Would Northern Brooklyn be complete without its own film noir jewel box theater? Film Noir Cinema, located at 122 Meserole Avenue, is a hidden gem in Greenpoint that will soon screen the revival of INCALL, a coming-of-age film with a twist. In the film, After the accidental death of a massage client, and through a bizarre set of circumstances, a young masseur and a seductive cat burglar begin killing massage clients for profit. The film, previously a hit in the nabe, returns Thursday, June 21 at 9 PM.
We spoke with filmmaker Brock Riebe — a local artist who wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the movie — about his influences, social commentary in film, and how to succeed while working on a micro-budget.
Greenpointers: INCALL has had a few encore presentations at this point. What do you think audiences find most appealing about this film?
Brock Riebe: Many people can relate to the struggle of the lead character, Kasey, who has been playing by the “rules” in life but who still can’t seem to make ends meet. In the film, Kasey begins questioning who exactly is making the “rules” and for whose benefit? As a result, he ends up going down a very dark path in which he, with the assistance of his cohort Marco, begins making his own rules for his own benefit. In this age of 21st century, greed-based global capitalism (an age in which many feel forced to play by “rules” that are not for their benefit, and that they had no say in making), many can relate to this theme and are asking similar questions. Continue reading →
The art fairs are coming. Those, and some noir films, art-that’s-not-at-fairs-but-that’s-still-art, and Cinco de Mayo celebraciónes. Below is your weekly roundup, Greenpointers!
The Other Art Fair Brooklyn Expo Center | 72 Noble Street May 3–6 | Times vary Tickets info, $13.50–$30
The Other Art Fair is returning to Brooklyn, popping up May 3–6 at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint. This is the third edition of this Other Art Fair, New York’s leading market for a new generation of art buyers that runs biannually in the spring and fall. 130 artists will be featured this spring, and nearly 60% of them are women.
Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse, hosting the Moniker Art Fair May 3–6
Moniker Art Fair Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse | 73 West Street May 3–6 | Times vary Tickets info, $15–$28
Moniker Art Fair comes to the Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse. Here you will find some of the most talked-about artists, galleries, and collectors from the finer side of the street art movement and its related subcultures.
Change of Art, a pop-up, zeros in on the theme of Brooklyn
Change of Art 122 Waterbury Street May 3 | 7–9 PM Tickets info, $20 admission that includes open bar
JP PR’s ChangeofArt exclusive art pop-up will showcase artwork from three NYC-based photographers, and two NYC-based visual artists (painters), centered around the theme of “Brooklyn.” Come for the art, stay for the all-inclusive booze!
The “American Jesus” exhibit begins May 4
“American Jesus” Art During the Occupation Gallery | 119 Ingraham St May 4–27 | Times vary More info, Free
“American Jesus,”Art During the Occupation Gallery’s first solo exhibition of the work of Chris Bors, is titled after the Bad Religion song and presents new paintings using bold graphics and text commenting on our current political climate, commodification, trash culture, and personal obsessions.
A Nighthawk tradition!
Cinco de Mayo Screening of Desperado Nitehawk Cinema | 136 Metropolitan Avenue May 5–6 | 11:15 AM More info
Nitehawk in Williamsburg will host its annual Cinco de Mayo screening during brunch on May 5 and 6, showingDesperadowith a live performance by Las Flores mariachi band during the pre-show. Movies, Mayo, and Mariachi — can’t go wrong!
INCALL will have an encore presentation
Encore Screening of INCALL Film Noir Cinema | 122 Meserole Avenue May 6 | 8 PM More info, $10
FilmNoir Cinema in Greenpoint is having an encore screening of INCALL, an indie cult horror film. The film has been called “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer meets Brokeback Mountain.” After the film there will be a Q&A with the director. See the film‘s trailer and buy tickets here!
A Zulponian work at its best
UP & UP 1969 Gallery | 103 Allen Street, New York, NY Now–June 10 More info Greenpointer (and previous Thursday Spotlight friend) Aaron Zulpo is celebrating his first major exhibition in New York City, consisting of eight new narrative paintings and the debut of oil pastels on paper. If you dare to cross over the East River, you won’t be disappointed in Aaron’s proficiency, artistic ambition and long-standing interest in architecture and sequential art through the composition of his paintings.
Mothership brings a Columbian-Italian band playing energetic Latin-influenced music and poetry, a slideshow from Brooklyn performance art photographerWalter Wlodarczyk, and resident artist and painter Claire Zakiewicz, for their monthly informal, salon-style gathering.
