Brooklyn Historical Society Launches New MOVIE MONDAYS Film Series

Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) introduces "Movie Mondays," a new monthly series of film screenings and discussions. This spring, the series theme is "Making Waves in Film," celebrating the Brooklyn filmmakers who are making waves in cinema today and looks back at the groundbreaking films that paved the way. The series kicks off on Monday, February 2 at 6:30 pm with a screening of "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One," a groundbreaking 1968 film by the legendary African-American filmmaker William Greaves that blends fiction and documentary and remains one of the most insightful deconstructions of filmmaking to date. The film is shot and presented as a cinéma vérité documentary and is most memorable for its multilayered storytelling. Award-winning actor Steve Buscemi will be on hand to introduce the film and a post-screening discussion will follow with Richard Brody of The New Yorker and Shola Lynch, Curator of the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Filmmaker Su Friedrich will moderate the discussion.

In March and April, the series continues as "Making Waves in Film, Then and Now," by partnering with the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective to pair past films with contemporary shorts directed by up and coming Brooklyn filmmakers. Each filmmaker will show his or her short, along with an innovative film of their choice, which has served as inspiration for their work.

On March 2 at 6:30 pm, visitors can catch a screening of the groundbreaking 1961 film "Chronicle of a Summer," a pioneer in the cinéma vérité movement. This screening and discussion will feature filmmakers Alex Mallis and Keith Miller of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective introducing this legendary film and sharing their original nonfiction shorts about race in Brooklyn, "After Trayvon" (Mallis) and "Prince/William" (Miller).

On April 6 at 6:30 pm, BHS will present a screening of "The 400 Blows," a strikingly honest portrayal of childhood and emblem of the French New Wave. Filmmaker Jeremy Engle of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective will introduce this François Truffaut classic and share his New York City coming of age story, "Mosquito."

All screenings are free and open to the public. Feature films are courtesy of Janus Films. More information, tickets and registration for public programs can be found at www.brooklynhistory.org.

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