Brooklyn Historical Society launches ‘Movie Mondays’ film series

Steve Buscemi To Introduce Debut Event

January 7, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Renowned Steve Buscemi will introduce the debut event in Brooklyn Historical Society’s new “Movie Mondays” film series. Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

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Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) is planning to introduce “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 looking back at the films that paved the way.

The series kicks off on Monday, Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. with a screening of “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One,” a groundbreaking 1968 film by the legendary African-American filmmaker William Greaves that blends fiction and documentary . 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 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.

On March 2 at 6:30 p.m., visitors can catch a screening of the 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 p.m., BHS will present a screening of “The 400 Blows,” the debut film of director Francois Truffaut. Filmmaker Jeremy Engle of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective will introduce this classic about a misunderstood adolescent and share his own 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.