♦ Mean Girls with a Strawberry Daiquiri @ Videology (308 Bedford Ave), 6:30pm, $24, Buy Tix ^ The Garbage Times: Sam Pink with Jonny Diamond @ McNally Jackson Williamsburg (76 N. 4th St), 7pm, FREE, reading and Q+A, More info ♫ Rawhide, Pyrolatrous, Mirror Queen @ St. Vitus (1120 Manhattan Ave.), 8pm, $8, Buy Tix ♦ No Country For Old Men @ Brooklyn Bazaar (150 Greenpoint Avenue), 8pm, FREE, More Info
THURSDAY 5/3
♦ Moniker International Art Fair @ Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse (73 West Street), 5pm, $25, Moniker Art Fair makes its New York debut, Buy Tix ♦ Greenpoint Film Festival @ Wythe Hotel (80 Wythe Ave), 6pm, $10-56, Buy Tix # The Language of Flavor in Honey @ MOFAD (62 Bayard), 6:30pm, $30, Italian-trained honey expert Carla Marina Marchese will show you how to taste and pair honey., Buy Tix ♫ She Spends One-Year Anniversary Party @ New Women’s Space (188 Woodpoint Rd.), 6:30pm, $10, Wine and La Croix will be provided for free. Bring a little cash to participate in raffles, Buy Tix Continue reading →
WHAT: Dyrygent / The Conductor (1979) + Q&A with actor Andrzej Seweryn WHERE: Film Noir Cinema, 122 Meserole Ave WHEN: Wednesday, January 24, 630pm-9pm RSVP on Facebook, $20 tickets here or at the door
Kinomaniacy! Polish Filmmakers NYC is presenting a screening of the 1979 film The Conductor (Polish title: Dyrygent) tonight at Film Noir Cinema (122 Meserole Ave), about an orchestral love triangle and love affair of music. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with lead actor Andrzej Seweryn. Here’s a summary of the film via IMDB/Polish Cinema Database: Continue reading →
Unless you’re Polish or a cinephile (or both), you may not have heard of the late 80s Polish TV drama miniseries The Decalogue. The criticallyacclaimed and 97% Rotten Tomatoes-rated Decalogue is made up of ten one-hour films, inspired by the Ten Commandments. Each episode explores characters living in a hard-knock housing project in 1980s Poland as they face moral dilemmas related to the commandments. Each episode follows different characters, though some of them are connected to each other in some way.
The Decalogue was never formally released in US theaters, but was finally released on DVD and video in 2000. Film Noir Cinema (122 Meserole Ave) will be showing the film series in its entirety starting on January 22nd, running through January 31st at varying times. You can buy tickets to all ten screenings here, and tickets to individual episode screenings via their site. Continue reading →
Our lips are chapped, our winter coats on, and our hearts and tummies are ready for some holiday treats and cheer – it must be time for the annual Greenpointers Holiday Market! This year, it’s going to be extra sweet: We’ll be transforming the Greenpoint Loft (67 West St) into a Winter Candyland of local vendors. Come join us and all our favorite indie Brooklyn businesses to reel in 2017 on a sugary high note Sunday, December 10th (1-7pm). RSVP here!
WEDNESDAY 12/6
# Desserts of Nepal and Lebanon @ MOFAD (62 Bayard St), 6:30pm, $25, Rachana and Jeanette from The League of Kitchens will expand your dessert horizons by introducing you to sweet treats from their home countries, Nepal and Lebanon, respectively, Buy tix ♫ Ace Clark @ Sunnyvale (1031 Grand St), 7pm, $15, A show full of R&B and Soul to support the release of Dia Malai’s debut project Echo Street, Buy tix ♫ Limited Resources 12 @ Muchmore’s (2 Havemeyer St), 9pm, $6, Drone night at Limited Resources. Come vibrate to some sustained tones, More info
THURSDAY 12/7
* Wildfire & Climate Change @ Leonard Library (81 Devoe St), 6:30pm, FREE, Columbia University’s Park Williams will discuss what we know on recent devastating wildfires in the United States and around the world, and their possible connections to human-caused climate change, RSVP ♫ Vinnie Moore, Gus G, Andee Blacksugar @ Saint Vitus (1120 Manhattan Ave), 7pm, $20, Buy tix ♫ Gary Numan @ Brooklyn Steel (319 Frost St), 7pm, $30, Buy tix ☺ Branded Content 6 Month Anniversary Show! (Party City) @ Pine Box Rock Shop (12 Grattan St), 8pm, FREE, Jackson Fisher and Simone Norman have spent the last 6 months traversing corporate America to learn what it truly means to #rep #that #brand. All of that is behind them now, More info ♫ FOMO Holiday House Party @ Black Flamingo (168 Borinquen Pl), 10pm, FREE, RSVP Continue reading →
Tomorrow night (Tues, 9/19) at Film Noir Cinema (122 Meserole Ave), the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies presents NYC-based author, performer and miscreant Grady Hendrix, who will chat about his latest book, Paperbacks From Hell: The Twisted History of ’70s and ’80s Horror Fiction, followed by a panel discussion with the talented artists behind some of the most disturbing horror novel covers of all time. After trolling the shelves of secondhand shops and used bookstores, Grady was inspired to pen a detailed history of horror fiction’s big boom in the late ’70s and early-to-mid ’80s. Three big-hit books kicked off the popular category: Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist and The Other. Prior to that, “Horror was not a genre,” says Grady.
