Thursday, June 27th, 6:30pm
The Get Down Campaign’s
No More Stigma Film Series
Curated by Kim J. Ford
Celebrating Ballroom History. An evening of pushing the conversation forward in honor of New York Pride Week and National Testing Day Awareness Event. In partnership with Global Network of Black Pride, GMAD, SWERV, Anti Violence Project and Until There’s A Cure
Friday, July 12th -Thursday, July 18th, 7:30pm
Venus and Serena
Maiken Baird and Michelle Major, 2013, 99 min.
Ever since Venus and Serena Williams started playing in tennis tournaments, they’ve provoked strong reactions - from awe and admiration to suspicion and resentment. They’ve been winning championships for over a decade, pushing the limits of longevity in such a demanding sport. How long can they last? In Venus & Serena, we gain unprecedented access into their lives during the most intimidating year of their career. Over the course of 2011, Venus grappled with an energy-sapping autoimmune disease while Serena battled back from a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. Neither Venus nor Serena let their adversities hold them back. They drew their greatest strength from each other.
“That was a tough year for us because we both got injuries and so many issues. So seeing that is just motivating to see how much we’ve overcome and to make us stronger.” -Serena Williams
“Unprecedented access”
-Sports Illustrated
Monday-Sunday, June 24th-30th, 7:30pm
(Thursday, June 27th, 4:00pm Showing Only)
Documentary in Bloom Presents Homegoings
Curated by Livia Bloom
U.S. Theatrical Premiere
Christine Turner, 2013, 58 min.
Harlem’s own Isaiah Owens, proprietor of the Owens Funeral Home—just a few blocks away from the Maysles Cinema on Malcolm X Blvd—and his family are the focus of this thoughtful cinematic portrait by New York filmmaker Turner. Growing up, Owens felt like an outcast for the interest in death and its rituals that led him to design elaborate ceremonies for the burial of neighborhood pets. Today, however, he is a pillar of his community, beloved for a gentle, practical approach to “homegoings” at a time when discussions of death are taboo and the undertaking field is dominated by impersonal big business. Venturing behind the scenes of a much feared and misunderstood profession, this thoughtful film examines the rituals of African American funerals and the approach that Owens takes to his craft, one of the few that black Americans could enter into freely after slavery. Combining cinéma vérité with personal interviews, Homegoings paints a portrait of Harlem’s the dearly departed and the man who serves them.
Tuesday, June 25 and Friday, June 28: Post-film Q&As with director Christine Turner and the Homegoings cast!
Reception will follow the program on Friday, June 28!
“9/10 Stars! [A sense of justice and continuity makes the lovely documentary] Homegoings makes especially vibrant.” —Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters
“A string of memorable moments in filmmaker Christine Turner’s moving documentary, Homegoings, [refuse] to leave my mind’s eye.” —Clem Richardson, New York Daily News
Trailer: http://vimeo.com/53607653
Preceded by
StoryCorps Shorts: A 10th Anniversary Program
The Rauch Brothers, 2010-2013, approximately 20 min.
Over 45,000 oral histories have been recorded by the NYC-based organization StoryCorps since they opened their doors in 2003. Archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the stories document the lives of Americans of all ages and beliefs in their own voices. In honor of their tenth anniversary, Documentary in Bloom at the Maysles Cinema is proud to present this program of StoryCorps short films, featuring the audio from selected oral histories brought beautifully to life with animation.
This program is made possible by P.O.V. Special thanks to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). For more information on StoryCorps, visit: http://storycorps.org/
BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/367746
FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/645156215513960/
Friday, June 14th, 6:30pm & 8:15pm
Jazzy Underground Presents:
A Luqman-Ali Mujahid Double Feature
Fried Chicken, Watermelon & Drug Dealin
Luqman Ali Mujahid, 2012, 31 min.
