Film review: Dean Hargrove's "Tap World"

New York-born tap star Jason Samuels Smith (left)
 and the late Kathak guru Pandit Chitresh Das forged an unexpected and electrifying
cross-cultural partnership, as noted in Dean Hargrove's new feature film, Tap World.
(photo courtesy of tapworldfilm.com)

Tap World's run at New York's Village East Cinema has been extended through next Thursday, July 23. Hooray, and let's talk about the important thing that this award-winning documentary from Tap Heat's Dean Hargrove does absolutely right.

No, Tap World does not offer an intellectual primer on tap history or tap technique or how hard tap dancers train, as the New York Times critic appears to have needed. It does allude to tap's origins in the African-Irish encounter in colonial America. And the mad skills necessary for its proper execution should be crystal clear to everybody--just try it--as should the discipline and loving dedication.

So if Hargrove's 72 minutes--largely derived from footage submitted by dancers from many nations--focus on how much joy, and soul healing, these dancers get from this art and how much joy they give, what of it?

Tap World does what the rest of U.S. dance could and should do. It shows why dance matters to this society and to our world. It reaches past the official arbiters of what's important about dance and instantly, solidly connects with the public. It moves people. Just like the best tap does.

"Rhythm is the language of life, the international language," says acclaimed dancer/actor Ted Louis Levy, one of numerous tap artists and teachers sharing thoughts and personal narratives here. "The simple things--rhythm and love--transcend difference," says Chloé Arnold, the dynamic performer and dancemaker who, along with sister Maud Arnold, is one of the film's producers. That philosophy informs the entire film. We're treated to a virtual world tour watching how this once uniquely American art form has enchanted and fulfilled dancers of one country after another--from France to Taiwan, from Brazil to India. Dancers the world 'round use tap to expand and express themselves.

Yet, as Kathak soloist Rachna Nivas lucidly explained in last evening's post-screening Q&A, tap remains itself, never blending in a "fusion" with other cultural forms. Hargrove includes a tantalizing sample of one such intercultural moment, an excerpt from a shared performance by two greats in their respective fields--Jason Samuels Smith and Nivas's teacher, Kathak guru Pandit Chitresh Das, who died this past January. When these two live wires connect, the energy will rock you right out of your seat.

See Tap World in New York City--now through July 23--
at Village East Cinema (directions).
Click here for times and tickets.

Now playing

at select theaters nationwide

Click here for scheduled screenings,
live performances and Q&As.

Watch for the DVD release this November.

Tap. Coming to a world near you.

Opening July 10 

at select theaters nationwide.

Attend a Tap World screening and artists talk

Tuesday, July 14 at 7:25pm

Village East Cinema (directions)

Click here 

for information and tickets.

Women Make Movies hosts NYC premiere of "I AM A GIRL"

  

Exclusive NYC Premiere of I AM A GIRL

Women Make Movies, Girl Be Heard, Gathr Films, and Duggal Visual Solutions invite you to the exclusive screening of the Women Make Movies award-winning documentary, I AM A GIRL

Thursday, February 5

Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas

260 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

(map/directions)

6pm Cocktail Reception

6:45pm Film Premiere

8pm Girl Be Heard Performance

8:15pm Talkback

Buy Tickets!

Filmmaker Rebecca Berry will be in attendance for Q&A! Rapper and I AM A GIRL film subject Breani Michele will perform her original and empowering raps after the screening.

All proceeds will go to support Girl Be Heard's social justice theatre company that puts global issues affecting girls center stage by empowering young women to tell their stories.  The film will have a huge impact across the nation through cutting-edge education curriculum created by Girl Be Heard, which allows teachers to engage students on critical human rights issues raised in the film. To watch the trailer click here, and to buy a DVD please visit the Women Make Movies website. For all other inquiries, please send us an email at orders@wmm.com.

About the Film:

A compelling, insightful, and inspiring exploration of what it means to grow up as a young woman in the 21st century, I AM A GIRL follows the first-person stories of six young women in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Cameroon, Afghanistan, the USA, and Australia. The documentary, which was nominated for several Australian Academy Awards, explores obstacles that so many young women face around the world such as poverty, teen pregnancy, mental illness, sex trafficking, and access to education.

