"Niche movie theaters: Maysles Cinema" "This nonprofit Harlem theater is devoted to nonfiction programming, just as you'd expect from founder Albert Maysles, who with his late brother directed documentary classics such as Grey Gardens. Perfect for: Doc lovers who relish the chance to talk to filmmakers postscreening. Go see: The Maysles Cinema is going dark for a few weeks, but returns after Labor Day; check out Philip Solomon's experimental American Falls on Sept 17 at 7:30pm. "
- Alison Willmore, Time Out New York, August 24, 2011 "
Read More>
"Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser "
"Jazz aficionado Clint Eastwood exec-produced this tribute to the legendary pianist, chock-full of stunning '60s concert footage."
- Time Out New York Original Article>
"Filmmakers Head to the Country, in Several Countries" "...Summer Pasture, a highlight of the festival (the film is scheduled to open on Aug. 15 at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem), is both an elegy for a dying way of life and a portrait of an amazingly resilient marriage. The real takeaway for a farm kid, though, was that all the rashes I got from handling chemical fertilizers didn't seem so bad once I had watched a Tibetan woman spreading out, by hand, huge piles of yak manure to dry. "
- Mike Hale, The New York Times
August 4, 2011 Read More>
"Summer Pasture" ""It's not good to do nothing. You should always be busy." And so Yama is. A Tibetan nomad who's spending yet another summer in Dzachukha, Sichuan Province, China....Yama doesn't need to seek work, as she reveals throughout the remarkable documentary, Summer Pasture—made by Lynn True, Nelson Walker, and Tsering Perlo, and premiering at Maysles Cinema 15 August. "
- Cynthia Fuchs , PopMatters, August 15, 2011 9/10 star review Read More>
"Summer Pasture
Dir. Lynn True, Nelson Walker & Tsering Perlo " "To receive a nomination for the Gotham Independent Film Awards in the category “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” is a bittersweet honor, perhaps mediated by an increased hope for theatrical distribution (last year’s winner, Ry Russo-Young’s You Won't Miss Me is finally in theaters a year later). I hope such a fate befalls the documentary Summer Pasture, an interesting and rich portrait of nomadic life among a Tibetan yak-herding family."
- Susanna Locascio, Tiny Mix Tapes Read More>
"A Life Herding Yaks, Modernity on the Horizon" "Locho and Yama, the Tibetan couple who are the focus of the enthralling documentary "Summer Pasture," are nomadic herders pursuing a way of life that has changed little over 4,000 years. For all the hardship they endure, this intimate dual portrait, directed by Lynn True and Nelson Walker, with Tsering Perlo, suggests that their lives are neither more nor less fulfilled than those of any highly stressed upper-middle-class Americans. "
- Stephen Holden, The New York Times
August 14, 2011 *NY TIMES CRITICS PICK Read More>
"Summer Pasture
(Documentary -- U.S.-China-Tibet)" "Across the green velvet hills and sweeping grassland of eastern Tibet, nomads have moved along with the seasons for 4,000 years. Whether they'll last another 20 is the question in "Summer Pasture," a remarkably intimate docu woven out of tradition and change, and the endearing subjects who contend with both. Avoidance of any political issues will likely derail interest among free-Tibet factions, but Lynn True and Nelson Walker's portrait is rich in anthropological value. An extended festival run seems likely before cable play."
- John Anderson, Variety,
August 3, 2011 Read More>
"Los Labios Film Review: Slant Magazine" "Stories about collective suffering usually become a slave to their own self-importance, or even worse, a faux-pulpit for the self-congratulatory viewer looking for emotional relief. Los Labios actually finds a sense of freedom within the tragic realities and incomplete perceptions of its brave women immersed in difficult work."
-Slant Magazine, June 16, 2011 Read More>
"What's Showing Today? Monday, June 13" "The June offering of Maysles Cinema's bi-monthly Documentary in Bloom program begins its weeklong run tonight. The Lips is a 2010 Cannes Un Certain Regard pick about three community care workers in an impoverished rural South American village. Though the women are played by actresses, much of the film is apparently nonfiction with an empathetic look at the inhabitants of its remote settings."
-Screen Slate, June 13, 2011 Read More>
"Los Labios" "Actually, this is a film that flies high and allows itself to discover and narrate lives, taking a chance with pain and the small joys while stuck right down in the dirt (a dirt that can have the innocence of play and the nobility of liberation), and which tells its story by framing reality in a way that thoroughly fragments a whole they resend us to with modesty and respect."