Eric Williams is an average, slick-talking, baggy jeans wearing teenager that happens to work for a family owned shoe store (Petersons) in the South Bronx, where he is suspected of selling more than just shoes. This particular neighborhood is best known for it’s “Mama’s Fried Chicken,” it’s ripe, juicy, fruit-stand, watermelon and it’s extremely potent and potentially lethal illegal narcotics. A neighborhood where hustling takes place everywhere from cribs to shoe stores. Eric is the number one suspect in this game which puts him at odds with drug enforcement agencies like the FBI and DEA as well as rival drug cartels feuding over territories and this is his story. A narrative, fiction short film.
Oh Black Jesus
Luqman Ali Mujahid, 2013, 46 mins.
Christmas time in Harlem it doesn’t get any better for the Logan family. it is the birthday of the most righteous king in history, the son of God, Jesus Christ. Christopher Logan, a gambling man and one of deeply rooted beliefs, believes in the sanctity of marriage, the love of fatherhood, and the honor of a man’s word. The foundation of all these beliefs is the faith in the son of God, the true Jesus, the black Jesus. The louder you say his name, the sooner he’ll answer your prayers. Christopher Logan jr. has the same rooted beliefs, with one slight difference. Watching his father roll the dice it always seemed as if his hands were blessed with the power of God, leaving Christopher to believe his father was that man they called….Oh Black Jesus! A narrative, fiction short film.
Saturday, June 8th, 9:00pm
(RESCHEDULED DUE TO RAIN)
The Maysles Cinema and the Dyckman Basketball Tournament Present:
A Free Outdoor Screening of Doin’ It In The Park @ the Dyckman Basketball Courts
The Monsignor Kett Playground, West 204th St. Btwn
Nagle Avenue and 10th Ave. (near Dyckman St.)
100% Free!
Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, NYC
Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau, 2012, 83 min.
Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, NYC explores the history, culture and social impact of New York’s summer b-ball scene, the worldwide “Mecca” of the sport. In New York City, pick-up is not just a sport. It is a way of life. There are 700+ outdoor courts, and an estimated 500,000 players, the most loyal of which approach the game as a religion, and the playground as their church. “You can play high school or college for four years. You can play Pro for a decade. You can play pick-up … for life.” Doin’ It In The Park lovingly uncovers this movement through the voices of playground legends, NBA athletes, and most importantly the common person, or 99%, who look forward to experiencing the energy of the game at their local schoolyard. Co-directors Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau visited 180 courts throughout NYC’s five boroughs to create their debut documentary. They traveled to a majority of the locations by bicycle, carrying cameras and a ball in their backpacks. The film’s title refers as much to the subject matter as it does to the method of filmmaking, providing an unprecedented perspective on inner-city America’s most popular, and accessible, free recreation.
Dyckman Website: http://dyckmanpark.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/291410907658459/
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/65081192
DIRECTIONS:
Take # 1 train to Dyckman Street follow road along housing complex to the park.
Take #A train to Dyckman Street walk down Dyckman Street and make a left turn on Nagle Ave (underneath train tracks): The park is on the right.
Take A train to 207th Street walk down 207th Street make a right at train station walk to 204th street; park is on the corner.
Drew Barrymore, eat your heart out. On last night’s RuPaul’s Drag Race was the annual Snatch Game challenge, in which the competing queens must impersonate a celebrity and act it out in a game show scenario a la The Match Game (even the challenges of this show are in drag). One of the contestants, Jinkx Monsoon, busted out an impression of cult hero Little Edie Bouvier Beale (as immortalized in the Maysels brothers’ 1975 documentary Grey Gardens) that was so spot on, all it was missing was the scent of cat urine. Most of Jinkx’s competitors had no idea who Little Edie was and were condescending about it instead of being ashamed like they should have been.
Maysles Cinema
The Maysles Cinema is directed by Jessica Green and founded by Documentary Filmmaker Albert Maysles.
REMINDER: Maysles Cinema Kicks Off 2013 Pride Month With Staunch! A Gay Gardens Celebration V - THIS WEEKEND!
