In this TED-style talk, join us on a rapid-fire tour as you go from 'No Data Science, No Company' to 'Scalable, Optimized Algorithm' in 100 days and under 10K.
- How to find, recruit and hire great data scientists with no money
- Executing and scaling algorithms is hard. Seriously. Really Hard. Here's how to Not Fail
- Business Logic - or How to "Cheat."
- Algorithm Dissection: the insides of our algorithm at Member of the Tribe
In 60 seconds, over 72 hours of video is uploaded to Youtube, 23,000+ iPhone apps are downloaded, 180,000 tweets and 1,500 blog posts are published (oh and 168 million emails sent). Consumers are bombarded with so many choices, they're looking for curators to help them find the best. Hear how our panelists have taken their expertise and cultivated trust with their members and followers.
Kellan has done tons of stupid shit that seemed like a good idea at the time. In this confessional he'll explore how one of the most successful and innovative CTO's is still learning, experimenting, and failing, while staying ahead of the game.
Question: Are there rules you can't break? If so, what are they?
Did you ever hear that saying that the best teams can build anything. Here how creating the right culture and building the right team enables the company to practically ensure success.
In the last decade, the internet has mobilized millions of people to take action. With digital content so abundant and so cheap, the power of that content to influence and drive action has never been stronger. But, that content also has the power to divide and polarize the people. We'll explore the impact digital content has on policy and politics.
Hey, did you hear the travel market was disrupted? Yeah, that is so 1999. Well, it's happening again. A new breed of travel companies are reinventing the entire experience. Here what they're doing, how they're doing it, and why.
We don't need no education...or do we? Many are calling into question the value of higher education (compared to its cost), while others deem it a requirement. These disruptors are showing us there is a new way to teach. Hear how they are tackling this fundamental requirement of society and how they are shifting and positioning themselves to succeed.
We've all heard it before...Content is King. But why? Content will help you raise awareness, drive customer acquisition, and raise your social clout. But, can content really impact your ability to raise funding? These content kings will tell us.
Join Fred Wilson, Founding Partner of Union Square Ventures and Frank Rimalovski Managing Director of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund for a conversation on the intersection of academic institutions and startup economies
Let's just get down to business. You want to make more money, right? You want more customers, right? Your website is the best place to start. You can either widen the top of the funnel or the bottom. This session is all about getting more from your website by getting more out of your existing visitors.
Founders must learn to evolve from a product evangelist into an efficient manager. Dennis Crowley has turned foursquare into a massive consumer brand. He's grown with the brand, relying on the patient advice of executive super coach, and founder of the legendary VC fund Flatiron Ventures, Jerry Colonna. The two will talk about the process of evolving from an entrepreneur into a business leader during a candid conversation.
Question: Can a successful entrepreneur be a successful executive?
$8. Doors at 7PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Pass Kontrol - 10:30PM
Aabaraki - 9:45PM
Wyatt - 9:00PM
Scott Matthew - 8:15PM
Mitten - 7:30PM
With DJ Disco Phantom - 7PM
$TBA. Doors at 7PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Those Mockingbirds - 10:30PM
The Nico Blues - 9:30PM
Courtesy Tier - 8:30PM
Thomas Frances Takes His Chances - 7:30PM
Buy Badges here.
$TBA. Doors at 7PM. This event is 18 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Sumak - 11:00PM
A Troop of Echoes - 10:00PM
Suite Unraveling - 9:00PM
Buy badges here.
$8. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
SPECIAL GUEST - 11:30PM
Nude Beach - 10:30PM
Ex Cops - 9:30PM
The Everymen - 8:30PM
Buy badges here.
$8. Doors at 7:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
TBA - 12:00AM
The Secret History - 11:00PM
The Barettas - 10:00PM
Graveyard Lovers - 9:00PM
Your 33 Black Angels - 8:00PM
Buy badges here.
FREE. Doors TBA. This event is 21 and over.
SET TIMES
Arms - 11:00PM
Friend Roulette - 10:00PM
Birdwire - 9:00PM
$10. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Zebra Katz - 11:00PM
MORE TBA
Buy badges here.
$5. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Darlings - 11:30PM
Life Size Maps - 10:30PM
Celestial Shore - 9:30PM
Weird Rivers - 8:30PM
Buy badges here.
$5. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 years and older with ID.
She Keeps Bees - 12:00AM
Ancient Sky - 11:00PM
Dust Engineers - 10:00PM
Future of What - 9:00PM
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FREE. Doors at 9PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES TBA
$14. Doors at 9PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
(Front Room)
Mucca Pazza (Album Release Show) 12:30 AM
M.A.K.U. Soundsystem 11:30PM
Starring (Album Release Show) 10:30PM
Dustin Wong 9:30PM
(Back Room)
Chain & The Gang - 12:00AM
Magik Markers - 11:00PM
Dope Body - 10PM
With Special Guest DJ
Buy tickets here.
Buy badges here.
The rise of America, and of the West, was inextricably bound to the rise of making -- of lightbulbs, trains, cars, planes, even blue jeans. Then, somewhere down the line, the West stopped making. Now a wave of entrepreneurs is trying to bring making back -- not in a hundred factories, but in a million garages. They believe that DIY making can save our economies and our souls, and that it can make us smarter and happier and more connected to our fellow beings.
Tweet it, post it, pin it, tumble it, etc. etc. Those things are all cool and hot, but there is a whole class of start-ups catering to the enterprise. You might think that’s boring, but some of today’s hottest companies are changing how the enterprise works.
When OMGPOP was bought by Zynga, most people didn’t realize that it was a 6 year old start-up that only recently achieved notoriety from its latest game Draw Something. Before that, Dan Porter lived, breathed and slept OMGPOP. Hear how much of it was calculated business decisions vs luck, how he worked with the founder, and what made him keep going.
Kurrenci is a Brooklyn-based startup demo-ing for the first-time ever. We have developed a universal currency for the Internet that is always worth more than the dollar. No more coupons. No more spam. Just money that you can spend however you want and always get a better value. New money for the Internet. It’s been a long time coming.
You have a thousand friends on Facebook. Now what? These panelists are building companies that leverage online experiences to create real life interactions. Their mission is to get you off your chair and experience the world around you for yourself...and not through someone else's photostream.
Brooklyn is the 4th largest population center in America. It's the center of culture and emerging ideas for NYC. We're talking to the people who have built the businesses that define the new Brooklyn.
Question: Is Brooklyn over or is just beginning?
Many companies design in the box. Many companies believe in a purely functional design. But, there are a few companies whose hardware design steps them out of the box. Their design is part of their identity. Hear their perspective on design and how they approach design decisions.
$33.50. Doors at 4:00PM. This event is all ages.
SET TIMES
of Montreal - 8:30PM
Jens Lekman - 6:50PM
The Thermals - 5:50PM
Beach Fossils - 5:00PM
Buy individual tickets and Northside Badges here.
Raise your hand if your company has to design for product that costs more than a car? From art apps to extensive digital initiatives by museums and galleries, to e-commerce art market start ups, in the last year the art establishment has (finally) embraced technology, changing how art is explored, exhibited, bought, and sold. We'll talk to some of the key players about how digital is transforming the business of art.
$8. Doors at 6:00PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Balene - 10:00PM
Hunny - 9:15PM
The Judas Knife - 8:30PM
Teachers, Florida - 7:45PM
Neonderthals - 7:00PM
With DJ Conrad Mata
Buy badges here.
Showcasing a diverse selection of 26 North Brooklyn artists, Many Conversations highlights the connections between these artists and the artworks. Engaging in formal and conceptual conversations through the work, Many Conversations explores the contextual relationships that exist when artwork interacts with artwork.
Artists:
Fanny Allie
Orit Ben-Shitrit
Tom Bevan
James Dinerstein
Chris Fernald
Ilene Godofsky
Rinat Hafizov
Jennifer Harris
Tommy Kwak
Matt Lambros
Kerry Law
Jon Lewis
Michelle Mackey
Pessi Margulies
Warwick McLeod
Chris Mottalini
Kate Nielsen
Gina Pollack
Dan Sabau
Suzanne Sattler
Sarah Sharp
Michiko Shimada
Hannah Simmons
Elisabeth Smolarz
Janine Sopp
Lorene Taurerewa
$TBA. Doors at 7PM. This evnt is 18 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Esque - 12:00AM
Cold Blood Club - 11:00PM
Smokey Robotic - 10:00PM
Mancie - 9:00PM
Buy badges here.