About Women Make Movies:

For over 40 years, WMM has transformed the landscape of filmmaking for women directors and producers, bringing the issues facing women around the world to screens everywhere. Now, with more than 550 films in our catalog, including Academy®, Emmy®, Peabody and Sundance nominees and award winners, WMM is the largest distributor of films by and about women in the world. Women Make Movies. By Women. About Women. For Everyone. Please visit the WMM website for more information.

Celebrate Kwanzaa at NYC's African Burial Ground

African Burial Ground National Monument

celebrates Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday observed from December 26 through January 1, which focuses on the traditional African values of family, community responsibility, commerce and self improvement. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase, “matunda ya kwanza” which means, “first fruits” in Swahili.

    Friday, December 26

        10-10:30am: Libation ceremony and introduction

        10:30-12pm: Drum and dance performance by Fusha Dance

        12pm-1pm: West African drumming class by Cumbe Dance

        1-2:30pm: The Works of Langston Hughes: Dramatic performance by David Mills

        2:30-3:30pm: The Cultural Philosophy of Kwanzaa: Celebrating the Rich Cultural Roots of Americans of African Descent: Dr. Patricia Leonard

    Saturday, December 27

        11am-12:40pm: Film Screening of Tula: The Revolt

        1pm-2:40pm: Film Screening of Tula: The Revolt

All events and activities are free and open to the public but on a first come first serve basis. Schedule is subject to change, please see our website or Facebook page for up-to-date information.

For questions regarding our event please do not hesitate to contact us at african_burial_ground@nps.gov or 212-238-4367.

African Burial Ground National Monument
290 Broadway, 1st Floor, Manhattan (directions)
(212) 238-4367

New film traces dance career of Ze'eva Cohen, November 10

Ze'eva Cohen in Anna Sokolow's Rooms (photo: Jack Mitchell)

I think Anna Sokolow saw in me a certain naïveté, a certain rawness. She saw that I could give myself completely to a role and become the role, and she could see that I would go with her all the way.

--Ze'eva Cohen

Award-winning television/video editor Sharon Kaufman makes her directorial debut with the documentary, Ze’eva Cohen: Creating A Life In Dance, to be screened next month at Downtown Community Television Center.

photo: Jack Mitchell

A half-hour portrait of the Yemeni-Israeli modern dancer and educator, the film traces the development of Cohen's distinct sensibility and career with many vintage samples of her lyrical, elemental performances and choreography. A gorgeous dancer with--as dance historian Elizabeth Kendall calls it--a "touch of the raucous," Cohen serves as a model of surviving and thriving as an independent artist.

Free screening: 
November 10, 6:30pm

RSVP: bkwright4@gmail.com

Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV)

87 Lafayette Street, Manhattan

(map/direction)

An evening screening of films by dance artist Gabri Christa

Gabri Christa and Niles Ford
in Savoneta (2008)
(photo: Dolph van Stapele) 

Museum of the Moving Image

presents

Dancing with Our Past

film screening and live event

appearance by filmmaker/choreographer 

Gabri Christa

followed by a reception sponsored by 

Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Friday, October 24, 7pm

Gabri Christa
(photo: Malgorzata Headshot)

Born and raised in Curaçao, Dutch Caribbean, Gabri Christa came to filmmaking after a successful career as a choreographer and dancer. She choreographed and danced with companies such as Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (Cuba) and the Bill T. Jones Dance Company (United States). 

Christa's short films connect the relationship of historic buildings and sites to their environment, and reflect upon the people and cultures that inhabit them. Each film—Quarantine (2007, 10 mins.), Savoneta (2008, 14 mins.), and Kasita (2014, 21 mins.)—sheds a different light on Dutch history through dance, text, music, and movement. Filmed on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Bonaire, they tell stories of the Dutch African diaspora, from a time when Peter Stuyvesant was governor of both New Amsterdam and the Dutch Caribbean.