After their colossal success, publishers saw a ripe new market, and a moneymaking opportunity—and the crazy cover graphics were essentially advertisements for the books themselves. Some of the smaller horror publishers couldn’t afford B-list or even C-list writers, so they’d put all of their budgets into hiring the best cover artists. “They knew the one chance they had to sell this book was the cover art,” Grady says. “You want to stand out… and you’ve got one chance.” And the more over-the-top the cover art was, the better. Grady’s seen ’em all: from a skeleton delivering mail to Nazi leprechauns to killer crabs, horror art was definitely having its heyday. Continue reading →
WEDNESDAY 8/23 ♫ Ed Askew Band, Andrew Cedermark, New Love Crowd @ North Brooklyn Farms (320 Kent Ave), 7pm, $5, More info ☺ Brooklyn Comedy Festival, We Bee Spelling @ Union Pool (484 Union Ave), 8pm, $10, Comedy Spelling Bee Game Show Supporting Human Rights with Alex Greer, Will Miles, Tom Cowell & Casey James Salengo, Buy tix
THURSDAY 8/24 ♫ Point Break Comes Alive! @ Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe Ave), 6pm, $10, Point Break in all it’s ultimate glory with a live surf rock soundtrack!, Insidious Rays, Buy tix ♫ Handpan Workshop with Nadishana @ Golden Drum (97 Green St), 7pm, $35, Learn new techniques, rhythms, and percussion elements with Siberian virtuoso Nadishana, Buy tix ♦ Neighborhood Food Drive (Q&A with Director Jerzy Rose) @ Nitehawk Cinema (136 Metropolitan Ave), 7:30pm, $16, (trailer), Buy tix Continue reading →
When Will Malitek, the owner of Film Noir Cinema (122 Meserole Ave), turned an old Greenpoint funeral home into his gorgeous new 54-seat movie theater, he remodeled with very specific plans in mind. There’s a sizeable gap between the screen and the first row, where Will says he could have added more seats, but he wanted space to present live music.
This summer, Film Noir Cinema has launched a new series presenting silent films with live music by Reel Orchestrette, a collaboration between musicians Bradford Reed and Geoff Gersh.
After a sold-out screening of Nosferatu in June, Reel Orchestrette is returning to Film Noir Cinema on Saturday, July 22 at 9pm with a live score for Faust, a 1926 German silent film directed by F. W. Murnau.
These two events are only the beginning. Malitek hopes to continue the series with screenings of all the major German silent films: Metropolis, Waxworks, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and more. And in October, he says we can expect to see a full lineup of silent horror films.
Tickets for Faust are $15 and on sale now at Film Noir Cinema (where you should also take a moment to flip through their incredible collection of films available to rent).
To find out more about the performance, we spoke with Reel Orchestrette’s Bradford Reed and Geoff Gersh. Continue reading →
In a time when almost every other video rental store has closed its doors, it feels like a miracle that Greenpoint’s beloved Film Noir (formerly at 10 Bedford Avenue, and previously profiled by Greenpointers in 2014) has not only survived, it’s expanding.
On March 31st, owner Will Malitek moved shop and opened a gorgeous, 54-seat art house cinema at 122 Meserole Avenue. You can still stop in to browse and rent hard-to-find titles. But now, even better, you can also catch carefully curated screenings of cult classics and underground films in an intimate neighborhood movie theater. Check out what’s playing on their site.
We stopped by to talk with Will about how he got started, his new location, and what Film Noir Cinema has in store for the future.
THURSDAY 5/3
WEDNESDAY 8/23
THURSDAY 8/24
After a sold-out screening of Nosferatu in June, Reel Orchestrette is returning to Film Noir Cinema on Saturday, July 22 at 9pm with a live score for Faust, a 1926 German silent film directed by F. W. Murnau.
