THIS FRIDAY, UnionDocs invites you to kick it in their humble backyard.
meet new friends. shamelessly drink free local beer, stuff your face with snacks and dance your pants off.
all proceeds go to UnionDocs’ mission to renovate their yard so we can continue to bring you events like this! bring your friends! your puppies! your aunties!
happy friday.
Hillevi and I are at “THE FLAAAHERTY”. Having arrived, we’ve added a few self-conscious ‘A’s to the film seminar named after explorer and documentarian Robert Flaherty. I only understood the gathering before through its somewhat cultish mythology, prevelant among the few out there who are absolutely committed to daring non-fiction films. It is a week long and has an ambitous and potentially exhausting schedule of screenings and discussions. Unlike a festival or almost all other cultural-binge activity, the films are kept entirely secret until they are screened. It’s like box after box of crackerjacks; you just don’t know what little prize you might get. With the thoughtfulness of this year’s curator, Chi-hui Yang, however, everyone seems to be expecting the best.
I hope to record some thoughts and reflections here over the course of the seminar, but all I can say right now is that it is a total pleasure to be engaged in this attempt at a temporary utopia. Projects with such pure idealist principals seem few and far between these days, especially outside of the academic sphere. But, given an appropriate level of skeptical awareness, I think they can be really transformative experiences. We shall see. Maybe Hillevi will turn into a frog… she noticed they were strangely absent from Colgate’s idylic campus in Hamilton, NY.
Still Lost Bird Music performs “French Lessons”
From the album Sargent Egyptian Girl (on iTunes).
Check out this AIR article. Mentions Kara and her influences, UD being one of them:
http://www.airmedia.org/PageInfo.php?PageID=390
Closeness
Sunday, June 8th, 2pm.
@ UnionDocs
Beginning with found and shared experiences, Cassandra Ritas’ and Rebecca Gopoian’s writings smolder with repressed goodness and liberated ambivalence. Kari Swenson Riely reads Ms. Ritas’ disconcerting and exceptionally suspenseful stories about love. Diane DiCroce will be reading “Two,” Ms. Gopoian’s long poem in tiny pieces, a dark and unconventional meditation on pregnancy.
Refreshments will be served. Free admission.
Seating is limited. RSVP to critas@gmail.com
Diane DiCroce is a professional actor/singer/dancer/director and teacher of Musical Theater Acting and Voice. She is currently a Professor of Musical Theatre at Pace University. Performing credits include Les Miserables (Broadway and National Tour), 42nd Street and My Fair Lady (USA, Canada, East Asia). As a working member of Actors’ Equity Association, Diane has spent the last 15 years performing many roles in Regional and Stock Theatre including: Penelope Pennywise in Urinetown, Cinderella in Into The Woods, Rizzo in Grease, Sister Robert Anne in Nunsense, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof and many others. Directing credits include: My Way (Summerstock, Findlay, Ohio) and Songs for a New World (Seaside Music Theatre/UCF).
Rebecca Gopoian’s poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals including, most recently, jubliat, elimae, Bateau and EOAGH. She has collaborated with her husband, the cartoonist David Heatley, and their comic, “The Creche,” appeared in the New York Times last December. Rebecca was a finalist for the 2005 Marjorie J. Wilson Award for Excellence in Poetry, chosen by Joyce Carol Oates, and a finalist for the Caketrain Chapbook Contest in 2008. She lives with her family in Queens, NY.
Kari Swenson Riely’s recent credits include You Must Believe in Spring (Don’t Tell Mama), Helen (Extant Arts Company), Manhattan Casanova (Hudson Stage), LOL (The New York Fringe Festival), Youthink! Festival (The McCarter Theatre), Intellectuals (The Workshop Theater Company) and the world premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks’ The House of Jones (365 Days/365 Plays at The Public Theater). In addition to being involved with Manhattan Theatre Club acting in their Write on The Edge program, she is a frequent volunteer with The 52nd Street Project. Film: Never Forever, Life in Flight. TV: New Amsterdam.
Cassandra Ritas has performed original work at Under Acme and at Dixon Place as part of their HOT festival, a celebration of queer culture. In addition to fiction, Ms. Ritas has published articles and book chapters about criminal justice, aging, and healthcare policies, and the relationship between community-driven public policy and democracy. She is currently working on a science fiction novel in which a woman becomes a man and the world comes to an end.
On Saturday June 7th, UnionDocs is graciously hosting a sneak peak of the TV Pilot Strings Attached by OVO’s own Ruben Carbajal.
When a long-running public television program is unexpectedly canceled, the perilously dysfunctional lives of the show’s puppet stars are forced to re-invent their careers. A crack-addicted sock, a love child, curdled jealousies, and shameless back-stabbing are just a few of the ingredients of this audacious, fast-paced, and sometimes tasteless comedy. The evening will kick off with the unveiling of short webisodes, followed by a live reading of the pilot. Reception to follow!
Strings Attached
June 7th
5pm Reading
6:30pm Reception
322 Union Ave in Williamsburg
L train to Lorimer / G to Metropolian / J,M,Z to Hewes.
Seating is limited! Please email reachruben@gmail.com for reservations.
Hope to see you there!
Love,
OVO
Ruben Carbajal, Hillevi Loven, Ian Rosenberg, Karen Sorensen, Chris Talbott, Ari Vena
Come celebrate the second season of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective on Thursday, June 5 at Union Docs in Williamsburg. Members will premiere 10 short films inspired by the often-used but rarely questioned phrase “based on a true event.” In addition to the films, festivities include all the beer you can drink for $10 and a live DJ. Proceeds support the group’s ongoing efforts to inspire and promote the best work from Brooklyn-based filmmakers. Union Docs is located at: 322 Union Ave (between Maujer St. and Ten Eyck St.) near the Lorimer L stop/Metropolitan G/Hewes J stops. Doors open at 8:30 pm, films start at 9.
The Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective is tight-knit community of professional filmmakers in Brooklyn, NY who are dedicated to innovative approaches to filmmaking. The collective comes together through weekly peer workshops to provide sustained feedback and critiques throughout the life of its members’ projects. It is the mission of the BFC to inspire groundbreaking films and maximize exposure of the best work from Brooklyn-based filmmakers. Our collective resume includes awards from Sundance, Independent Spirit Awards, Student Academy Awards, and IFP.
For more information, go to brooklynfilmmakerscollective.com