FREE. This show is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Senors of Marseille - 11:00PM
I Am Lightyear - 10:00PM
Zachary Cale - 9:00PM
Erik Gundel - 8:00PM
Buy badges here.
$5. Doors at 7:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
LUFF - 11:00PM
Gold Streets - 10:15PM
The Planes - 9:30PM
Crazy Pills - 9:00PM
Alyson Greenfield - 8:00PM
Buy badges here.
$7. Doors at 7PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Young Heel - 11:15PM
Il Abanico - 10:15PM
Pschobuildings - 9:30PM
ZULA - 8:45PM
Suturee - 8:00PM
with Sky Report and Supercrush DJs
Buy badges here.
$8. Doors at 7:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Dynasty Electric - 12:00AM
Heloise & The Savoir Faire - 11:00PM
Something in Spanish - 10:00PM
Teletextile - 9:00PM
Wishes and Thieves - 8:00PM
With DJ Disco Phantom
Buy badges here.
$7. Doors at 8:00PM. This event is all ages.
SET TIMES
Ski Lodge - 12:00AM
Beach Day - 11:00PM
Plastic Flowers - 10:00PM
South of France - 9:00PM
Buy badges here.
$8. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 and older with ID.
SET TIMES
IYEZ - 12:00AM
Great War - 11:00PM
Geek Skull - 10:00PM
The Finks - 9:00PM
Buy Badges here.
$15, $20 day of. Doors at 10PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Front Room:
ISO (DJ) - 3:00AM
Raglani - 2:30AM
Rene Hell - 2:00AM
Keith Fullerton Whitman - 1:00AM
JD Emmanuel - 12:00AM
Michael Pollard - 11:30PM
Mindscraper - 10:30PM
Spinoza (DJ) - 10:00PM
Back Room:
Mike Servito (DJ) -3:30 AM
Kassem Mosse - 2:00AM
Jonathan Schmidt (DJ) - 12:00AM
Led er Est - 11:00PM
Buy tickets here.
Buy badges here.
Showcasing a diverse selection of 26 North Brooklyn artists, Many Conversations highlights the connections between these artists and the artworks. Engaging in formal and conceptual conversations through the work, Many Conversations explores the contextual relationships that exist when artwork interacts with artwork.
Artists:
Fanny Allie
Orit Ben-Shitrit
Tom Bevan
James Dinerstein
Chris Fernald
Ilene Godofsky
Rinat Hafizov
Jennifer Harris
Tommy Kwak
Matt Lambros
Kerry Law
Jon Lewis
Michelle Mackey
Pessi Margulies
Warwick McLeod
Chris Mottalini
Kate Nielsen
Gina Pollack
Dan Sabau
Suzanne Sattler
Sarah Sharp
Michiko Shimada
Hannah Simmons
Elisabeth Smolarz
Janine Sopp
Lorene Taurerewa
FREE. Doors at 1:30 PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Gold Streets - 5:00PM
Magnetic Island - 4:00PM
That Fleeting World - 3:00PM
Passenger Peru - 2:00PM
Buy badges here.
Williamsburg Walks is a platform for art, involvement, participation and community.
Northside Art is taking over the block of Bedford Ave from N8th-N9th Street as part of the Williamsburg Walks series, Saturday June 16th from 2-8pm
Temporary wall units, interactive installations and sculptures will be staggered throughout the block for live painting performances, graffiti and other participation oriented works.
In addition to the installations there will be a variety of art related activities to engage in: a community mural, nail art, taro readings, book readings and children's art activities!
Artists Include:
Kerry Jones
Sean O'Connor
Ashley May
Manoela Madera/Gray Edgerton
Sarah Sharp
Jason Kachadourian
Scott Zimmerman
Kevin Tarasuk
Trish/Maureen (Domestic Construction)
Ian McGillivray
Joohee Park
Andrea Burgay
Maria Builes
Hannah Simmons
Victoria Varney
Kelly Helrich
Claire Beaudreault
Vanessa Paroline
Daniel Clayton
Michelle Gironda
$5. Doors at 2PM. This event is 21 years and over with ID.
SET TIMES
The Hairs - 12:00AM
I'm Turning Into - 11:00PM
The Caterpillars - 10:00PM
Milk Dick - 9:00PM
Boy Girl Party - 8:00PM
Puppies - 7:00PM
Haybaby - 6:00PM
Crazy & The Brains - 5:00PM
Hippy - 4:00PM
Slinky Empire - 3:00PM
Buy Badges here.
FREE SHOW. Doors at 3pm. This event is all ages.
SET TIMES
Hume - 3:15pm
Mas Ysa - 4:14pm
Dean & Britta - 5:15pm
Red Baraat - 6:15pm
FREE. Doors at 3:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
TBA - 10:30PM
Chantilly - 9:30PM
Carl Banks - 8:30PM
Beverly Hills 90210 Stage Show (Episode "Rebel With a Cause," in which Kelly tells Brenda she's been seeing Dylan all summer) - 7:00PM
Craig Judelman - 6:00PM
Baby Gramps - 5:00PM
Buy badges here.
$20. Doors at 6:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Physical Therapy - 12:00AM
Twin Sister - 11:00PM
Guards - 10:00PM
Caged Animals - 9:00PM
Blonds - 8:00PM
Phonetag - 7:00PM
Buy badges here.
$8. Doors at 6:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
New Madrid - 12:00AM
The Gypsy West - 11:00PM
A Million Years - 10:00PM
The End Men - 9:00PM
W.A.L.N.U.T.S. - 8:00PM
Clouder - 7:00PM
Buy badges here.
$8. Doors at 4:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Sunset Hearts - 10:00PM
Flying Pace - 9:00PM
Brenda - 8:00PM
Weird Children - 7:00PM
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper - 6:00PM
Troubled Sleep - 5:00PM
Buy badges here.
$TBA. Doors at 7PM. This event is all ages.
SET TIMES
Lily and the Parlour Tricks - 11:00PM
Sonnyboy - 10:00PM
Daniella Cotton - 9:00PM
The Sons Of Brooklyn - 8:40PM
Them Damn Ninjas - 8:00PM
Buy badges here.
(On The Patio)
$TBA. Doors at 7PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES TBA
Buy badges here.
$8. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 years and older.
SET TIMES
The Shakes - 12:30AM
The Shoe Ins - 11:30PM
The Johnny Pumps - 10:30PM
ZULA - 9:30PM
Buy Badges here.
(BACK ROOM)
$TBA. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
NYMPH - 10:00PM
Nude Beach - 9:15PM
Golden Clouds - 8:30PM
Buy badges here.
FREE. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Quiet Loudly - 12:00AM
Dinosaur Feathers - 11:00PM
MiniBoone - 10:00PM
Ball of Flame Shoot Fire - 9:00PM
pow wow! - 8:00PM
Buy badges here.
$5. Doors at 8:15PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Freshkills - 11:30PM
Bootblacks - 10:45PM
Starlight Girls - 10PM
WOJCIK - 9:15PM
Clouder - 8:30PM
Buy badges here.
$5. Doors at 8:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Foster Care - 11:00PM
Call of the Wild - 10:30PM
Pampers - 9:45PM
White Pages - 9:00PM
With DJ Scalpel, Please
Buy badges here.
$10. Doors at 8:30pm. This event is all ages.
SET TIMES
The Yellow Dogs 12:20am
The Fatty Acids 11:40pm
Radical Dads 11pm
Backwords 10:20pm
Acrylics 9:40pm
Natureboy 9pm
Buy badges here.
$7. Doors at 7:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID
SET TIMES
Mainland - 12:00 AM
South of France - 11:15 PM
Coastgaard - 10:30 PM
Sat. Nite Duets - 9:45 PM
The Fatty Acids - 9:00 PM
$10. Doors at 9PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Kid Sister - 12:00AM
Will Sheridan - 11:00PM
Buy badges here.
Acme Studio will host a viewing party for installations created during Williamsburg Walks the following day, Sunday June 17th.
Dig through the crates of so of New York's finest record collectors, plus DJs, food and more.
Doors at 5PM.
$8. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 years and older with ID.
SET TIMES
Ava Luna - 12:00AM
Dreebs - 11:30PM
Zula - 10:30PM
Railbird - 9:30PM
Weeknight - 8:30PM
Buy badges here.
$7. Doors at 7:30PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Island Twins - 11:00PM
Pre War - 10:00PM
antics - 9:00PM
Confab - 8:00PM
Buy badges here.
