Thomas Middleditch in Entanglement, Dir. Jason James, showing at the Brooklyn Film Festival 2017
This Friday, June 2nd kicks off the 20th annual Brooklyn Film Festival, which will screen over 122 narrative features, documentaries, narrative and documentary shorts, animated and experimental films from 32 countries spread over six continents. Two of the festival’s venues are in Greenpoint: Windmill Studios NYC (300 Kingsland Ave) and the Kickstarter headquarters(58 Kent St)—also the site for the BFF Exchange—a day of free panels, and a happy hour sponsored by Stella Artois on Saturday June 10th.Continue reading →
Picture this: you and bae decide to spice things up so you get down and dirty with a sex toy—a totally magical night. But, your night was actually so magic that you wake up the next day and discover you’ve switched bodies, which is simultaneously terrifying and awesome. We’ve seen body-switching in movies before (Freaky Friday, Vice Versa and The Change Up, among others), but the new film Inside You goes deeper and explores gender, sexuality and marriage while still remaining hilarious. After three years of challenging production, badass lady director Heather Fink is ready to put her latest film out into the world. Using shows and films like Louis, Girls, Obvious Child and Bridesmaids as the script’s true-to-life comedic inspiration, she shot the film right here in Greenpoint and other parts of North Brooklyn (you can see Bushwick’s Catland in the trailer, masquerading as the sex shop). Heather (a Greenpointer) not only directed the film, but she also wrote it and stars in it. We chatted with her about her filmmaking process and her love of Greenpoint.
GP: How long did the film take to make (from writing the script through production)?
Heather: I finished the script in March 2014, ran the Kickstarter in June 2014, tried to shoot in October 2014 but had the lead actress drop out the day before the shoot. We re-tooled the project, I decided to act in it myself, and we finally shot in June 2015. We locked the picture edit by January 2016, and finished sound, color, VFX, music and titles by June 2016. I applied to festivals with this cut—and waited several months to hear back, taking me into 2017. I ran out of money so I needed to work several months to afford the final pieces—the end credits sequence, and we just finished the trailer. Every step of the way I had to work till I had enough money to pay for each thing. Now, it’s paid for.
Community activist and organizer Emily Gallagher meets with concerned Greenpointers Thursday night at the Park Church Co-op (129 Russell St.) The meeting was the second such session for citizens to discuss recent incidents and formulate plans to combat a rise in alleged recent assaults and robberies.
If your train isn’t going to show up you might as well write a catchy song about it like this Brooklyn R&B trio did!
Well, this is literally a bad sign. The city finally removed a “Meserole Avenue” street sign they had erroneously placed in Williamsburg earlier this month.
Polish Pride takes center stage this Sunday in Manhattan during the 79th annual Pulaski Day Parade!
Wondering about the status of the long-promised 27-acre Bushwick Inlet Park!? Friends of Bushwick Park Inlet is hosting an informational “Meet Up at Greenpoint Beer and Ale” (7 N. 15th St.) on Wednesday, October 5 at 7:00pm. Continue reading →
It all started four years ago, in response to the devastation that Hurricane Sandy had left in her path. As some parents were forced to deal with “real life issues” like finding temporary shelter, food and clothing for their families, thousands of children were sadly not going to be able to celebrate the holidays. Continue reading →
WEDNESDAY 6/24 ♦ Materials / Abstraction@ Owen James Gallery (61 Greenpoint Ave) 6pm, FREE, a group exhibition of emerging and established artists who approach abstraction through the use of diverse materials, More info * Queer/Art/Brooklyn @ The West (379 Union Ave) 8pm, FREE, Coffee and conversation with with special hosts writer, performer, and QAM Fellow Morgan Bassichis; curator and VisualAIDS Program Manager Alex Fialho; and visual artist and QAM Mentor Chitra Ganesh, RSVP
If the landslide victory in Ireland is any indication the movement for gay rights is finally getting the respect it deserves, North Brooklyn will continue to carry that torch this June by hosting a gay pride festival in Williamsburg. While a gay pride event is nothing new for Chelsea or Jackson Heights, hosts of some of the most fabulicious gay pride celebrations in the city, North Brooklyn business owners and the LGBT community felt it was high time the area had its own celebration.
And anyone who knows Williamsburg, knows this is going to be one affair to remember.
Before the Internet, you needed a book agent or a handful of luck if you wanted to spare your novel a slow death in a publisher’s slush pile. But now, with the triple power of the Internet, tablets, and self-publishing platforms, it’s possible for anyone to release a book into the world and do well. Or, even astoundingly well (Fifty Shades of Grey was originally self-published as an e-book and a print-on-demand). But should you do it? Here are ten points to consider—from someone who has self-published—before you take the plunge. Continue reading →
Lexy Funk (Brooklyn Industries) delivering her speech.
Tuesday night, the newly revitalized Greenpoint Chamber of Commerce held its first annual meeting inside the Kickstarter Headquarters, Greenpoint’s pencil factory for the digital age.
More than 200 of the neighborhood’s foremost capitalists, investors, workers, and a smattering of politicians attended the event, which honored Kickstarter as the Community Anchor of the year, and which featured a terrific speech by the supremely well-named Brooklyn Industries co-founder, Lexy Funk. Continue reading →
WEDNESDAY 3/04 * Growing Cities Screening & Fundraiser @ Lutheran Church of the Messiah (129 Russell St) 6pm, $10, The documentary screening will be followed by a panel discussion with NYC urban farmers, More info ♫ A Program of Hip Hop Related Musical Shorts @ Wythe Hotel (80 Wythe Ave) 6:30pm, $15, Charlie Ahearn (director of Wildstyle) presents a curated series of short films, More info # Edible Presents How to Prepare an African Feast @ The Brooklyn Brewery (79 North 11th St) 8pm, $5, Featuring Woézö, NYShuk, and Taste of Ethiopia doing demos and Q&As, plus plenty of tasty samples, More info
WEDNESDAY 2/11 * Poets at the Yard @ The Yard Williamsburg (33 Nassau Ave) 7pm, FREE, Featuring Russell Dillon / Mary Donnelly / Megin Jimenez / Nicholas Adamski, More info
* Verbal Fight Club @ Muchmore’s (2 Havemeyer St) 8:30pm, $?, A space where we can test our own level of endurance and conviction on current issues of great (or little) importance, RSVP * Across the Hall @ The Hive NYC (20 Cook St) 9pm, $15, Adapted from a film of the same name, this play weaves a suspenseful tale of love, trust, and friendship, More info
THURSDAY 2/12 ♦ The Reject Show @ The Living Gallery (1094 Broadway) 5pm, FREE, A group show featuring printmaking, sculpture, painting, digital art, virtual reality art, and more, RSVP
* Flux Thursday @ Flux Factory (39-31 29th St) 8pm, FREE, Flux’s monthly art salon and potluck, featuring presentations by Wieteke Heldens, Kayti Didriksen, Duo Clakula, and the keepers of the Exquisite Contraption, More info ♫ No Smoking Media Presents MUNCHIES @ Muchmore’s (2 Havemeyer St) 8:30pm, FREE, With Veda Rays / Whitewash / Bodega Bay / Young Runner / Lonesome Nick, RSVP
