Monday Night in Williamsburg: Moviehouse's CinemaParque presents JL Aronson's "Last Summer on Coney Island" at Sternberg Park

Tonight we walked a few blocks to Sternberg Park for another one of the wonderful Moviehouse CinemaParque presentations, a documentary by JL Aronson, Last Summer on Coney Island,

which Gothamist called "a timely analysis of the redevelopment of Coney Island that delineates fact from rumor in the future of this American landmark, while documenting the relationships and culture that have influenced it."

Saturday Night in Williamsburg: Moviehouse presents UnionDoc's "Living Los Sures," a Preview Screening, at Sternberg Park

Tonight we took the B60, which stops practically in front of our door, across South 5th and Montrose, to Lorimer Street and lively Sternberg Park, where Moviehouse was presenting, along with UnionDocs, a free preview on the usual handball court screens, of the UnionDocs Collaborative Studio 2012's Living Los Sures, short documentaries exploring life on the Southside.

From the UnionDocs website:

In the late seventies and early eighties, South Williamsburg was one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. It was troubled by drugs and violence, full of abandoned real estate, and badly under-served. Los Sures, a documentary from 1984 by Diego Echeverria, skillfully represents the challenges of this time, while also celebrating a community that was connected, coherent and full of culture.

UnionDocs is in the midst of a project that revisits this film and creates a constellation of companion documentary works that will update, annotate, and spiral off from the original. The result will be Living Los Sures, an interactive, multi-layer documentary that seeks not just to extract important and unusual stories from the place, but to also create new shared histories and relationships between neighbors.

The event was broadcast live over BBOX Radio, the online "voice of Brooklyn," so people could listen, but not see, at home.

Speedy did a great job as the host, interviewing people from the community like Augie Ayala of ABC Beverages, who's been here for decades, and the makers of some of tonight's films like Oresti Tsonopoulos, Alexandre Gaspar Maia, Claire Richard, and Elizabeth Lawrence & Sonia Gonzalez.

However, this Cinema in the Parque had more people than any of the ones we've happily been to over the past few years. Both sides of the handball court wall had to be used as screens for a very large and enthusiastic crowd.

Lots of people lined up for popcorn. Our sainted brother and his wonderful girlfriend are managers of the theater in Mesa that has the best popcorn in Arizona, we can appreciate how much popcorn adds to the moviehouse experience.

We very much enjoyed all the films and learned about the community.

The first one, which we seemed to get audio only of, was Keep it Movin’ by Kaitlin Prest, and it reminded us of someone who grew up in Williamsburg as we knew it many years before anyone would ever consider it a fashionable destination. There was no "très Brooklyn" back in the day.

Here's the UnionDocs description of Prest's documentary:

“The curiosity about love is what set me on this journey…man that shit is no joke.”
Maria DeJesus—AKA TS (Tough Shit) and her mother Marta Iris Aviles unearth the stories of their first romances and reveal the lasting impact they had. These are stories about being swept off of your feet, about being a beautiful young girl coming into her own in a rough neighborhood thinking she’s got it all figured out.

Then came La Marqueta 1, directed by Elizabeth Lawrence, produced by Elizabeth Lawrence & Sonia Gonzalez:

A Parisian TV host now living in Brooklyn, Sonia visits one of the oldest markets in Williamsburg called LA MARQUETA. Home to 20+ latino vendors, La Marqueta sells food, haircuts, music and gifts. Every episode, Sonia visits a different vendor and learns about their craft. One day she works in a Dominican restaurant and another she’s learning to cut hair in a Barbershop. The short films of LA MARQUETA are a show and tell of culture and craft. They instruct and highlight a marketplace built for the community and run by the community.

In this episode, "Cooking for Manuel," Sonia tries to learn how to cook authentic Puerto Rican food, instructed by La Marqueta's elderly vendor Manuel. She manages to do passably well, perhaps excellently for a French person. It's funny, warm, and a good look at this very important part of the community, beloved by everyone from our next-door neighbors to Rosie Perez.

Clare Richard's Whose Schools? is a horror flick-type documentary about a Darth Vaderesque evil supervillain named Eva Moskowitz, who was once a decent New York City councilwoman but was transformed into a monstrous, greedy-for-power charter-school empress, the scourge of communities like Williamsburg's Southside, fought by Jedi-type idealistic warriors like our Obi-Wan Kenobi, the great Luis Garden Acosta of La Puente.

If you see evil Eva Moskowitz lurking outside a Williamsburg elementary school, get out your light saber and attempt to neutralize her and send her back to Upper Manhattan's Phantom Zone!