$7. Doors 8PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
lost boy? - 11:30PM
SURFING - 10:30PM
The Split - 9:30PM
Fast Years - 8:30PM
Buy badges here.
$7. Doors at 8PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
Nescora - 11:30PM
The Living Kills - 10:30PM
The Aviation Orange - 9:30PM
Idgy Dean - 8:30PM
Buy badges here.
FREE. Doors at 5PM. This event is 21 and over with ID.
SET TIMES
The Momos - 10:30PM
Glass Anchors - 9:30PM
Goh Nakamura - 8:30PM
Buy badges here.
Dog | Dir: Jonathan J. Johnson | Blu Ray | 14:50 | USA | 2012 | English
Forced to move out after a break up, Ana finds that the one thing she can't live without is her boyfriend's dog. On their way up state, she meets a young hiker in need of a lift and a bit more.
TRAILER: http://bfcfilm.org/videos/dog-teaser-trailer
The Last Colorful Note | Dir. Alex Mallis | Blu Ray | 4:30 | 2012 | English
A series of cheerful notes from middle school quickly turn sour.
Same Same | Dir: Dylan Allen | Blu Ray | 7:51 | 2011 | USA | English
In a homogenous world, a man struggles to crack an impossible task.
Nonna Si Deve Asciugare (Grandma Must Get Dry) | Dir: Alfredo Colvelli | DVD | 14:33 | 2011 | Italian
An old lady who owns a big wine factory and fought the Nazis in her youth, in 1943 in North Italy, dies. Her sons come back home to read the testament, but find bad news.
Love is Making It’s Way Back Home | Dir. Erez Horovitz | 3:52 | 2012 | USA | English
Music video for Josh Ritter's single, it was created with over 12,000 pieces of construction paper, shown as it was shot, with no effects added in post.
TRAILER: http://erezhorovitz.com/LOVE-IS-MAKING-ITS-WAY-BACK-HOME
Every Speed | Dir: Julia Fuller & Lindsey Martin | HD video & animation | 12:09 | 2012 | USA| English
Every Speed is an experimental short documentary that looks at the meaning of movement for people with and without physical disabilities – both in terms of design and accessibility of cities and transportation as well as personal experiences of movement – in the context of a culture that places value on independence, speed, and physical ability.
Lodger | Dir. Karim Tabbaa | DVCPro HD 720 24p | 13:57 | 2010 | USA | English
Total Runtime: 73.82
Q&A with filmmakers after the screening
We Are Cave Creatures | Dir: Chris King, Whit Bernard, Adam Pogoff, Clay Franklin | DVD | 10:18 | USA | 2011 | English (no dialogue)
In April 2011, Moviehouse asked composers Whit Bernard & Adam Pogoff to compose and record a film soundtrack for a movie that did not exist. Once, complete Moviehouse then handed the soundtrack over to animator Chris King. Chris created a movie, but then Moviehouse removed the soundtrack and gave the now silent film to a second composer Clay Franklin. We Are Cave Creatures is both versions of the film, first with the original soundtrack it was created from and second with the soundtrack that was made composed to the film.
Wolfy’s Journey | Dir: Leat Klingman | DVD | 60min | USA | 2011 | English
Wolfy has embarked on a journey of self-discovery. “I want to eat the world!”- he says, but how is still undetermined; yet his mind is set out for an adventure. Joining Wolfy, we sail with him on what is to be an enchanting, musically, challenging and endearing path. Amongst the fanciful characters Wolfy meets on this path there is an Italian one-winged bird and a magical French dragon; much joy, words of wisdom and questionable tricks are to be presented throughout his journey, and Wolfy confronts them with his gentle yet curious way, with the help of a long lost friend. A rare moment, for those who are young at heart.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Filmmakers present for Q&A
Girl Model | Dir. David Redmon & Ashley Sabin | DVD | 77min | 2012 | USA | English and Russian, Japanese with English Subtitles
Despite a lack of obvious similarities between Siberia and Tokyo, a thriving model industry connects these distant regions. GIRL MODEL follows two protagonists involved in this industry: Ashley, a deeply ambivalent model scout who scours the Siberian countryside looking for fresh faces to send to the Japanese market, and one of her discoveries, Nadya, a thirteen year-old plucked from the Siberian countryside and dropped into the center of Tokyo with promises of a profitable career. After Ashley's initial discovery of Nadya, the two rarely meet again, but their stories are inextricably bound. As Nadya's optimism about rescuing her family from their financial difficulties grows, her dreams contrast against Ashley's more jaded outlook about the industry's corrosive influence.
Q&A with Rachel Blais
Crazy Eyes | Dir. Adam Sherman | Starring: Lukas Haas, Madeline Zima, Jake Busey | 95min | USA | 35mm | 2012 | English
One of those glamorous L.A. people with too much money and too much time on his hands, Zach (Lukas Haas) looks like he’s living the Hollywood dream. There’s a steady stream of beautiful women coming in and out of his posh home in the hills, and every night he makes his way through the hottest nightspots for a party that never ends.
A divorcée with a five-year-old son, Zach has become a master at seducing women without ever getting too close. But all that’s about to change — he’s met a girl he calls “Crazy Eyes” (Madeline Zima), and she’s not like anyone he’s ever met before. Flirty but withholding, intelligent but damaged, she’s the one woman Zach can’t have, so naturally he wants her above all others.
While Zach’s hard-partying lifestyle — aided and abetted by his bartender pal Dan (Jake Busey) — threatens to go off the rails, family concerns begin to play a major role in Zach’s life. While his ex-wife becomes more financially demanding, Zach grows closer to their son (Blake Garrett Rosenthal), finding stability and maturity in his role as a father that’s absent from the rest of his life.
And as Zach begins to embrace fatherhood, his own father (Ray Wise) becomes seriously ill — which in turn leads to Zach’s mother (Valerie Mahaffey) having a mental breakdown. Will the quest for love and the responsibilities of family life help this poor little rich boy become a man?
Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best | Dir: Ryan O’Nan | Starring: Ryan O’Nan, Michael Weston, Arielle Kebbel, with Melissa Leo, Andrew McCarthy, Christopher McDonald, Jason Ritter, Wilmer Valderrama | DVD | 97min | USA | English
Recently dumped by his girlfriend, underachiever Alex (O’Nan) embarks on an impromptu road trip with his new bandmate, the eccentric Jim (Michael Weston). By channeling their inner children and giving a new meaning to the term “lo-fi,” Alex and Jim find their unique style by bringing the sound of children’s instruments to their unsuspecting fans. Playing a series of bizarre shows and experiencing multiple near-disasters, Alex and Jim’s persistence takes them on a true coming-of-age journey – one that may be their last shot at achieving their childhood dreams.
Q&A following with Eric Kohn (indieWIRE), director Ryan O’Nan and star Michael Weston
With a performance by the Brooklyn Brothers
Fascination | Dir. Jean Rollin | 80min | France | 1979 | French
This erotic horror film, set in 1905, tells the story of a thief (Jean-Marie Lemaire) who seeks refuge in a castle owned by two women, Eva (Brigitte Lahaie) and Elizabeth (Franca Mai). Their seductive behavior toward the uninvited guest soon gives way to the revelation that they are part of an aristocratic cult of vampires.
Hook, Line, and Sinker | Dir. Andrea Bosshard | 65min | New Zealand | Blu Ray | 2011 | English
PJ is a middle-aged truck-driver. His partner Ronnie, her two teenage kids, singing at the pub and fishing with his best mate Jono, form the backbone of his modest existence. But when he fails an eye test and loses the job he loves, PJ’s life unravels. In the face of his imminent future as a blind man, the ever pragmatic Ronnie upscales her wedding dress business to become the family breadwinner. But PJ, unable to accept the loss of his sight and the rapidly changing family dynamics, takes everyone on a tumultuous emotional journey before he is willing to accept a new place for himself in the world.
TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mz4EqCZQI9g
Minka | Dir: Davina Pardo | DVD | 16min | 2011 | USA |
A film about place and memory, a farmhouse in Japan, and the lives of the people who called it home.
Unfinished Spaces | Dir. Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray | HD | Color | 86 min | 2011 | USA | English and Spanish with subtitles
Cuba’s ambitious National Art Schools project, designed by three young artists in the wake of Castro’s Revolution, is neglected, nearly forgotten, then ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece.
In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create Cuba’s National Art Schools on the grounds of a former golf course in Havana, Cuba. Construction of their radical designs began immediately and the school’s first classes soon followed. Dancers, musicians and artists from all over the country reveled in the beauty of the schools, but as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was abruptly halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. Forty years later the schools are in use, but remain unfinished and decaying. Castro has invited the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream.
