Black

Monday, February 18th, 7:30pm

A Black History Month Special: Woke Up Black

Mary F. Morten, 2011, 60 min.

Woke Up Black follows a two-year period in the lives of five Chicago-area African American youth, highlighting their struggles, triumphs and dreams as they start their journey into adulthood. Winner of a 2012 Black Excellence Award from the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago, the film places at its center the voices of Black youth - their ideas, attitudes and opinions that are so often overlooked in society at large. The youth featured include Rosalee, a high-school graduate who's the first in her family to attend college; Carter, a student athlete who was adopted by a gay couple when he was 10; Morgan, an aspiring engineer from a predominately white suburb; Ace, a self-identified genderqueer activist whose family has difficulty accepting her identity; and Sheldon, a community organizer who recently became a dad.

 

Q&A with director Mary F. Morten and subjects Ace and Sheldon will take place immediately following the film.

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/21163267

Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/310889

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/342135999227903/

 

King: A Filmed Record From Montgomery to Memphis

Sunday, February 17th, 4:00pm

@ The Church of the Intercession

(550 West 155th Street at Broadway)

Maysles Cinema and the Documentary Forum at City College of New York Present

A Black History Month Special

King: A Filmed Record From Montgomery to Memphis

 

WITH HARRY BELAFONTE APPEARING LIVE

 

4:00pm (with 15 min. intermission)

King: A Filmed Record From Montgomery to Memphis

Directed by Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1970, 185 min.

Initially released in theaters across American as a one-time-only event in 1970, Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's King: A Filmed Record is back on the silver screen for the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the March on Washington.  On February 17th, The Maysles Cinema will kick off a series of screenings around the country of this historic, epic documentary. Chronicles the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama, and culminating with his assassination in Memphis in 1968. Combines dramatic readings by Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Ruby Dee, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward among others, with newsreel and archival footage to create a powerful and comprehensive record of Dr. King's legacy and the American Civil Rights movement. Nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Award.

 

"Perhaps the most important documentary film ever made. "- The Philadelphia Bulletin

 

"Stunning...the events are allowed to speak for themselves."- The New York Times

7:15pm

Post Screening panel discussion with Harry Belafonte, producer Richard Kaplan, author Fredrick C. Harris and moderated by DJ Spooky.

Harry Belafonte:

Born in 1927 in Harlem, to a mother of Jamaican descent and a

Martiniquan father and raised on the island of Jamaica Harold George Belafonte is

a global hero. After becoming interested in the theater,

he began taking acting classes in the late 1940’s. He eventually

received a Tony award for his participation in John Murray Anderson’s

“Almanac.”  Starting his singing career in New York clubs, he made his

debut at The Village Vanguard.  In 1956, the single, “Matilda,” was

recorded on his breakthrough album, “Calypso,” that sold over 1

million copies within one year. Belafonte also recorded “Banana Boat

Song” and “Jump in the Line,” both of which became huge pop hits. From

1950-1970, he continued to record and received Grammy awards as well

as appeared in several films, including Bright Road (1953) and Island

in the Sun (1957). In 1984, he produced and scored the musical, Beat

Street and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best

Supporting Actor in Kansas City (1996).

In the 1950s, Belafonte started supporting the Civil Rights Movement,

becoming one of Martin Luther King’s confidants and contributing to

the Freedom Rides, voter registration drives, and the organization of

the March on Washington.  He also financed the Student Non-Violent

Coordinating Committee during the “Freedom Summer” of 1964.

Blacklisted in the McCarthy era, Belafonte prevailed and sang a

controversial “Mardi Gras” number on CBS that was later deleted. Among

his many humanitarian achievements, he helped to organize the, “We Are

the World,” song to raise funds for Africa, participated in the

anti-apartheid movement and sang in the Live Aid concert in 1985. In

2004, he was awarded the Domestic Human Rights Award by Global

Exchange. To this day, Belafonte continues to speak out against

political and social injustices. The 2011 documentary film, Sing Your

Song, highlights Belafonte’s leadership role in the civil rights

movement and his efforts to promote social justice.

DJ Spooky:

Originally from Washington D.C, Paul D. Miller attended Bowdoin

College in Maine where he earned degrees in French literature and

philosophy. During the mid-1990s, Miller began developing his unique

style becoming known for both his trip hop style as well as having

influenced the illbient genre as DJ Spooky. His musical style draws

from a diverse group of influences, including hip-hop, traditional

African beats, classical, reggae, jazz, and Electronica. In addition

to recording several singles and composing remixes, including his

remix of D.W Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation he has written

science fiction and composed the score to the film, Slam. He also

appeared in the 2008 documentary, Flicker. Also referred to as, That

Subliminal Kid, DJ Spooky contributed to the AIDS benefit albums,

Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip in 1996 and Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon

in 1998. In 2010, DJ Spooky formed The Vanuatu Pacifica Foundation to

help foster dialog between Oceana and the rest of the world. In

addition to his position as a professor of music-mediated art at the

European Graduate School, he is one of the first DJs to create the DJ

Mixer App which has been downloaded over 1 million times.

Richard Kaplan:

Richard Kaplan’s 60 years of nonfiction filmmaking have taken him around the world and into situations of staggering moral complexity and social ambiguity. Though he started out in the 1950s making films commissioned by clients ranging from the U.S. Air Force to the Indian Handicrafts Commission, Kaplan’s signature documentaries—including The Eleanor Roosevelt Story,which won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Documentary, and King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis—were often self-produced, and arose out of his personal enthusiasm for their subjects. In addition to filmmaking, Kaplan has been a respected college professor and a media consultant for organizations such as the Writers’ Guild, the American Museum of the Moving Image, and the United States Information Agency.

Fredrick C. Harris

Fredrick C. Harris is a Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University. He is the triple award winner of the book “Something Within: Religion in African-American Political Activism” and the co-author of “Countervailing Forces in African-American Civic Activism, 1973-1994,” which received the 2006 W.E.B. DuBois Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and the 2007 Ralph Bunche Award from the American Political Science Association. He has been a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and is a 2012 recipient of the Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award at Columbia University. His new book is "The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics."

http://www.facebook.com/events/483166458385770/

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/331815

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/embed/vIDGX-TIZ9I

Oscar Buzz

Friday , February 15th-Saturday, February 16th, 7:30pm

Oscar Buzz

(Oscar winning documentaries, nominees and shortlisted films.)

Detropia

Officially shortlisted for the 2013 Best Documentary Oscar**

Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, 2012, 91 min.

Detroit's story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century— the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now . . . the collapse of the economy and the fading American mythos. With its vivid, painterly palette and haunting score, Detropia sculpts a dreamlike collage of a grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution. As houses are demolished by the thousands, automobile-company wages plummet, institutions crumble, and tourists gawk at the "charming decay," the film's vibrant, gutsy characters glow and erupt like flames from the ashes. These soulful pragmatists and stalwart philosophers strive to make ends meet and make sense of it all, refusing to abandon hope or resistance. Their grit and pluck embody the spirit of the Motor City as it struggles to survive postindustrial America and begins to envision a radically different future. From the directors that brought us the Academy award nominated Jesus Camp.  

There will be a Q&A with director Heidi Ewing following Saturday’s

screening.

 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF4164GXCro

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/17367/event/321000

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/150815118404430/