Maysles Cinema at the MDC, The CCNY Doc Forum, and Third World Newsreel Present:
Made in Harlem: Alive and Kicking
At City College Shepard Hall (Rooms 290/291)
259 Convent Ave at 140th St.
Sweet Harlem
Brianna Crawford, 2015, 4 min
Make My Cake, a bakery based in Harlem started with Josephine Smith “Ma Smith” baking out of her home, but when the demand became too high she opened her first store front in the neighborhood. The bakery now has two locations and is run by Ma Smith’s daughter, Aliyyah Baylor, who refers to all her customers as sweeties. This is a "Harlem Focus" documentary short. Harlem Focus is a cooperative project of CCNY, Amsterdam News Urban Digital Media Lab in collaboration with the Documentary Forum and CCNY/BFA Documentary Workshop.
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Christina Akinsanya, 2015, 6 min
Harlem is a Stage. Its residents are the stars. Now in its fourth decade, Dance Theatre of Harlem has grown into a multi-cultural dance institution with an extraordinary legacy of providing opportunities for creative expression and artistic excellence that continues to set standards in the performing arts. Dance Theatre of Harlem has achieved unprecedented success, bringing innovative and bold new forms of artistic expression to audiences in New York City, across the country and around the world. A brief look at one of the jewels in Harlem's crown, Dance Theatre of Harlem. This is a "Harlem Focus" documentary short. Harlem Focus is a cooperative project of CCNY, Amsterdam News Urban Digital Media Lab in collaboration with the Documentary Forum and CCNY/BFA Documentary Workshop.
Alive and Kicking
Susan Glatzer, 2017, 88 min
Alive and Kicking is a feature-length documentary that takes an inside look into the culture of swing dancing and the characters who make it special. We explore the culture surrounding Swing dance from the emergence of the Lindy Hop in Harlem to the modern day international phenomenon. The film follows the growth of Swing dance from its purely American roots as an art form, to countries all over the world. Alive and Kicking looks at the lives of the Swing dancers themselves to find their personal stories and why this dance fills them with joy. Alive and Kicking will have its U.S. theatrical release on Friday, April 7th.
Snacks from a local Harlem eatery to precede program.
Q&A with Lindy Hop dancer, Harlem dance educator and president of the Harlem Swing Dance Society, the premiere organization preserving this famed dance culture in Harlem, Barbara Allison Jones, swing dance legend Frankie Manning's long-time companion, expert, writer and filmmaker Judy Pritchett, Sweet Harlem director Brianna Crawford and Dance Theater of Harlem director Christina Akinsanya to follow screening.
Third World Newsreel is a progressive alternative media center that distributes, produces and trains, focusing on media by and about people of color. It is celebrating its 50th year of progressive media making.
This program is part of Made in Harlem, (March-May 2017), a non-fiction film series for, by and about Harlem, and including Harlem-made films, filmmakers, speakers and subjects. Made in Harlem is sponsored by the West Harlem Development Corporation.