Unfinished Spaces features intimate footage of Fidel Castro, showing his devotion to creating a worldwide showcase for art, and it also documents the struggle and passion of three revolutionary artists whose inspiration and ideals could ultimately destroy them.
Q&A with director Alysa Nahmias following the screening
Impolex | Dir. Alex Ross Perry | Starring: Riley O'Bryan, Kate Lyn Sheil, Ben Shapiro, Bruno Meyrick Jones, Boy Berkeley, Brandon Prince and Eugene Mirman as the voice of the talking octopus | 35mm | 73min | USA | 2009 | English
Impolex tells the story of Tyrone S., a United States soldier in Operation Paperclip, the mission to locate and retrieve German rockets and rocket science after the end of World War II. Tyrone is tasked with finding what he believes are the last V-2’s. Lost in the woods of an undefined European country, people from Tyrone’s past begin to appear in unusual ways, bearing strange tidings. A loved one he abandoned for the war is especially prominent in Tyrone’s journey, as is a fellow soldier and a mysterious man with tidings of the present and the future that are not yet known to Tyrone.
Impolex is an unjustifiable blend of the bare bones realism of John Ford’s WWII documentaries and the glorious stupidity of Abbot and Costello.
WATCH THE TRAILER
The Zone | Dir. Joe Swanberg | Starring: Lawrence Michael Levine, Sophia Takal, Kate Lyn Sheil, Kentucker Audley, Joe Swanberg | Blu-Ray | 71min | 2011 | USA | English
With this sexually explicit meta-movie, the prolific and influential Midwest-based filmmaker Joe Swanberg concludes his trilogy of self-reflexive films that began with Silver Bullets and continued in Art History. Another look at the inter-personal relationships that develop among cast and crew during the filmmaking process, The Zone's first half is an ultra low-budget reworking of Pasolini's classic Teorema: an outsider (Kentucker Audley) visits the home of a young couple and their friend (Green cast members Lawrence Michael Levine, Sophia Takal, and Kate Lyn Sheil) and proceeds to seduce all of them. The fourth wall recedes in the second half, revealing a filmmaker-in-crisis (played by Swanberg, naturally) as he attempts to navigate the treacherous terrain of directing sex scenes featuring actors who are his personal friends. Swanberg's disarmingly loose and improvisational style is the stamp of an artist who is genuinely curious about how and why some movies are made. His work continually invites the audience to join in on the artistic process and go beyond just watching.
Q&A after the film with Alex Ross Perry, Kate Lyn Sheil, Sophia Takal and Lawrence Michael Levine
Arabian Drift | Dir: Tony Lowe | DVD | 50min | 2011 | USA | Farsi, Arabic
Arabian Drift is a collage film devoted to car culture in the Middle East. In the spirit of Tony Lowe and Akiva Saunder's VID WWWORLD series at Spectacle Theater, seemingly disparate media (cell phone footage from file sharing sites, videos found on Arabic language message boards, bootleg Islamic DVDs) provide a clashing narrative stream via visceral editing techniques. Suicidal 'drifting' rallies held in the desert, gold plated sports cars in Dubai, road skating, two wheel SUV ballets and more serve as poetic frames of reference for thinking about the internet, oil, Islam, sexuality and death.
Unclear Holocaust | Dir: The Anti-Banality Union | DVD | 65min | 2011 | USA | Amerikan with some Arabic
When I first heard of Unclear Holocaust, the debut project of nebulous situationist art collective The Anti-Banality Union, my initial impression was that these impious troublemakers would fully deserve the inevitable fatwa that will be vexed upon them. However, after viewing part of the work, which reconstitutes scenes from over 50 Hollywood New York City disaster porn films into a more or less coherent narrative, I am pleased to report it is a rather damning yet thoughtful–and dare I say hilarious and enjoyable?–reminder of how bad Hollywood had pushed this scenario.- Screen Slate
WATCH THE TRAILER
Introduced by Akiva Saunders and Troy Swain of Spectacle Theater.
Q&A following with representatives of Unclear Holocaust.
Old Dog | Dir. Pema Tseden | 88min | China | 2011 | Tibetan with English Subtitles
From the leading filmmaker of the New Tibetan Cinema comes this mesmerizing, emotionally gripping story about an old sheepherder and his grown son, a visually stunning portrait of rural anomie that takes a completely modern approach to narrative, patiently accumulating detail by telling detail. (China/Tibet 2011, 88 min).
Watch Trailer
Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty | Dir: James Yaegashi | Digibeta | 90min | USA | 2012 | English
Mid-life crises overtake a group of friends in this charming romantic comedy set in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Michael, Franklin and Lloyd are facing the precipice of middle-age. Michael, a former indie rocker, is a new dad and not sure how he feels about his life of comfortable domesticity. Franklin is a recently divorced college professor who's convinced he's a loser and no one will love him ever, ever again. Lloyd is an aspiring novella-ist and reluctant part-time notary who's most successful at eating nachos and shunning commitment from his longtime on-again/off-again friend-with-benefits Kit. "Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty" is the story of three friends who are too old to be young. And too young to be old.
TRAILER
Q&A with Director James Yaegashi
Jacked | Dir. Aaron Kheifets | DVD | 9:45 | USA | 2011 | English
A short film about finding and having love stolen in Brooklyn.
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Food for the Worms | Dir. Miranda Pfeiffer | DVD | 8:23 | USA | 2011 | English
Animated entirely in watercolor, Food For The Worms is composed of thousands of individually hand-painted cels. In the background of a windy desert, as a sheriff and and a jewel thief duel, scorpions, flies, horses, and other animals linger in the dust.
WATCH THE TRAILER
In My Shed | Dir. Agathe Dalisson | DVD | 14:04 | UK | 2010 | English and Polish, with English subtitles
Synopsis - In a poor neighborhood of Peterborough, in the East of England, migrant workers have made their home in garden sheds. On the backdrop of the economic crisis, this 14 minutes documentary shows a confused world, where everyone tries to survive and keep a place in the sun.
Corks Cattlebaron | Dir. Eric Steele | Blu ray | 15min | USA | 2012 | English
A young protege and his boss sit down for the most epic steak dinner of their lives in Omaha, Nebraska.
Flowers for Amber Gordon | Dir: Jason Ryan Yamas | DVD | 10.25 | 2012 | USA & UK | English
Ben and Amber are as in love as any twelve year adolescent could be. Life is near perfect. Weekend traditions. Family ties. Marriage in sight...Until Amber proposes a drastic change. To enter into an 'open' relationship. Ben must pursue every option before needing to make the ultimate decision.
Revolution Reykjavik | Dir: Isold Uggadottir | Blu Ray | 19min | 2011 | Iceland | Icelandic with English Subtitles
As Iceland sinks into economic meltdown, 58-year-old Gudfinna tries, against all odds, not to do the same.
Runtime: 75.39
Q&A with filmmakers following
Boy I Am | Dir. Sam Feder and Julie Hollar | 70min | USA | 2006 | English
While female-to-male transgender visibility has recently exploded in this country, conversations about trans issues in the lesbian community often run into resistance from the many queer women who view transitioning as a "trend" or as an anti-feminist act that taps into male privilege. BOY I AM is a feature-length documentary that begins to break down that barrier and promote dialogue about trans issues through a look at the experiences of three young transitioning FTMs in New York City—Nicco, Norie and Keegan—as they go through major junctures in their transitions, as well as through the voices of lesbians, activists, and theorists who raise and address the questions that many people have but few openly discuss.
Is transitioning a trend? Is it healthy? Anti-feminist? What does it mean for a young person in the lesbian
community to become male, both for themselves and for the community? And how are these questions
affected by race and class?
The film’s historical framework insists on a coherent, patient, and inclusive discussion that concentrates on a range of gendered experience. Situating these struggles and stories in the context of queer and feminist struggles, BOY I AM presents an empowering chronicle of queer resistance that challenges all viewers to rethink their concepts of activism and identity.
Q&A with director Sam Feder
The Normals | Dir: Kevin Connors | Starring: Bryan Greenberg, Jess Wexler, Josh Sayles, Matt McCarthy, Josh Pais, Dan Hedaya, Fred Weller, Debargo Sanyal | 89min| USA | 2012 | English
With a debt collector hot on his trail, underachiever Billy Schine enrolls in a clinical drug trial to make a quick buck. Billy and therest of the guinea pigs, referred to as "Normals", are whisked away to a remote testing facility where they are drained of blood, fed pills, tagged, color-coded and have their every movement scrutinized. Billy starts a relationship with a beautiful but distant "Normal" and tries to solve themystery behind the disappearance of his roommate. As the world around him succumbs to the power of antipsychotic medication, Billy takes a leap of faith to prove that life is actually worth something.