Turning from the horror of Eva Moskowitz to the deliciousness of Brooklyn Cupcake's coquito, tiramisu and morir soñando cupcakes, Oresti Tsonopoulos' delightful film Brooklyn Cupcake, about the temptations people like us face when we walk past this pastry palace on Union Avenue, was shown next. As UnionDocs says:

The flavors of nostalgia, community and family come together for the Rodriguez family to successfully run Brooklyn Cupcake, a vibrant cupcake shop in the Los Sures neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Maybe we could turn certain charter-school evil empresses away from the dark side if they saw the wonderful little documentary Little Tricksters. Alexandre Gaspar Maia's film

is a close look into the 6-week long rehearsal process of the young performers, ages 6-13, in preparation for a theater and dance performance piece. The show is organized by the El Puente Arts program in South Williamsburg, addressing the issues the Latino community faces with the impending takeover of their local junior high school by the Success charter network.

But we think Eva Moskowitz would just as soon kill these talented little kids as watch them perform. However, little tricksters, working stealthily and with teamwork, could probably take care of even a super-villain once and for all. Now that would be a documentary we'd give our life savings on Kickstarter for!

Back in the day, in a world before high-rise condos or charter schools or even hipsters, some people grew up in Williamsburg and loved their lives here but moved away and got old. (Some of these people include our BFF and other longtime friends.) Olivia Koski's Reunion tells "the story of a community of 'WillyB' (Williamsburg) natives who grew up in Los Sures in the 50′s and 60′s – when candy was 5 cents, when the BQE was incomplete, and before anyone had heard the word 'gentrification.' After finding each other on Facebook, they return to their hometown to reminisce about a time long gone and a place that exists only in their memories." And many of ours.

What a great event. Thanks to Moviehouse, UnionDocs, the filmmakers, their subjects and everyone who made this such a wonderful experience. We look forward to seeing more films that document life in Los Sures -- and maybe even the Northside, East Willamsburg, and South Williamsburg, too. Catching the B60 bus back to Marcy Avenue, we were very grateful we got to be in Sternberg Park tonight.

Friday Night in Williamsburg: Moviehouse presents "The Blue Wall Project" by Itziar Barrio on Metropolitan Avenue between Wythe and Berry

This evening we watched about 45 minutes of "The Blue Wall Project," a public video installation by renowned artist Itziar Barrio, a presentation of the dedicated folks at Moviehouse with the help of other cultural organizations.

It was supposed to be shown on a blue wall in front of a lot at 105 Metropolitan Avenue, on the north side of the street between Wythe and Berry, but when we arrived, the video was being presented on the outside wall of the building next door.

It was still fascinating to watch. As the promo material notes, the project

examines the impermanent and historical notions of the city as well as New York’s constantly shifting landscape as a physical manifestation of impermanence.

The project deals with the temporality of the city landscape as well as our daily interaction with the urban fixtures as well as the fine line between public and private space.

A site specific video has been created for the project that generates a new fiction based on the historic memory of the place and the plans for the future of the space.

Monday Night in Williamsburg: Moviehouse's Cinema Parque presents "Sternberg Dances" at Sternberg Park

We've just walked up Lorimer Street from Sternberg Park, where we went to Moviehouse's final Cinema Parque presentation of this summer, Sternberg Dances, featuring the site-specific work of choreographer Ann Robideaux and her friends.

Here's the description of this fascinating project:

Local park-goers of all ages, encouraged by choreographer Ann Robideaux, participate in a community dance collaboration resulting in a montage of movement and other talents for the camera. Open to everyone, this site-specific dance film celebrates Sternberg Park’s unique personalities and social community in one of Williamsburg’s most historic parks.

The final project, to be edited by Chris Carlone features a fortuitous and spontaneous collaboration between Ann and Samantha Jakus who also dances for powerhouse dance company: Streb.

Also look for Megan Sipe, Rosa Maria Torres (pictured above), Musicworks, and a few other amazing dance improvisers on the camera.

Ann Robideaux has choreographed in numerous venues, and for film/television for many years and has recently been the co-artistic director of ann and alexx make dances, where she choreographed aboard two World War II lightships, on the steps of the Eldridge Street Synagogue and amongst the audience seating at Dance New Amsterdam. Working with various communities, Ann is loving the chance to meet new people while behind the camera in NYC through the Sternberg Dances.

It was really fun to watch, especially with some of the park's kids in the film sitting in the audience. There was popcorn, too.

