The Downtown Community Television Center (Dctv) is officially launching its own nonprofit documentary cinema in New York City.
Starting September 23, the Chinatown-based theater Firehouse: Dctv’s Cinema for Documentary Film will offer a dedicated space for documentary films featuring first-run debuts and curated programs, making it one of the few documentary-centric theaters in the world. Dctv was co-founded in 1972 by Academy Award-nominee and documentary stalwart Jon Alpert (“Life of Crime: 1984 – 2020”) and Keiko Tsuno, who both currently serve as the organization’s Co-Executive Directors and who together have received 16 Emmy Awards.
“We used to show our documentaries on the corner of Canal Street from an oíd mail truck we bought for 5,” Alpert and Tsuno said in a joint statement. “We had two black and white TV sets and a sound system that was like two tin cans and a piece of string. It took 50 years to build the Dctv Firehouse Cinema,...
Starting September 23, the Chinatown-based theater Firehouse: Dctv’s Cinema for Documentary Film will offer a dedicated space for documentary films featuring first-run debuts and curated programs, making it one of the few documentary-centric theaters in the world. Dctv was co-founded in 1972 by Academy Award-nominee and documentary stalwart Jon Alpert (“Life of Crime: 1984 – 2020”) and Keiko Tsuno, who both currently serve as the organization’s Co-Executive Directors and who together have received 16 Emmy Awards.
“We used to show our documentaries on the corner of Canal Street from an oíd mail truck we bought for 5,” Alpert and Tsuno said in a joint statement. “We had two black and white TV sets and a sound system that was like two tin cans and a piece of string. It took 50 years to build the Dctv Firehouse Cinema,...
- 8/10/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Moments after cameraman David Myers finished filming a couple having sex in the tall grass at the Woodstock festival in 1969, he happened upon a middle-aged sanitation worker cleaning out an overflowing toilet with a giant suction hose. “It’s hard to keep up,” he says. “I’m glad to do it for these kids. My son’s here, and I got one over in Vietnam too. He’s up in the Dmz right now flyin’ helicopters.” As the Port-o-San man moves on to his next toilet, a tall hippie staggers...
- 8/3/2019
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
I have to admit my knowledge of the modern art world is very limited, and therefore I did not know who Yayoi Kusama is. At the end of this documentary, I have truly regretted my lack of knowledge, because Kusama is not only one of the greatest living artists, but also an extremely interesting individual.
Kusama Infinity is screening at the 8th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
The film explores Yayoi Kusama’s journey from the 30s in Japan, and the turbulent relationship with her family and particularly her mother regarding her wish to become an artist and not to get married, to her move to America after sending fan mail across the sea to Georgia O’Keefe, the meager fame she enjoyed in the 60’s (where she rivaled Andy Warhol for press attention), her activist work during the war in Vietnam which deemed her a persona-non-grata in her hometown,...
Kusama Infinity is screening at the 8th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
The film explores Yayoi Kusama’s journey from the 30s in Japan, and the turbulent relationship with her family and particularly her mother regarding her wish to become an artist and not to get married, to her move to America after sending fan mail across the sea to Georgia O’Keefe, the meager fame she enjoyed in the 60’s (where she rivaled Andy Warhol for press attention), her activist work during the war in Vietnam which deemed her a persona-non-grata in her hometown,...
- 3/29/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
I have to admit my knowledge of the modern art world is very limited, and therefore I did not know who Yayoi Kusama is. At the end of this documentary, I have truly regretted my lack of knowledge, because Kusama is not only one of the greatest living artists, but also an extremely interesting individual.
Kusama Infinity screened at the 8th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
The film explores Yayoi Kusama’s journey from the 30s in Japan, and the turbulent relationship with her family and particularly her mother regarding her wish to become an artist and not to get married, to her move to America after sending fan mail across the sea to Georgia O’Keefe, the meager fame she enjoyed in the 60’s (where she rivaled Andy Warhol for press attention), her activist work during the war in Vietnam which deemed her a persona-non-grata in her hometown,...
Kusama Infinity screened at the 8th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
The film explores Yayoi Kusama’s journey from the 30s in Japan, and the turbulent relationship with her family and particularly her mother regarding her wish to become an artist and not to get married, to her move to America after sending fan mail across the sea to Georgia O’Keefe, the meager fame she enjoyed in the 60’s (where she rivaled Andy Warhol for press attention), her activist work during the war in Vietnam which deemed her a persona-non-grata in her hometown,...
- 1/3/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
- On HBO tonight, I'll finally have the opportunity to catch a docu film that I managed to miss at Sundance. Hart and Dana Perry's Boy Interrupted tells the heartbreaking story of Evan Perry: the heart-wrenching profile of a family torn apart. Using footage of their son Evan – taken from the moment of his birth throughout childhood and adolescence and supplemented by interviews with family, friends, doctors and teachers, Dana and Hart Perry share the intensely personal story of every parent’s worst nightmare: the death of a child by suicide. Casual and innocuous before his death, the home movies provide a visual record of Evan’s life, and help create an intimate portrait of this vibrant, troubled young man.. I'll be featuring the remaining films in HBO Documentary Films Summer Series - (9:00-10:30 p.m. Et/Pt). ...