Q&A Following with Dir. Kevin Connors and other cast members
Flooding With Love For The Kid | Dir. Zachary Oberzan | DVD | 107min | USA | 2007 | English
Meticulously adapted from David Morrell’s novel First Blood, which introduced the world to a young man named Rambo and his one-man war against a small town and its sheriff, FLOODING WITH LOVE FOR THE KID is in itself a one-man cinematic war. Shot entirely for $96 in a 220 square foot studio apartment in Manhattan, it was adapted, directed, filmed, acted, designed, and edited by one man. Actor and filmmaker Zachary Oberzan, performing all two dozen characters himself, has created a monumental testament to the animal ingenuity and triumphant spirit of the lone artist with no money, no resources, no nothing. A wild, violent, compassionate ride through the back hills and caves of Kentucky, this film and its maker embrace their extreme limitations, and in doing so, ultimately transcend them. As Rambo and Sheriff Teasle hunt each other in the woods, the audience is forced to redefine the very nature of “suspension of disbelief." How and why this story is told is a statement far larger than any story itself. This film asks the questions, "What do you need to make a good film? How much money, how many actors, how much space? Can you make a great narrative film with nothing but your love of the work?" Completely transgressive yet action-packed and heart-breaking, FLOODING WITH LOVE FOR THE KID destroys all previous notions of low-budget filmmaking with a determination lifted from Rambo’s own infuriated rampage.
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Creative Nonfiction | Dir. Lena Dunham | Starring: Lena Dunham, Grace Dunham, Eleonore Hendricks | DVD | 60min | USA | 2009 | English
Lena Dunham's first feature film, which she brought to SXSW as a 22-year-old, sees the future "voice of a generation" with her feet already planted in the middle of the life-art Venn diagram. She plays Ella, a college student working through some now-familiar issues—noncommittal boys, unsexy sex, creative block, this century's lowered expectations of privacy—while also starring in her own John Waters-inspired student film.
In Search of Avery Willard | Dir. Cary Kehayan | 24min | USA | 2012 | English
Who was Avery Willard? This special section is devoted to the uncovering and piecing together of one forgotten life. Photographer and filmmaker Avery Willard’s homemade queer films have gone unseen since the 1970s. Our team is restoring four of Willard’s films—held for decades in a cardboard box in the vaults of the New York Public Library—in addition to producing a documentary about his life and work that will feature prominently in the plot ofKeep the Lights On. Through interviews, photographs and clips, we seek to tell the story of an important but now unknown queer artist.
Dzi Coquettes | Dir. Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez | 110min | Brazil | 2010 | English and Portuguese with English subtitles
Dzi Croquettes, a Brazilian groundbreaking theater group, inspired the youth to resist the 1968 military censorship ban on freedom of speech during Brazil's violent dictatorship. Their innovative dance, hypnotic sensuality, humor, political satire, and explosive performances took Brazil and Europe by storm. Godmothered by Liza Minnelli (who is featured the movie along with other celebrities), the group attracted the international artistic elite as front-row fans.
Q&A with Cary Kehayan, Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez
Take This Waltz | Dir. Sarah Polley | Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogan, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman | 116min | Canada | 2011 | English
When Margot (Michelle Williams), 28, meets Daniel (Luke Kirby), their chemistry is intense and immediate. But Margot suppresses her sudden attraction; she is happily married to Lou (Seth Rogen), a cookbook writer. When Margot learns that Daniel lives across the street from them, the certainty about her domestic life shatters. She and Daniel steal moments throughout the steaming Toronto summer, their eroticism heightened by their restraint. Swelteringly hot, bright and colorful like a bowl of fruit, TAKE THIS WALTZ leads us, laughing, through the familiar, but uncharted question of what long-term relationships do to love, sex, and our images of ourselves.
Q&A with lead actor Luke Kirby
Pioneer | Dir. David Lowery | Starring: Will Oldham, Myles Brooks | Blu-Ray | 16min | USA | 2011 | English
Synopsis - A father tells his son the most epic bedtime story ever.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Booster | Director: Matt Ruskin | Starring: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Kristin Dougherty and Seymour Cassel | Digibeta | 75min | USA | 2012 | English
Synopsis - When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted. Caught between loyalty to his brother and his own will, Simon is forced to examine his life.
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Surf | Dir: Janice Biggs | Digitbeta | 12:59 | USA | 2012 | English
Synopsis: Two best friends set out on a sunrise escapade to repair their recent falling out.
everyday Saturday | Dir. Dorian Tocker | Blu Ray | 104min | USA | 2012 | English
Evelyn eats a take-out dinner in the company of the television, puts on her
nightgown, and gets into bed, alone. It’s the first day of her retirement. When her
son, Asher, arrives with boxes – moving home after graduating from college – his
parallel anxieties amplify Evelyn's internal crisis and paralyzing sense of
impending nothingness.
The film is a meditation on stasis, ennui, and the patterns of behavior that keep us
from facing the future.
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Q&A with Janice Biggs (Director, Surf) and Dorian Tocker (Director, everyday Saturday)
I Don't Want to Kill Myself | Dir: Nathaniel Katzman | Blu Ray | 87min | 2011 | USA | English
When James fakes a suicide attempt to get his friend out of a DUI, he is sentenced to a suicide prevention group where he must convince everyone, including himself, that he does not in fact want to kill himself. As James begins to see these people for who they really are, he also learns that when making friends with the chronically depressed, losing someone to suicide is always a frighteningly real possibility.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Q&A with Writer/Director Nathaniel Katzman and Writer/Producer Colby Day
HOT IRONS | Dir. Andrew Dosunmu | 50min. | Nigeria/USA |1999
Hot Irons provides a rare look into the social culture of African-American hairstyling, as explained by five Detroit hairdressers in preparation for the annual “Hair Wars” competition. Aided by striking cinematography and a brilliantly eclectic soundtrack, Dosunmu captures the hopes and pressures of the men who were laid off from the automobile industry and now compete for recognition and respect in the fantastically creative world of black hair styling.
TENGENENGE: ZIMBABWE'S HIDDEN SCULPTURE COMMUNITY | Dir. Jacquelyn Lobel| 17min. | USA/ Zimbabwe | 2011 | English & Shona (English Subtitles)
Tengenenge is a village of sculpture artists located in a remote region of Zimbabwe. The film explores the history of the village, and reveals a slice of life in Tengenenge, a community that has withstood the odds and continues to survive because of its people's passion, energy and solidarity. Tengenenge is a glimmer of joy and optimism in a country on the brink of collapse.
Stocktown X: South Africa | Dir. Teddy Goitom and Benjamin Taft | 30min. | Sweden / South Africa / Ethiopia | 2011 | English
Stocktown X: South Africa will bring you face to face with the new urban Africa, where fashion creators, animators, cultural entrepreneurs, music producers and guerilla filmmakers define what it is to be young, talented and passionate in Africa’s 21st century. The film takes viewers on a road trip across South Africa, capturing the contemporary creative generation of this vivid and pulsating culture. Stocktown X: South Africa introduces viewers to black heavy metal band Ree-Burth, Soweto style setters Smarteez, and Limpop music genre innovator Gazelle amongst others, capturing the creative energy and street vibes of Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Q&A with Dan Atkins (Cinematographer, Tengenenge), Teddy Goitom (Co-Director, Stocktown X) and Andrew Dosunmu (Director, Hot Irons)
The Dynamiter | Dir. Matthew Gordon | 73min | USA | DVD | 2011 | English
All fourteen-year-old Robbie Hendrick ever wanted was a family. Yet as another Mississippi summer begins, his wayward mother has run off again and he's left to burn the days caring for his half brother, Fess. As the deep days and nights continue to pass without her return, Robbie must shift his focus from the family he doesn't have to not losing the half brother that he does.
Q&A with cinematographer Kevin Abrams
Tilva Ros | Dir: Nikola Ležaić | Blu-Ray | 99min | 2010 | Serbia | Serbian with English Subtitles
Toda and Stefan are the best friends, skaters, who spend their first summer after
finishing high school. Stefan's going to Belgrade to the University in fall while Toda
stays back home. They spend time shooting "Jackass-like" videos and hanging out
with Dunja, who came back from France for her holidays, and get into a quiet battle
for her attention. In that strange relationship of dying friendship and rivalry they try to
get ahead of each other.
