Under the Influence of Albert Maysles: Class Divide
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Albert Maysles: A Festival and Celebration
Friday, December 4th-Sunday, December 6th we celebrate the life, birthday, and legacy of late, great documentarian and founder of the Maysles Documentary Center, Albert Maysles — November 26th, 1926 – March 5th, 2015 — with a sneak peek at his final masterwork, In Transit, as well as a look at some of the films and filmmakers under his influence. All proceeds from this festival will be donated back to the Maysles Documentary Center.
Marc Levin, 2015, 74 min
A look at NYC’s gentrification and growing inequality in a microcosm, Class Divide explores two distinct worlds that share the same Chelsea intersection – 10th Avenue and 26th Street. On one side of the avenue, the Chelsea-Elliot Houses have provided low-income public housing to residents for decades. Their neighbor across the avenue since 2012 is Avenues: The World School, a costly private school. What happens when kids from both of these worlds attempt to cross the divide?
The film will premiere on HBO in early February.
"In one of my last conversations with Albert at the Maysles Cinema, I told him I had recently realized how truly formative my teenage internship on Gimme Shelter was in shaping my work. All the themes I've explored in my films dealing with culture and politics, race, class, violence, music, sex, drugs and the legacy of the sixties - they all collide and explode in that one defining moment at Altamont when a young black man pulled a gun on the violent Hells Angels and was then stabbed to death as the Stones played on stage. It was literally the death of the sixties. Afterwards I told Al about our newest documentary Class Divide and how one of his quotes seemed to encapsulate our approach to this project which I felt was very connected to his style and spirit. 'We get crushes and we get crushed from almost all the subjects that we film.' I'm sorry he's no longer here to share his insights and feedback with us." -- Marc Levin
Q&A with director Marc Levin to follow screening.
"Run, don't walk, to see, "Class Divide." It gives the viewer incredible access to worlds you wouldn't otherwise have exposure to or know about. It will change you."
-- Huffingtonpost.com
“Levin’s documentary, Class Divide, is the most thoughtful and heartbreaking chronicle of how Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ‘Tale of Two Cities’ plays out in real time.”
-- Independent-magazine.org
DOC NYC Grand Jury Prize, 2015