Space, Place and Memory

How to capture the memory of a space, the place where people lived, loved, fought, a place of such reverence all loaded with slavery's past? How does the body feel and deal with the memories of those feelings in that space? A body moving in space is very concrete, especially in an empty space. I could speak about form and shape and make it physical, but what drives me is more spiritual. I long to communicate a feeling, a smell, a memory, one that is not necessarily mine. I want to capture the spirit that still lingers and the flood of images, smells, stories that call out from behind the dust, or make an interpretation of that feeling crawling onto my skin. People once lived and worked here, and a space absent of them and their things still speaks loudly, begging not to be forgotten. So I am telling tales of sound, movement is what is left, without words and sometimes with. Glorious amidst a bright sun, now associated with a Caribbean vacation, but the past still lingers and is still relevant. How to capture that on film? How to imagine this in movement? Those essential questions I explore while I made these films and in all three I take a different approach, combining the old (music and dance) with the new (music dance image).

--Gabri Christa

For complete information and tickets, 

click here.

Dancing with Our Past is part of the Changing the Picture (2014) series, organized by Chief Curator David Schwartz and Warrington Hudlin.

This ongoing series celebrates and explores the work of film and television artists of color who are bringing diverse voices to the screen. The series, which consists of screenings and discussions with directors, writers, actors, scholars, and more, includes contemporary work as well as historically significant work that has played an important role in the evolving attempt to “change the picture” and bring a wider variety of voices and visions to the moving image. 

Click here for more information on Changing the Picture.

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35 Avenue (at 37th Street), Astoria, Queens
(map/directions)

Round-up: Turkish activism; Akerman closes in on Bausch; ballet fiction

Coming after a few dry presentations (Movement Research Studies Project panel on Vulnerable Bodies and the Embodiment of Resistance, Gibney Dance Center, May 6), Turkish dance artist Tan Temel held my attention with the clarity of his witness as a participant in the anti-development, Occupy-like protests in Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park. His brief talk also greatly benefited from a slide show of vivid photos from the early days of the Taksim Gezi sit-in, demonstrating the activists' confident and peaceful creativity. Inspiring! (An audio recording of this panel will be made available on iTunes. Click here for play or download links to recorded Movement Research events.)

Chantal Akerman's 1983 film, One Day Pina Asked... (Dance Films Association screening/discussion at Gibney Dance Center, co-presented by Gibney Dance Center's Sorry I Missed Your Show, May 7), looks quite different from Wim Wenders's grand, gorgeous and better-known Pina (2011), and feels different, too. Akerman's choice of a passive but magnifying camera zoomed right in on Pina Bausch's dancers rehearsing or performing puts the viewer right into the mix. It's a dancer's-eye view. Remember the scene in Nelken (Carnations) where a pack of men crowd a lone woman, touching and increasingly manhandling her body? From a proscenium theater's potentially safe, intellectualizing distance, Bausch's imagery is already disturbing. But try it this way, and your skin will crawl. The encounter of two extraordinary artists--Akerman and Bausch--produced a documentary of rare sensitivity and power (distributed by Icarus Films).

Novelist Maggie Shipstead
(c) Michelle Legro

Astonish Me, a novel by Maggie Shipstead (Knopf, 2014), astonished me a bit less than I would have expected, given the raves from book critics, some of whom spun remarks off the title (derived from Serge Diaghilev's challenge to Jean Cocteau: Ètonnez-moi). And it almost lost me, early on, with its account of a bland suburban mismatch--the stay-at-home mom who fled a low-level ballet career and never got over a brush with international intrigue; the husband who desired her first, married her somehow, but still can never quite feel sure of her. But, in the nick of time, Shipstead won me back with a scene centered around a fit of inappropriate, uncontrollable and infectious laughter. That's when I threw in with this writer. Even so, I can't say that I ever came to like or feel empathy for her characters, two generations worth. I never really settled into the narrative's chronological jumble, and at no time did I think the central "secret" would surprise any character or reader. But I did enjoy and rely upon Shipstead's shrewd, finely rendered insights into the psychology of her characters and their relations. This is where she truly shines. (ISBN: 978-0-307-96290-4)

In celebration of Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz

Celia the Queen

film screening and discussion

El Museo del Barrio

Wednesday, February 5, 7pm

Free admission

Celia the Queen, a film produced by Joe Cardona, is a loving look at the amazing life and legacy of a woman whose voice symbolized the soul of a nation and captured the hearts of fans worldwide. Erupting onto the Cuban music scene as the lead singer for La Sonora Matancera, Celia Cruz broke down barriers of racism and sexism.