WATCH THE TRAILER
TOUGH GUYS | Dir. Jon Dieringer | FORMAT TBD | 111min | 2012| USA | English
This is Mean Streets with the pop songs ripped out replaced by amateur cover versions from YouTube—25 in all directly corresponding to the original. The result is a wholesale dismantling of auteurism, cinematic space, and the intellectual propriety of The Rolling Stones, Ltd., whose songs—and music of other genres including early rock, soul, doo wop, rhythm and blues, Cazone Napoletana, opera and salsa—are now performed variously by wayward narcoleptics, fried teenagers, amateur tenors, Polish pre-teen beauty pageant contestants and people testing out new keyboards, among others. It is a joyous paean to egalitarianism and the enduring, irrepressible folk underpinnings of tight-assed corporate culture. The Scorsesean 'needle drop' style of scoring with pop music established a whole new branch of the film industry—a mammoth bureaucracy of rights, licensing, music supervisors, clearance coordinators and entertainment lawyers and attendant opportunities for marketing and brand synergy between corporate film and music; Tough Guys is a modest attempt to send it reeling.
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Q&A following with Director Jon Dieringer and Miriam Bale
Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry | Dir. Alison Klayman | 91min | USA | 2012 | English and Mandarin with English Subtitles
Ai Weiwei is China's most famous international artist, and its most outspoken domestic critic. Against a backdrop of strict censorship and an unresponsive legal system, Ai expresses himself and organizes people through art and social media. In response, Chinese authorities have shut down his blog, beat him up, bulldozed his newly built studio, and held him in secret detention.
AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY is the inside story of a dissident for the digital age who inspires global audiences and blurs the boundaries of art and politics. First-time director Alison Klayman gained unprecedented access to Ai while working as a journalist in China. Her detailed portrait provides a nuanced exploration of contemporary China and one of its most compelling public figures.
Q&A with director Alison Klayman in attendance.
Remains | Dir: Jeremiah Zagar & Nathan Caswell | HD | 8.5min | USA | 2012 | English and French
A blend of documentary and fiction, REMAINS is about recollection and fading memories. Combining three years of recorded voice messages with stunning macro photography, the film documents a relationship from its inception to its end.
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King Kelly | Dir. Andrew Neel | Blu Ray | 84min | USA | 2012 |English
King Kelly (LOUISA KRAUSE) is an aspiring Internet star who performs webcam stripteases. When Kelly's car - filled with illegal narcotics that she must deliver - is stolen by her bitter ex-boyfriend Ryan (WILL BRILL) on the 4th of July, Kelly and her best friend Jordan (LIBBY WOODBRIDGE) embark on an epic whirlwind of drugs, sex, violence, and mischief-making as Kelly tries to reclaim what is hers. Kelly’s biggest online fan, a wayward State Trooper (RODERICK HILL), joins the journey as the night spirals into chaos.
Made entirely from camera-phone footage, King Kelly is a sensational journey through hedonistic American youth culture and the YouTube generation.
KING KELLY is the first narrative feature by filmmaker Andrew Neel. His documentary DARKON won the audience award at the SXSW Film Festival in 2006 and his most recent documentary, NEW WORLD ORDER, premiered at the festival in 2009.
Q&A with Scott Macaulay (Filmmaker Magazine), King Kelly director Andrew Neel and lead actress Louise Krause
Don’t Hold Back, Just Push Things Forward | Dir: Ithaca Audio /Chris Evan Roberts | 3min | USA | 2011 | English
An audio visual mashup of music videos, film, and TV shows.
Pizza Verdi | Dir: Gary Nadeau | 8min | USA | 2011 | English
A seemingly routine pizza delivery escalates into a tense game of cat-and-mouse
Release | Dir: Kendy Ty | 3.5min | USA | 2011 | English
Bike tricks visually enhanced by After Effects tricks.
Upstairs | Dir: Shawn Wines | 2.5min | USA | 2011 | English
At the end of a first date, two people decide to be bluntly honest with each other.
Madonna's Like a Virgin (in 80 seconds) | Dir: Daniel Koren (Koren Ensemble) | 1.5min | USA | 2012 | English
Madonna’s album “Like a Virgin” in 80 seconds, sung by floating heads with mental issues.
Back To Solitude | Dir: Joschka Laukeninks | 5.5min | USA | 2011 | English
A last kiss, a last date, a last look into each other’s eyes.
The Man Who Lived On His Bike | Dir: Guillaume Blanchet | 3min | USA | 2012 | English
This movie is a metaphor of what life would be like it was spent on a bike.
NYC Vignettes: Same Old, Same Old | Dir: Manifesto NYC | 3.5min | USA | 2012 | English
MANIFESTO NYC follows Joey "The Neck" LaBella around lower manhattan as he rhapsodizes about his history as a narcotics detective and thoughts about the city today.
Bill The Butcher Day Lewis, A Painting by Borbay | Dir: Borbay | 1.5min | USA | 2012 | English
Set to the beats of Mike Jagger , this film captures the creation process of Borbay’s “Bill The Butcher Day Lewis” painting.
Secrets | Dir: Good Cop Great Cop | 2.5min | USA | 2011 | English
“Secrets” is a short film about a man admitting a deep, dark secret to a group of his oldest friends.
More Two Dollar Bills | Dir: Casey Neistat | 3min | USA | 2012 | English
A story about the two dollars bills and their magic effect on society.
Lasers | Dir: Eclectic Method | 2.5min | USA | 2011 | English
A video remix made from lasers.
Whiskey Vision | Dir: David Seger | 3.5min | USA | 2011 | English
The point of view of a Whiskey bottle.
Born Gold| Lawn Knives | Dir: Alex Fischer, Ellis Bahl | 2min | USA | 2011 | English
Kids playing to religion in the official music video for Lawn Knives from Born Gold.
Aliens vs. Predator | Dir: Stephen Reedy | 1.5min | USA | 2012 | English
Fighting the Predator’s absurdity, absurdly.
7th | Dir: Sara Pocock | 5min | USA | 2011 | English
When a girl gets off at the wrong bus stop on her way to meet a new friend, she finds herself alone in a strange, unfamiliar part of the city–but the real threat does not come from the streets…
The Narrow Show: Eggs, Secada, Cicadas | Dir: Schmooru | 5min | USA | 2012 | English
Interesting conversation about eggs…
Undone | Dir: Hayley Morris | 6.5min | USA | 2011 | English
Unrolling Cotton reel.
Psychic Cheerleaders: Dawn of the New Age | Dir: Taylor Cohan | 9min | USA | 2012 | English
A teenage tribute to David Lynch.
If Angry Birds were an 80s home computer game | Dir: Squirrel Monkey (Jo Luijten) | 1min | USA | 2012 | English
What the popular game Angry birds would have looked like if it was invented in the ’80s.
Q&A with filmmakers after the screening.
Kings County Cinema Society Presents:
Bikelordz | Dir. Mikey Hart | 16min | US/Ghana | 2011 | English (with subtitles)
Synopsis: “Bikelordz is a short documentary about the self-taught, self-invented bicycle culture that kids in Ghana have created. It follows crews of these young BMX gurus as they try and use their skills to make money, gain recognition and live on their own terms. Filmed on the streets of Accra in 2007, Bikelordz features a soundtrack of all Ghanaian music and shows a side of the city never before seen beyond its limits. A feature adaptation is currently in the works.”
Bikelordz world premiered at the 2011 Bicycle Film Festival at Anthology Film Archives.
Vice Presents:
Vice Guide to the Congo | Dir: Jason Mojica | DVD | 38:37 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 2011 | English, Congolese (subtitled in English) & Swahili (subtitled in English)
Vice founder Suroosh Alvi travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo and makes one of the most grueling treks of his life to see first-hand where this so-called “conflict mineral” comes from and to meet some of the rebels involved in the seemingly never-ending conflict in Eastern Congo.
North Korean Labor Camps | Dir: Jason Mojica | DVD | 39:36 | North Korea | 2011 | English & Korean (subtitled in English)
VICE founder Shane Smith traveled to far east Russia to uncover what was rumored to be a series of miniature North Koreas dotting the Siberian landscape. Reaching these logging camps, however, forced Shane and the VICE crew onto the revered trans-siberian railway, which turned out to be a long overheated journey with a bunch of drunk Russians. After tussling with a gang of teenage thugs hopped up on the train's generous supply of vodka, Shane de-boarded and entered into Tynda, the gateway to the world of North Korean loggers. With the help of the local police chief and the local mob, he found his way through the woods to the site where Kim Jong-Il and President Medvedev have conspired to let North Koreans raze the Taiga forest.