5th annual celebration of the legacy of seminal cinema verite documentary Grey Gardens. This year we kick off Pride by exploring the classic through a queer lens and celebrating its long-standing gay cult following.Grey Gardens, the groundbreaking 1975 documentary by Albert and David Maysles, will assume the colors of the rainbow with Staunch! A Gay Gardens Celebration V, the fifth annual weekend-long tribute to the film and its pop culture legacy. The series, originally conceived in 2009 by Rebekah and Sara Maysles, daughters of Albert Maysles and authors of the book “Grey Gardens, ” will be held this Friday, June 7th - Sunday, June 9th at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem. This year’s theme of “Gay Gardens” is a nod of appreciation to the film’s iconic status within the queer community, and fittingly coincides with the beginning of Pride month. The series is curated by Ilona Brand.
This weekend’s Staunch! A Gay Gardens Celebration V line up includes T.V. Transvestite - made before Paris is Burning and today’s more mainstream drag entertainment. Shot in 1982 by Italian filmmakers, Simone di Bagno and Michele Capozzi, the documentary captures a “House of LaBeija” drag ball at a Harlem Bingo hall emceed by legendary drag performance artist Pepper LaBeija.Update: Following TV Transvestite there will be a post-screening Q&A with Drag historian and Gay Studies scholar Joe E. Jeffreys.
The cornerstone of the series, Grey Gardens, will be screened on Saturday, June 8th along with companion film The Beales of Grey Gardens. Albert and David Maysles’ tour de force depicts the lives of reclusive, mother-daughter socialites Big Edie and Little Edie in their dilapidated East Hampton manse. Don’t miss out on the panel discussion with famed director Albert Maysles, Harlem historian and author Michael Henry Adams and Jerry “The Marble Faun” Torre, a character in Grey Gardens.
Update: Queer theorist and author Jack Halberstam is no longer available (via Skype) however Jon Mallow, former host of Logo’s “Drag Ya Later” and VP of Digital at VH1 has just joined Saturday’s panel.
The weekend will close with Tarnation - director Jonathan Caouette’s autobiographical account of growing up gay in Texas with his schizophrenic mother, as pieced together from 19 years of collected Super 8 film, VHS tape, photographs and answering machine messages. Rough cuts from the film piqued the interest of actor/writer/director John Cameron Mitchell and director Gus Van Sant, who ultimately shepherded the project to completion and critical acclaim. A Q&A with Jonathan Caouette will follow.
Panel discussion with director Albert Maysles, historian Michael Henry Adams (“Harlem Lost and Found” and the upcoming book “Homo Harlem”), Jerry “The Marble Faun” Torre, a character in Grey Gardens and Jon Mallow, former host of Logo’s “Drag Ya Later” and VP of Digital at VH1.
Friday, June 7th, 9:00pm
The Maysles Cinema and the Dyckman Basketball Tournament Present:
A Free Outdoor Screening of Doin’ It In The Park @ the Dyckman Basketball Courts
The Monsignor Kett Playground, West 204th St. Btwn
Nagle Avenue and 10th Ave. (near Dyckman St.)
RAIN DATE: SATURDAY, JUNE 8TH
100% Free!
Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, NYC
Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau, 2012, 83 min.
Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, NYC explores the history, culture and social impact of New York’s summer b-ball scene, the worldwide “Mecca” of the sport. In New York City, pick-up is not just a sport. It is a way of life. There are 700+ outdoor courts, and an estimated 500,000 players, the most loyal of which approach the game as a religion, and the playground as their church. “You can play high school or college for four years. You can play Pro for a decade. You can play pick-up … for life.” Doin’ It In The Park lovingly uncovers this movement through the voices of playground legends, NBA athletes, and most importantly the common person, or 99%, who look forward to experiencing the energy of the game at their local schoolyard. Co-directors Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau visited 180 courts throughout NYC’s five boroughs to create their debut documentary. They traveled to a majority of the locations by bicycle, carrying cameras and a ball in their backpacks. The film’s title refers as much to the subject matter as it does to the method of filmmaking, providing an unprecedented perspective on inner-city America’s most popular, and accessible, free recreation.
Dyckman Website: http://dyckmanpark.com