With the powerful weapon of her voice and the warm tolerance of her heart, Celia soon became all things to all people.

The film shows the diversity of the people whose lives she touched, from stars like Quincy Jones, Andy Garcia and Wyclef Jean, to ordinary people all over the world who loved not only her music but her incredible spirit.

El Museo del Barrio
1230 5th Avenue (between 104th and 105th Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

A Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute presentation in collaboration with El Museo del Barrio, the Apollo Theater and the National Black Programming Consortium

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again....

Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine
in Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940)

Queer/Art/Film, curated by filmmakers Ira Sachs and Adam Baran, launches its 2014 Winter season with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Oscar-winning Rebecca at IFC Center on Monday, January 13.

So what could make this particular return to Manderley even more fun? How about having the great Lea DeLaria on hand to present it?

New bride Joan Fontaine is thrilled after marrying rich and charming Laurence Olivier, but everything comes tumbling down when she moves in with him and his creepy housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, played with gothic lesbian perfection by Dame Judith Anderson. Will the memory of the first Mrs. DeWinter ruin their bliss? And just how did she die, exactly?

Hitchcock’s Hollywood debut netted him his only Best Picture Oscar and the fascination of queer film fans like actress, comedian and singer Lea DeLaria (currently tearing it up as a lesbian inmate on Netflix smash Orange Is the New Black). She says “To really appreciate Blue is the Warmest Color, Bound, Go Fish, and others, we need to acknowledge the lesbian undertones of Rebecca.” Manderley awaits!

Fontaine with Dame Judith Anderson,
the notorious Mrs. Danvers, in Rebecca

The screening will be followed by drinks and discussion at Julius Bar (159 West 10th Street at Waverly), New York City's oldest gay bar.

For tickets for the screening, click here.

IFC Center
323 6th Avenue (at West 3rd Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)

A special screening of "Katherine Dunham: Dancing with Life"

Katherine Dunham (photo by Dwight Carter)

The Museum of the Moving Image 

welcomes you to 

Katherine Dunham: Dancing with Life

Saturday, June 22 (3pm)

with director Terry Carter, 

and dancers Julie Belafonte and Dr. Glory Van Scott in person

This screening is scheduled in celebration of the 104th anniversary of Katherine Dunham's birth. Following the screening will be a town hall discussion of the Dunham legacy with the film's director, Terry Carter, and two celebrated Dunham dancers, Julie Belafonte and Dr. Glory Van Scott. The discussion will be moderated by Warrington Hudlin, a former Dunham drummer and trustee of Museum of the Movie Image.

Dir. Terry Carter. 2013, 73 mins. (work-in-progress)

One of America's most influential performing artists, Katherine Dunham introduced African Diaspora dance movements to the American stage, greatly influencing the character and development of modern dance. This documentary by the renowned actor and director Terry Carter explores Dunham’s intellectual curiosity and artistic genius. The film documents Dunham as an artist/scholar whose anthropological fieldwork shaped her vision as a choreographer and led to her creating a new dance technique. The technique is based on a series of physical exercises that enable dancers to master and execute her complex dance vocabulary. Over time, this set of exercises evolved into what is today considered an important methodology of dance: The Dunham Technique.