Q&A with director/producer Jason Mojica
Grace and Mercy, Kinyarwanda, presented by Snag Films
Grace & Mercy | Dir: Luis Pena | 56 min | Blu Ray | USA, Haiti | 2012 | English
Grace & Mercy follows the tireless work of Marie Jose Poux, who runs an orphanage responsible for over 60 children, and her brother, Ben Constant, who is 'Mayor' of one of the largest tent cities in Port-au-Prince. Shot over the course of the year following the devastating January 12th earthquake, the film aims to keep the spotlight on a country that still needs our help.
TRAILER: http://wehearyourvoice.com/home/?page_id=129
Kinyarwanda | Dir: Alrick Brown | 100min | Blu Ray | USA, France | 2011 | English, Kinyarwanda
A young Tutsi woman and a young Hutu man fall in love amidst chaos; a soldier struggles to foster a greater good while absent from her family; and a priest grapples with his faith in the face of unspeakable horror.
TRAILER: http://www.kinyarwandamovie.com/kinyarwanda-trailer.html
Directors Luis Pena and Alrick Brown present for Q&A
Benny to Benny | Dir: George Manatos | Starring: Cris Lanenau, Britt Lower | Blu Ray | 16min | 2012 | USA | English
A love story between two New York City residents struggling to find their place in the cold, harsh city.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Redlegs | Dir: Brandon Harris | Blu Ray | 67min | USA | 2012 | English
A comedic drama set amongst grieving twenty-somethings in the industrial Midwest who's black friend was recently murdered in a historically troubled part of town.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Q&A with George Manatos
The Redemption of General Butt Naked | Dir. Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion | 85min | USA | 2011 | English
Joshua Milton Blahyi --aka General Butt Naked --was a ruthless and feared warlord during Liberia's 14-year civil war. Today, he has renounced his violent past and reinvented himself as a Christian evangelist on a journey of self-proclaimed transformation. Blahyi travels the nation of Liberia as a preacher, seeking out those he once victimized in search of an uncertain forgiveness. But in the end, are some crimes beyond the pale of forgiveness?
Dubbed "General Butt Naked" for fighting with nothing more than an AK-47 and a pair of leather shoes, Blahyi believed he possessed supernatural powers that made him impervious to bullets. The General and his army of child soldiers are said to have killed thousands during Liberia's horrific civil war.
Following a dramatic conversion to Christianity, the General abruptly laid down his weapons in 1996, leaving behind his soldiers, his country and a war that would rage for another seven years.
Today, Blahyi is on a quest for redemption: facing those he once terrorized, preaching where he once murdered, and trying to rebuild the shattered lives of those he commanded during the war. For five years, filmmakers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion tracked his often troubling path up-close, finding both the genuine and disconcerting in Blahyi's efforts. The film forces us to question the very nature of what true, meaningful reconciliation looks like in a country where justice has not been available.
At every turn, THE REDEMPTION OF GENERAL BUTT NAKED asks viewers to confront hard questions about both the power and limits of forgiveness in a nation searching for healing and justice. Whatever you make of him -- liar or madman, charlatan or genuine repentant -- you will never meet another character as challenging as Joshua Milton Blahyi, General Butt Naked.
Q&A with director Eric Strauss following the screening.
Cook County | Dir. David Pomes | Starring: Anson Mount, Xander Berkeley | 93min | FORMAT | USA | 2010 | English
This gritty debut feature from David Pomes stars Hell on Wheels’ Anson Mount and Nikita bad guy you love to hate, Xander Berkeley in an unflinching look at the complete breakdown of a family due to meth addiction. After a stint in prison, Sonny (Berkeley) returns to his home in East Texas, determined to repair his relationship with his teenage son. Standing in his way is his brother (Mount) who has turned their family home into a meth lab. As Sonny attempts to makethings right with his son and help his niece get beyond her life in a crumbling meth lab, desperation leads to tragedy, heartbreak and madness.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Q&A with director David Pomes after the screening
About Cherry | Dir. Stephen Elliot | Starring: James Franco, Heather Graham, Dev Patel, Lili Taylor | 102min | USA | 2012 | English
James Franco & Heather Graham star in this erotic & seductive tale of love, passion and lost innocence set in the world of the San Francisco adult film industry.
Klown | Dir. Mikkel Nørgaard | Actor/Actresses: Frank Hvam, Casper Christensen, Marcuz Jess Petersen, Mia Lyhne, Iben Hjejle, Lars Hjortshøj, Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, Jørgen Leth, Mads Brügger | 88min | Blu-Ray | Denmark | 2010 | Danish with English Subtitles
In what critics are hailing as “the funniest movie of the year!” (HYPERLINK "http://IFC.com/"IFC.com), KLOWN follows two wildly inappropriate friends — played by celebrated international comedians Frank Hvam and Casper Christensen — as they run amok through the Danish countryside plowing through endless awkward confrontations and unspeakable debaucheries. Hopelessly wrongheaded Frank “kidnaps” the 12-year-old nephew of his pregnant girlfriend in an eager attempt to prove his fatherhood potential to join sex-crazed Casper on his adulterous weekend canoe trip. From exclusive brothels, hospitalizations, armed robberies and even prison, the three paddle downstream from one chaotic misadventure to the next culminating to a surprise sentimental portrait of friendship and a final shocking reveal that you won’t soon unsee.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Figure Father | Dir. Andrew Ellis | 8:57 | USA | English
In January of 2011, I set out to make a short film which could shed light on our country’s job crisis through the story of an ex-convict searching for a job. I was introduced to Pedro through a friend who worked as a fatherhood counselor for ex-convicts in Harlem. Pedro was 49, looking for a job in construction, and willing to share his story with me. With multiple assaults, drug offenses, and two homicides on his record, it wasn’t likely that the outcome of my film was going to be positive, but I knew beneath his hardships his charisma and heart would reach people.
We met for the first time on a snowy day in Harlem. Sitting face to face in a Jamaican restaurant on 125th street, Pedro pointed a chicken wing at me and repeated, “God will hold your hand, but the devil is waiting for you to fall”. This was the first time I’d heard his mantra, and I thought he was talking about his job search.
We became friends over the following weeks through long walks and boxing lessons. In that time he didn’t make it to one job interview given all the complications of transferring medicaid, welfare, and job transcripts from his halfway house to his three quarter house. I wasn’t sure what aspect of his story I could actually convey on film until the day we took a trip to where he grew up, the projects of Hoboken. It was there that I met Tony, his twenty one year old son. I did the math on the back of my PATH train ticket home to realize that Pedro had only been out of jail for four years of Tony’s entire life. It hit me that while this man was in need of a job, his desire to become a father to his son was far more important to both of us.
Over the following months I filmed them box, Tony feeling grateful for the time with his father, Pedro feeling excited that his son might become a professional boxer. All the while I spent time with each of them individually, digging up repressed memories in their relationship, and hitting walls where certain memories had been permanently blocked out. Pedro was severely abused as a child, and raised by the streets. Tony’s father was never there, and also raised by the streets. Coming from a home with two loving parents I proceeded into this foreign territory with caution and sympathy.
Tony became a father during the course of shooting and the training sessions ceased. They stopped spending as much time together, and Pedro refocused on getting a job. This film is a window into a brief moment in their lives in which a new chapter in fatherhood began. Since the completion of the film I connected Pedro with a former prison chaplain who counsels at a church near his home in Harlem. He is still jobless but is on good terms with his son. Tony still lives in Hoboken and his baby girl is nearly six months old.
Puppet | Dir. David Soll | 74min | USA | 2010 | English
Synopsis:
Puppet is a feature-length documentary that weaves together a broad look at the fraught history of American puppetry (its marginalization as children's theater and its sudden explosion as high art) with an intimate thread following Dan Hurlin, a downtown artist who is creating a complex puppet work about Mike Disfarmer - an eccentric, Depression-era photographer. Dan has just recovered from a scorching New York Times review, which forced his last show out of theaters prematurely. Now he faces a wider backlash against puppetry, suggesting an eerie parallel between himself and his new puppet-subject - an outsider artist whose stunning body of work was very nearly lost forever.
Q&A with Andrew Ellis and David Soll
ABP Student Shorts: NYC’s Animation Block Party presents a selection of excellent student films from Pratt, RISD, NYU, CalArts, SVA and UArts.