Here is some raw footage of an awesome playground dance:

There was also a film of an expressive dance done at Dead Horse Bay, back in the neighborhood where we grew up back in the late '50s and '60s.

Jesse Neuman has this, mostly stills, from the footage:

After the films were shown, Chris Henderson led a Q & A with the filmmaker, choreographer and dancer.

It was a valuable project, and we're grateful we got to see it on such a beautiful night in Sternberg Park. Thanks so much to everyone involved.

Monday Night in Williamsburg: Moviehouse's Cinema Parque presents Four Films on Bushwick Artists at Sternberg Park

Tonight we walked the fourteen blocks down Lorimer Street to Sternberg Park, where Moviehouse launched its 2010 Cinema Parque series at the handball courts with the premieres of four new films featuring the life and work of the artists of Bushwick as captured during Arts In Bushwick's massive and entertaining Bushwick Open Studios.

Negesti Cantave, Isaac Shrem and Yanil Santana from Reel Works Teen Filmmaking

paired with Moviehouse favorites - filmmakers Graham Meriwether, Manuela Viera-Gallo, Leat Klingman and Albert Beniada - to produce movies about performance artist Jill Sigman/Thinkdance, painter Noa Charuvi, and the Merzbush installation at venerable gallery Norte Maar, as well as a short documentary film about female American and immigrant artists in Bushwick.

It looked as if it would rain - we took an umbrella - and the forecast of an impending bad thunderstorm caused a delay in the start by Moviehouse's Chris Henderson, who did a great job on the evening, introducing the films at the beginning and bringing on most of the filmmakers and artists at the end for a question-and-answer question.

While we were waiting, we watched a fast-moving basketball game through the chain-link fence.


The first film we saw was The Merzbush: elegies to Kurt Schwitters by Albert Beniada

For Bushwick Open Studios 2010, Norte Maar presented The Merzbush featuring the creative genius of several artists who revisited the ideal of the great Kurt Schwitters - whose work we've loved since a Midwood High School contemporary art class (yes, Schwitters was considered "contemporary" in 1967!) -

to "make connections between everything in the world." The project transformed rooms of an apartment into living sculpture.

Next up, Dragon Critic: Noa Charuvi via Monsieur Cheri by Leat Klingmann & Yanil Santana, made us think and laugh.

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Noa moved to New York City to pursue a Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the fabulous School of Visual Arts (did we mention we started teaching there in 1979?). After completing her studies, Noa stayed in Brooklyn where she currently lives and works. She was interviewed by the esteemed art dragon critic Monsieur Cheri.

We were really impressed with Noa's work and the thoughtfulness, particularly dealing with the political aspects of art, involved in creating it. Sometimes the hand puppet's thick French accent made the dragon's words hard to understand for us, but we loved the concept. (But then we once taught a class in consitutional history with the help of a sock puppet.)

After that portrait of an Israeli-American artist, we were fascinated by Immigration, Women & Art by Manuela Viera-Gallo and Isaac Shrem, which looked at the lives and work of a couple of innovative Bushwick artists. Unfortunately, we didn't write down their names that quickly, but some of them were present. But we weren't sure if the typo in the shot above was deliberate or just a problem of lack of proofreading. (This is what happens when you've taught first-year comp for 35 years.)

We've also taught classes in immigrant literature, so it was instructive for us to see how visual artists who come here out of different cultures, like that of Korea, use the differences in their lives in their work.

Finally, we liked jill sigman/ thinkdance by Graham Meriwether and Negesti Cantave,

about choreographer Jill Sigman, who in 1998 founded jill sigman/thinkdance, which presents conceptual dance that asks questions through the medium of the body. Following in the tradition of European dance theater, Sigman creates work rich in bold images and multi-media elements.

She transforms simple actions like walking on eggshells, sliding down the stairs, and eating hot pink roses into complex statements about self, society, and human experience.

Monday also began Moviehouse's new DIY film production experiment with The Filmshop Collective, whose members brainstormed ideas with the Moviehouse audience to pick a setting, characters, and genre of a short film which to be produced by the FilmShop and a selected audience member in time for the August 9 Moviehouse event. After audience suggestions, the film will be a romantic comedy about an undertaker and a census taker set in a candy store.

Moviehouse collecting footage of the park for inclusion in Little Dances Everywhere's interactive multi-media time capsule that will debut at Cinema Parque on August 23 here at wonderful Sternberg Park. Thanks to Moviehouse and all the filmmakers and artists involved in making this a great event. And, walking back up Lorimer Street with our umbrella, we were glad we never had to open it tonight.