Featured are excerpts of recorded performances from the early years of Katherine Dunham's career, including Carnival of Rhythm (1939), Hollywood’s first Technicolor dance film; The Spirit of Boogie-Woogie, a “soundie” short film of the Dunham dance troupe in action from the late 1930s, and the star-studded motion picture Stormy Weather (1943) which featured Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Katherine Dunham's remarkable performance with the Dunham company. Included in this painstakingly researched film are clips that have never been seen in the United States including rare highlights of Dunham Company's European performances from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as well as scenes from the Italian motion pictures, Botta e Riposta (1952) and Mambo (1954), featuring Ms. Dunham as actress-dancer-choreographer. In addition to interviews with dancers and scholars who speak to her great artistic legacy, the film includes Katherine Dunham's reflection on coping with the racial bigotry of the times she confronted as she traveled with her dance company.

About the filmmaker

Terry Carter is an esteemed black film and television pioneer whose career as an actor and filmmaker spans 60 years. His television acting credits include The Phil Silvers Show, Julia, McCloud, and the original series Battlestar Galactica. He starred opposite Pam Grier in the cult classic Foxy Brown. His Emmy nominated documentary, A Duke Named Ellington, won several international awards and is widely considered to be the best documentary ever made on the life and art of Duke Ellington.

Program information

Free with Museum admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members may reserve tickets in advance by calling 718-777-6800. For more information about becoming a Museum member and to join online, please click here.

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue (at 37th Street), Astoria, Queens
(map/directions)

New York's love affair with flamenco

The New York Public Library 
for the Performing Arts

presents

Flamenco:

100 Years of Flamenco in New York 

March 13 through August 3

The multi-media exhibition is an integral part of collaboration between The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana. Photographs, costumes and performance regalia, film, oral histories, and the sound of castanets and taconeo will entertain and educate the visitor. Performances, film screenings, panels, and educational programs will continue through the spring and summer in the Library’s Bruno Walter Auditorium.

Free admission

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, Manhattan

(map/directions)

Women, spirituality, healthy relationships: a talk at BAAD

I'm happy to announce that I've been asked to give a talk at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD) on the topic of spirituality and healthy relationships, specifically for queer women and transpeople.

Sunday, February 17 (5:30-7:30pm)

Admission is free, and this informal, interactive talk will be followed by a free screening of Cheryl Dunye's film, co-written with Sarah Schulman, Mommy is Coming ("a sassy, raunchy, romantic sex comedy set in the edgy underground of Berlin where love and taboo affairs collide.")

Light refreshments will be served.

Click here to RSVP or call 718-482-5223.

BAAD
841 Baretto Street, The Bronx
(map/directions)

Ballet and a young girl's life

LIFE LESSIONS
a film by Maria Finitzo

A young girl struggling to master the art of ballet learns that life is all
about the choices we make. Life Lessons is a humorous look back at studying
ballet through the eyes of MARIA, an 11-year-old girl caught between her
mother's belief that there was much to be learned in a dance class (and by
God her daughter was going to learn it) and her wish to grow up like the
rest of her friends, spending her Saturdays shopping in downtown La Grange
and hanging out at the bowling alley.

Tuesday, July 10, 7:15pm (part of a screening program beginning at 6pm)

Anthology Film Archives32 Second Avenue (and 2nd Street), Manhattan
(map/directions)


Information and ticketing here

Tap tap tap tap tap...Tap City!

It's the 25th Anniversary of the remarkable American Tap Dance Foundation. As expected, there's so much to tap impresario Tony Waag's annual Tap City fest in New York--classes for all ages and levels of experience, performances, film screenings, a boat ride--that a tap lover's head can swim. Just pop over to this link and start your journey.

A couple of new things I'm looking forward to:

TAP CITY - TAP CHALLENGE
Tuesday, July 10 (7pm)

The Tap City Tap Competitions is the first of its kind that specializes in the many diverse styles, modes, grooves, and musical time signatures of tap dance. The Tap City Tap Competitions will focus on three different styles to be announced early enough for the dancers, teachers and choreographers to prepare. Because our interests lie in the advancement of this art form, we aim to further the perception and the presentation of Tap Dance in a comprehensive manner by demanding only excellence in execution, interpretation, musicality and choreography. Each participant will critiqued by an expert panel of judges.

Click here to register.