Q&A will follow screening with participating filmmakers.
ABP Intro | 45 seconds | Bumper from last summer’s Animation Block Party | Casey Safron | 2011 | English | QuickTime NTSC
A story about a man who loves his garden very dearly
Seasons of Love| 4:43min | Grettel Batoon | 2010 | English | Quicktime NTSC
After falling in love at the dawn of spring, two leaves must find a way to reunite.
Sprinkle Me With Love | 3:35min | Nigel Clark | 2011 | English | Quicktime NTSC
On her way to a date, Lilly seeks the secret of true love.
Green #1 in D Minor | 4:09min | Jake Friedman | 2007 | English | Quicktime NTSC
A green guy, a yellow girl, blue wah-wahs.
OHOK | 2min | Lyla Ribot | USA/ 2011 | English | Quicktime NTSC
When the individual is compared to the infinite size of the cosmos, we become obsolete.
Meatwaffle | 9min | Leah Shore | USA | 2009 | Quicktime NTSC
An old man recalls his strange and bizarre memories.
Pineapples and Pork in Bad Wraps | 5:30min | Zack Williams | USA | 2011| English | Quicktime NTSC
The New Billybot arrives.
The Coffee Bird | 4:45min | Bryan Brinkman | 2007 | English | Quicktime NTSC
An old man finds a bird and takes it under his wing.
Marvelous Keen Loony Bin | 6min | Lizzi Akana | 2006 | English | Quicktime NTSC
Balloon headed monkeys mingle with faceless children, talking loaves of bread, and limbless Christmas shoppers.
The Man Who Once Owned an Eternal Garden | 6:40min | Celeste Lai | 2011 | English | Quicktime NTSC
Lifeline | 5:55min | Andres Salaff | 2009 | English | Quicktime NTSC
A brilliant scientist travels through various dimensions and realms, searching for his lost love.
Lipsmackers by Beercan Rd | 5:40min | Sachio Cook | 2011 | English | Quicktime NTSC
Things get weird.
ABP Outro | 1:30min | Aaron Hughes | 2011 | English |Quicktime NTSC
Person pinball outro.
Q&A with filmmakers after the screening
For one night only Pinky Carnage will unleash his cathode dragon on an unsuspecting film festival audience and continue to scorch the screen with his "I can't believe what I'm seeing" clip shows. Be prepared.
Welcome to the Dollhouse | Dir. Todd Solondz | Starring: Heather Matarazzo, Brendan Sexton III | 88min | USA | 1995 | English
This cult hit takes an insightful look at an unattractive 7th grader as she struggles to cope with un-attentive parents, snobbish classmates, a smart older brother, an attractive younger sister, and her own insecurities.
Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê | Dir. Carolina Moraes-liu | 20min | Brazil | 2010 | Portuguese with English Subtitles
Ebony Goddess: Queen of Ilê Aiyê follows three women competing to be the carnival queen of Ilê Aiyê, a prominent and controversial Afro-Brazilian group with an all-black membership. The selection is based on Afro-centric notions of beauty, in counterpoint to prevailing standards of beauty in Brazil, a country famous for slim supermodels and plastic surgery. Contestants for the title of Ebony Goddess dress in flowing African-style garments, gracefully performing traditional Afro-Brazilian dances to songs praising the beauty of black women.
The Other Side of the Water | Dir: Jeremy Robins and Magali Damas | DVD | 52min | USA, Haiti | 2010 | English and Haitian Creole (with English subtitles)
Part carnival, part vodou ceremony, and part grassroots protest, Haitian “Rara” is one of the most breathtaking and contested forms of music in the Americas. The Other Side of the Water follows a group of young immigrants who take this ancient music from the hills of Haiti and reinvent it on the streets of Brooklyn. The documentary tells the story of an unlikely band that comes to speak for a larger community, and a music that manages to create a new meaning of home in the Diaspora.
How to Act Bad | Dir. Dima Dubson | HDCam | 77min | USA | 2012 | English
Filmed over the period of two years, How to Act Bad chronicles the personal trials and tribulations of
Adam Green, the singer-songwriter who first rose to prominence as the co-founder of the indie band
The Moldy Peaches. With unprecedented access to the artist’s private and public life, Dima Dubson
takes the viewers on a rollercoaster ride through Green’s 2010 European tour, his work on a series
of paintings and sculptures, drug experimentations, filmmaking endeavors and romantic
dysfunctions.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Q&A with Director Dima Dubson after the screening
ORPHANS 8 TRAILER | 1min
Source: 8th Orphan Film Symposium
SUNDAY | Dir. Dan Drasin | 17min| 1961 | 35mm
Source: New York University Film Study Center and Dan Drasin
First-time filmmaker Dan Drasin shot this confrontation between police and amateur folk singers protesting in Washington Square Park, Sunday, April 9, 1961. Drasin had not quite finished high school when he made this early verité work in 16mm. Preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive for the Orphan Film Symposium, with funds from The Film Foundation.
DAYDREAM THERAPY | Dir. Bernard Nicolas| 8min | 1977
Source: University of California, Los Angeles, Film & Television Archive
UCLA's “L.A. Rebellion” preservation and exhibition project explores this creative movement among Los Angeles-based Black filmmakers working at and around UCLA in the 1970s and 80s. Filmed in 8mm but surviving only on video, this short represents one of the rediscoveries of the project.
In his first work as a UCLA student, activist-turned-filmmaker Bernard Nicolas poetically envisions the fantasy life of a hotel worker whose daydreams provide an escape from workplace indignities. The action is accompanied by Nina Simone singing “Pirate Jenny” and concludes with saxophonist Archie Shepp’s “Things Have Got To Change.”
ONE FRIDAY | Dir. Rolf Forsberg | 9min | 1973
Source: University of California, Los Angeles, Film & Television Archive
This provocative classroom discussion film by religious filmmaker Rolf Forsberg imagines an all-out race war violently unfolding in suburbia. Set to a soul song written for the film, this lyrical piece centers upon a tow-headed toddler who roams a picture book neighborhood under siege by mutual armed conflict between African Americans and whites.
THE JUNGLE | Dir. 12th & Oxford Street Film Makers |21min|1967 Source: Jay Schwartz; digitized by The Media Preserve.
With the guidance of Temple University social worker Harold Haskins, a group of African American teenagers and young men in Philadelphia made this hybrid documentary/dramatization of their lives in the 12th and Oxford Street gang. Shot in an original, naïve style, this unique film was distributed on the 16mm educational market. The Librarian of Congress named The Jungle to the National Film Registry in 2009.
UFOS | Dir. Lillian Schwartz | 4min | 1971
GALAXIES | Dir. Lillian Schwartz | 4min | 1974
Source: Ohio State University Libraries / New York University Libraries / BB Optics
Two experimental but innovative computer animations made at Bell Laboratories. Preserved by Colorlab for the Orphan Film Project's DVD Orphans in Space: Films from the Forgotten Frontier (2012).
POSTHASTE PERENNIAL PATTERN | Dir. Jodie Mack | 3.5min | 2010
Source: Jodie Mack
UNSUBSCRIBE #4 | THE SADDEST SONG IN THE WORLD | Dir. Jodie Mack | 3min. | 2010
Source: Jodie Mack
Handcrafted musical and experimental animations.
SCRATCH AND CROW | Helen Hill | 4min | 1995 Source:
A chicken dreams of heaven, death and resurrection. New Orleans-based animator Helen Hill became part of the Orphan Film Project in 2005, after most of her possessions were destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina floodwaters. When she was tragically killed in 2007, age 36, a spontaneous collective formed to preserve and restore her work: people from NYU, the University of South Carolina (where “Orphans” began), Harvard Film Archive, the Center for Home Movies, BB Optics, and Colorlab. Within two months, 9 of her films were fully preserved and new prints back on the festival circuit. Preservation work on her large collection of Super 8mm home movies continues. Scratch and Crow was added to the National Film Registry as an exemplar of the student film.
LIGHT CAVALRY GIRL | Dir. Jie Shen | 9min | 1980
Source: University of South Carolina, Moving Image Research Collections
A journeyman documentary director at China's Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio went off book to document this expressive display of a troupe of motorcycle stunt riders. Because the film was made without official permission, Chinese authorities broke up the unit and did not sanction the film. The 16mm print that came to the University of South Carolina as part of the Chinese Film Collection gifted by the Embassy may be the only one that survives.
Q&A with Jodie Mack after the screening