- 8/3/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Seventh Art Releasing
NEW YORK -- Filmmaker Hart Perry, who among his voluminous credits served as the cameraman for Barbara Kopple's award-winning labor documentaries "Harlan County, U.S.A". and "American Dream", puts his experience to good use with this engrossing portrait of the plight of Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas. Although a bit scattered in focus and occasionally lacking needed narrative punch, "Valley of Tears" is an ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts. The film is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
The film actually takes place over a more than 20-year period, beginning with footage shot in 1979 by Perry when he was commissioned by the Texas Farm Workers Union to document a strike by Mexican-American onion pickers in the town of Raymondville. Frustrated by low pay and harsh conditions, the workers struck against the area's largest farmer, but their efforts eventually came to naught.
Perry returned to the area years later, for a second chapter illustrating the efforts of Latino parents to improve education conditions for their children, with the focus being a contentious school board election in which their candidate finally lost. In the final chapter, the filmmaker concentrates on Juan Gerra, the area's ambitious and socially conscious Mexican-American district attorney.
Including numerous interviews with both Latinos and the town's often hostile Anglos, the film strikes a considerable balance even while clearly delineating where its sympathies are. At times, the episodic approach is counterproductive, but the portrait of the town over a considerable amount of time well illustrates both the positive changes that have occurred and the many areas in which things have deteriorated. Ultimately, "Valley of Tears" leaves one both saddened and cautiously optimistic.ections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- Filmmaker Hart Perry, who among his voluminous credits served as the cameraman for Barbara Kopple's award-winning labor documentaries "Harlan County, U.S.A". and "American Dream", puts his experience to good use with this engrossing portrait of the plight of Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas. Although a bit scattered in focus and occasionally lacking needed narrative punch, "Valley of Tears" is an ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts. The film is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
The film actually takes place over a more than 20-year period, beginning with footage shot in 1979 by Perry when he was commissioned by the Texas Farm Workers Union to document a strike by Mexican-American onion pickers in the town of Raymondville. Frustrated by low pay and harsh conditions, the workers struck against the area's largest farmer, but their efforts eventually came to naught.
Perry returned to the area years later, for a second chapter illustrating the efforts of Latino parents to improve education conditions for their children, with the focus being a contentious school board election in which their candidate finally lost. In the final chapter, the filmmaker concentrates on Juan Gerra, the area's ambitious and socially conscious Mexican-American district attorney.
Including numerous interviews with both Latinos and the town's often hostile Anglos, the film strikes a considerable balance even while clearly delineating where its sympathies are. At times, the episodic approach is counterproductive, but the portrait of the town over a considerable amount of time well illustrates both the positive changes that have occurred and the many areas in which things have deteriorated. Ultimately, "Valley of Tears" leaves one both saddened and cautiously optimistic.ections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Seventh Art Releasing
NEW YORK -- Filmmaker Hart Perry, who among his voluminous credits served as the cameraman for Barbara Kopple's award-winning labor documentaries "Harlan County, U.S.A". and "American Dream", puts his experience to good use with this engrossing portrait of the plight of Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas. Although a bit scattered in focus and occasionally lacking needed narrative punch, "Valley of Tears" is an ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts. The film is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
The film actually takes place over a more than 20-year period, beginning with footage shot in 1979 by Perry when he was commissioned by the Texas Farm Workers Union to document a strike by Mexican-American onion pickers in the town of Raymondville. Frustrated by low pay and harsh conditions, the workers struck against the area's largest farmer, but their efforts eventually came to naught.
Perry returned to the area years later, for a second chapter illustrating the efforts of Latino parents to improve education conditions for their children, with the focus being a contentious school board election in which their candidate finally lost. In the final chapter, the filmmaker concentrates on Juan Gerra, the area's ambitious and socially conscious Mexican-American district attorney.
Including numerous interviews with both Latinos and the town's often hostile Anglos, the film strikes a considerable balance even while clearly delineating where its sympathies are. At times, the episodic approach is counterproductive, but the portrait of the town over a considerable amount of time well illustrates both the positive changes that have occurred and the many areas in which things have deteriorated. Ultimately, "Valley of Tears" leaves one both saddened and cautiously optimistic.ections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- Filmmaker Hart Perry, who among his voluminous credits served as the cameraman for Barbara Kopple's award-winning labor documentaries "Harlan County, U.S.A". and "American Dream", puts his experience to good use with this engrossing portrait of the plight of Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas. Although a bit scattered in focus and occasionally lacking needed narrative punch, "Valley of Tears" is an ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts. The film is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theater.
The film actually takes place over a more than 20-year period, beginning with footage shot in 1979 by Perry when he was commissioned by the Texas Farm Workers Union to document a strike by Mexican-American onion pickers in the town of Raymondville. Frustrated by low pay and harsh conditions, the workers struck against the area's largest farmer, but their efforts eventually came to naught.
Perry returned to the area years later, for a second chapter illustrating the efforts of Latino parents to improve education conditions for their children, with the focus being a contentious school board election in which their candidate finally lost. In the final chapter, the filmmaker concentrates on Juan Gerra, the area's ambitious and socially conscious Mexican-American district attorney.
Including numerous interviews with both Latinos and the town's often hostile Anglos, the film strikes a considerable balance even while clearly delineating where its sympathies are. At times, the episodic approach is counterproductive, but the portrait of the town over a considerable amount of time well illustrates both the positive changes that have occurred and the many areas in which things have deteriorated. Ultimately, "Valley of Tears" leaves one both saddened and cautiously optimistic.ections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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