TAP IT OUT
Friday, July 13 (Three showings: 12pm, 1pm and 2pm)

A free, public and outdoor event performed downtown at the World Financial Center Marina as part of the acclaimed River to River Festival. Tap City participants will join local professionals in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the American Tap Dance Foundation.

Click here for details.

ATDF partners with 

Collective for Dance Writing and New Media

And don't forget that ATDF and the new Collective for Dance Writing and New Media are co-sponsoring Writing on Tap: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Tap But Were Afraid to Ask on Saturday, June 23 at American Tap Dance Center--open to dance writers, dance artists and the general public.

Come join us and meet Constance Valis Hill (author of Tap Dancing America, A Cultural History) and three award-winning, fantabulous dance artists--Brenda Bufalino, Derick K. Grant and Michelle Dorrance.

For complete information and (required) reservation, please click here!

Are you OUT LIKE THAT?

Go out on a limb with BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) as BAAD!'s annual OUT LIKE THAT festival--dance, theater, film, what-have-you--roars into life this Thursday, June 7, running through June 28.

Two of the many events include:

OUT ON OUR LIMBS, featuring choreographers Maria Bauman, Toni Renee Johnson and Tadashi (BAAD! Artist in Residence). Friday, June 15, 8pm

Maria Bauman goes out on a limb for BAAD!

“MEN” DANCIN’ LIKE THAT!, described as an "earth-shakin’ line-up of dancers and choreographers express themselves fiercely from burlesque to vogue to salsa to contemporary dance forms," featuring Modesto Acosta, Filip Condeescu, Alberto Denis, Joamer Gonzalez, Rayvawn Johnson, Maverick Dance Experience, David Padilla and Jesus Candelario, Jose Xtravaganza, Princess Xtravaganza and Antonio Ramos. Saturday, June 16, 8pm

For information, a full festival schedule and directions call (718) 842-5223 or click here.

BAAD!
841 Barreto Street, the Bronx
(directions)

Big Dance Theater, as always

The week is finally winding down with some glorious weather. But, hey, I still think you should spend at least some of it in a theater!

If you can manage to get a ticket, do check out Big Dance Theater's Comme Toujours Here I Stand--now at New York Live Arts--a 2009 work sourced in filmmaker Αgחès Varda's Çléο de 5 à 7 (1961). With its cheeky narrative fragmentation and visual splintering, Comme Toujours deals less with how things go in life than how they go in our heads when the world presses forward while we stress out and grasp at anything that could make momentary sense or soothe or distract. BDT founding member Molly Hickok is stellar as the central character who--like Varda's beautiful, vapid Parisian pop star, set adrift by a scary Tarot reading and impending medical test results--becomes a magnetic hub for phenomena that continuously remind us that we're watching a movie, an entertainment, something artificial that we construct and control and invest with a power not necessarily intrinsic to it.

Directed and choreographed by Annie-B Parson, co-directed by Paul Lazar. With Hickok, the cast includes Tymberly Canale, Chris Giarmo, Jeff Larson, Aaron Mattocks, Ryutaro Mishima, Aaron Rosenblum and Kourtney Rutherford.

Now through Saturday at 7:30pm. For more information and ticketing, click here.

And take in a screening of Varda's Çléο de 5 à 7 at NYLA on Saturday, May 19 at 3pm. Details here.

New York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Joffrey Ballet documentary comes to Cinema Village

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance

  New York Theatrical Premiere

  Cinema Village

  Friday, April 27

Top: Robert Joffrey, circa 1980s
Bottom: The Joffrey Ballet
 (Photos: Herbert Migdoll)

  

Hybrid Cinema presents the New York theatrical premiere of Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance on Friday, April 27 at New York’s Cinema Village. The 90-minute documentary--directed by Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man) and narrated by Mandy Patinkin--traces how Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino reimagined and redefined ballet for new audiences and engaged contemporary dance choreographers such as Twyla Tharp and Laura Dean.

Gary Chryst in makeup for Parade
(Photo: James Howell)

The one-week engagement will include several Q&As with the filmmakers and other guests immediately following weekend screenings. VOD/DVD/digital release is scheduled for June, 2012 through New Video.

For a schedule of screenings and ticketing information, click here or call Cinema Village at 212-924-3363.

Cinema Village

22 East 12th Street (University Place and 5th Avenue) Manhattan

(map/directions)

Eight NY artists speak for themselves

"Speaking for Myself" Trailer from Bert Shapiro on Vimeo.

NewFilmmakers New York presents

Speaking For Myself

A new film directed by Bert Shapiro

Tuesday, March 13, 6pm

Against a background of “unseen” Manhattan, Speaking for Myself tells the inspiring story of eight contemporary artists living in New York City. The film pulls back the curtain to reveal the world through the artists’ eyes, their passions, inspirations, hard work and persistence. Featuring a dancer, a concert pianist, an actress, a Noh performer, a multi-instrumentalist, a tabla virtuoso, an organist and a singing poet, this very personal film is a uniquely fascinating and motivating journey, focusing on the work and passions of these varied performing artists.

Directed by award winning filmmaker, Bert Shapiro, with music by Elliott Sharp, it has attracted critical praise from audiences and film professionals.

Artists from the film, as well as the film’s director will be on hand to answer questions.

The artists

Jenny Lin, pianist
Toshinori Hamada, Kabuki actor
Irma Sandrey, actress
Carlos Fittante, choreographer
Renee Anne Louprette, organist
Elliott Sharp, composer
Samir Chatterjee, tabla virtuoso
Tracie Morris, poet

Tickets: $6
 
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue (at 2nd Street), Manhattan
(directions)

What a hoot: Screening "The Shining" for writers!

Free Screening of The Shining with Poets & Writers Magazine

Poets & Writers Magazine celebrates its annual Writers Retreats Issue (March/April 2012) with a screening of the classic writers-retreat-gone-bad flick The Shining. Gather with writers, editors, agents, and Poets & Writers Magazine staff this Thursday at 6pm at DUMBO's Galapagos Art Space.

Admission is free. There will be a cash bar with drink specials, including Red Rum, Danny Boy, and Jack & Coke.

Poets & Writers Magazine
Hosts Screening of The Shining
February 23, 6pm
Galapagos Art Space
16 Main Street, DUMBO
RSVP (not required) on Facebook.

Directions
Galapagos is located at 16 Main Street, corner of Main and Water Streets in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Take the F to York, the A/C to High, or the 2/3 to Clark. Also accessible by the East River Ferry to the Fulton Ferry Landing stop in Brooklyn Bridge.

Screening of Trinh T. Minh-ha's "Naked Spaces"

Light Industry presents
Naked Spaces—Living Is Round
directed by Trinh T. Minh-ha (16mm, 1985, 135 mins)

Wednesday, February 8, 7pm

"Naked Spaces surveys the integration of ritual and work, the home and the world, culture and nature, in the traditional villages of six West African countries (Senegal, Mauritania, Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Benin). Over the course of its two-hour-plus running time, the film effortlessly attests to the rich variety of the region's indigenous architecture. Trinh documents adobe cities and stilt-set river towns, villages nestled in the rocks and settlements splayed out across the bush, turreted straw houses and domelike huts. Each dwelling has its own blend of environmental logic and irrational splendor—simultaneously, as Trinh puts it, 'a tool, a sanctuary, and a work of art.'

Fittingly, considering her subject matter, Trinh's images are as unpretentious as home movies—exhibiting the same gorgeous overexposures, casual jump cuts, and, at times, jarring incompletion. Just as some shots refuse to take possession of their subject, Trinh's narrative declines to generalize about the Other (nor does she present her film as a unified whole). Not only is her use of sound purposefully erratic, there are times in Naked Spaces when representation decomposes into isolated details and pure sensation. More than a mosaic of impressions, however, the film is nonlinear, decentered, and deliberately unsettling.

Like Reassemblage, Naked Spaces sets out to challenge and criticize—not to mention derange—the conventions of ethnographic film."

- J. Hoberman

Admission: $7, available at door

Seating is limited. First-come, first-served. Box office opens at 6:30.

Light Industry

155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn

(map/directions)