-IndieWire, June , 2011 Read More>
"Under the Influence of Le Tigre: Time Out New York" "Director Kerthy Fix plays Pennebaker to the feminist indie-pop trio of Kathleen Hanna, Joanna Fateman and JD Samson in the 2010 doc Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour, which screens tonight. Then Fix, Hanna and Fateman answer your questions. "
-Time Out New York, June, 2011 Read More>
"The Lips (Los Labios): Finding A Way" "The film, written and directed by Iván Fund and Santiago Loza, is part fiction and part documentary, its combination of professional and nonprofessional actors blurring the line, expanding the ways that stories can work. The women don't talk very much among themselves, but they don't need to: what they see and share is intricate and repeatedly arduous. "
- Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters, June 13, 2011 Read More>
"Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour - release day Q&A"
"Cannes Award Winner 'The Lips' Premieres at Harlem's Unique Maysles Cinema" "The Lips (Los Labios), an award winning feature film from Argentina, will debut at Harlem's Maysles Cinema as a highlight of its Documentary In Bloom film series, for one week beginning June 13th. Co-directed by Ivan Fund and Santiago Losa, The Lips won the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Certain Regard Award for Best Actress, a prize shared by the three ensemble lead actresses, Adela Sanchez, Eva Bianco, and Victoria Raposo. "
- Prairie Miller, News Blaze, June 11, 2011 Read More>
"The Subterranean Homelessness Blues" "In 2000, the black-and-white documentary "Dark Days" shined a light on about 100 New Yorkers who literally lived out of sight and out of mind. Deep in a disused Amtrak tunnel beneath the west side of Manhattan, homeless men and women inhabited jerry-built huts, living off scraps and siphoning electricity to cook and brighten the way. Their resilience, ingenuity and tenacity were extraordinary, even as their subterranean circumstances seemed an all-too-apt expression of this city's conflicted relationship with its least fortunate. "
- Nicolas Rapold, Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2011 Read More>
"A Little Lipstick Soothes Poverty's Rawness" "A small film with a gigantic heart, The Lips casts a spell far greater than its modest narrative. Shadowing three government social workers (perfectly embodied by Victoria Raposo, Eva Bianco and Adela Sanchez) on a trip deep into the impoverished Argentine countryside, this affecting merger of fact and fiction unfolds so naturally that the line between becomes immaterial. "
- Jeannette Catsouluis, The New York Times, June 12, 2011 Read More>
"Local film festivals: Brooklyn Film Festival, Cinefest Petrobas Brasil, Gen Art Film Festival" "If you're feeling nostalgic, you might also consider the Maysles Institute's yearly Grey Gardens celebration (mayslesinstitute.org). The weekend program, which includes documentaries like "Beyond This Place," about a man reconciling with his hippie dad, winds up with-what else?-"Grey Gardens," Albert and David Maysles' 1975 documentary about the notorious Beale sisters and their decaying Hamptons home."
- Elizabeth Weitzman, NY Daily News, June 10, 2011 Read More>
"Social Work: Three Women Attempt to Understand One Argentinean Village in The Lips" "With a decaying former hospital as their base of operations, three social workers survey an unnamed Argentinean backwater, tallying cases of malnutrition and how many children sleep to a room. Co-directors Iván Fund and Santiago Loza emphasize the distance between these women and the community they're charged with assisting "
- Benjamin Mercer, The Village Voice, June 8, 2011 Read More>
"Grey Gardens: Family Style" "Nothing like a little family style to kick off the weekend. From June 10 through 12, The Third Annual Grey Gardens Staunch Fest celebrates staunch families on film. Specifically, the 1976 documentary Grey Gardens by (appropriately enough) brothers Albert and David Maysles features a mother and daughter who prove that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. "
- City Arts, June 9, 2011 Read More>
"Date With the Night: Crushing on Kathleen Hanna" "I'm one of those people who thinks women are often hardest on each other, but the heady mix of my third beer with Fateman's optimism made it feel, for at least one evening, like girls really are, and always have been, secretly in charge. "
- Lizzy Goodman, MTV Hive, June 9, 2011 Read More>
"The Beales of Grey Gardens at the Maysles Cinema." "The 3rd Annual Grey Gardens Festival at the Maysles Cinema will be featuring the great documentaries that made the Maysles Brothers famous. The cult movie about Jackie Onassis' eccentric relatives living on their declining estate called Grey Gardens has been made into a Broadway play and an HBO movie in the past few years so check out the follow-up film by the director who lives in Harlem. "
-Harlem+ Bespoke Blog, June 7, 2011 Read More>
"Kavery Kaul's 'Back Walking Forward' - June Screenings" "Kaul's famously intimate and character-driven approach to filmmaking is forceful in Back Walking Forward, telling the story of Eric, who at age 19 was derailed in an auto accident and who, at age 33, is trying to learn to walk again. "
- Jennifer Merin, About.com , June 6, 2011 Site>
"'Fresh': They're Comfortable and They Eat" ""Chickens," says Joel Salatin, are our "fellow workers, alongside of us. We allow them to fully express their chickenness." Salatin knows from chickenness—as well as cowness, pigness, and tomoatoness, all part of an essential balance that industrial farming disrupts daily."
- Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters , June 6, 2011 Site>
"'Who Took The Bomp' mention in NY Post" "Le Tigre, the electro-punk, feminist trio, hits the road in Karthy Fix's amusing "Who Took the Bomp?" (2010), which will be shown Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Maysles Cinema. Fix follows the rockers -- Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman and JD Samson -- during their yearlong, four-continent tour in support of their album 'This Island'."
- V.A. Musetto, New York Post , June 4, 2011 Site>
'Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour screening with Le Tigre & director Q&A'" "While the band remains on hiatus, Le Tigre fans have a reason to come out of hibernation for at least one night: a special screening of Kerthy Fix's entertaining documentary Who Took the Bomp? Tailing the self-consciously feminist electro-pop trio during their final tour in 2004, the film is full of humorous anecdotes and commentary that give insight into each member's personality. In addition to filmmaker Fix, Le Tigre members Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman are on hand for a post-screening Q&A."
- Mindy Bond, Flavorpill , *Editor's Pick* June, 2011 Site>
" The Harlem International Film Festival (Hi!)is proud to present a special screening of Juliano Mer Khamis' award-winning film, ARNA'S CHILDREN" "This tribute celebrates the life and work of award-winning filmmaker Juliano Mer Khamis - actor, director, humanist and freedom fighter - who would have turned 53 years-old on May 29. He was tragically shot and killed last month by a masked assailant in front of his pregnant wife, while he held his one year-old son in his arms, right outside the theater that he and his mother established to cultivate creativity, critical thinking and hope in Palestinian children living inside the virtual prison of Jenin Refugee Camp."
- Harlem International Film Festival, June 2011 Site>
"VIDEO: DJ Hollywood on the Origins of Hip-Hop"
"On April 28, 2011, ego trip (along with Andreas Vingaard) presented a screening of the award-winning documentary film White Lines & The Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug at the esteemed Maysles Cinema in Harlem."
-Egotripland, May 18, 2011 Link>
"Film Scoring: Gary Meister of Naturalistic on Composing for "Concrete Steel and Paint" " "
The film's creators describe Concrete – which Robert Koehler of the Huffington Post called "an extraordinary documentary" – this way: "When men in a Pennsylvania prison join with victims of crime to create a mural about healing, their views on punishment, remorse, and forgiveness collide. "
- David Weiss,Sonic Scoop, May 17, 2011 Link>
"SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM "
- Alt Screen, Editors Pick; Also recommended, May 14, 2011 Link>
"Black X: African Diaspora Experimental Film Series In NYC This Weekend" "Black experimental filmmakers and films don't get a lot of love it seems… I remember, several years ago, an African American college professor of mine, sharing a story to us during a lecture, about his entries into an experimental film showcase, and being met with a perplexed reception when the organizers and audiences realized that the filmmaker whose films they were watching, was black… because, for some reason, black filmmakers aren't expected to be working within the experimental genre.
"
- IndieWire , May 12, 2011 Read more>
"In The Face Of Adversity, An Evening Of Celebration" "When the Maysles Institute in Harlem screened "Waiting for 'Superman'" the first weekend in April, they paired it with an early cut of our response. I led a discussion after one of the screenings and the feedback was incredibly positive. Attendees said GEM's fact-based analysis caused them to completely re-think what they had heard in the original movie.
"
-Liza Campbell Gotham Schools , May 11, 2011 Read more>
"A Harlem Mother" screens at Maysles' Cinema in NYC" "On Wednesday, April 27th Beyond Bullets took part in a screening at Maysles Cinema in Harlem. It was an honor to screen Bullets in the Hood at such an esteemed community space which was founded by renowned filmmaker Albert Maysles.
"
--Ivana Todorovic IvanaTodorovic.com , May 10, 2011 Read more>
"Octubre" | "Caterpillar" | "Bananas!*" "Este lunes se dará en Harlem una presentación especial de un documental político.
En el cine Maysles se va a dar el filme "Bananas!*", que se centra en un caso judicial donde trabajadores nicaragüenses demandaron a una compañía multinacional que opera en su país.
Después de la presentación de la película, que sale la pronto en DVD, estará presente el director de la cinta, Fredrik Gertten.
"
-Jerónimo Rodríguez NY1 Noticias , May 8, 2011 Read more>
"Bananas: Monday, May 9th - Editor's Pick " Alt Screen Website, May 7, 2011 "An extremely well crafted film…This is life. This is litigation. This is a front row seat to a history making event, that of third world claimants being heard as plaintiffs for the first time in a U.S. Court. That in and of itself makes this film worthwhile…And as with all good documentaries, it raises questions – and not just about the legal turmoil – but about corporate responsibility, ethics and human rights.
" -Debbie Lynn Elias for n:zone magazine
"Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten's exploration of the case of Nicaraguan banana plantation workers against Dole generated headlines before its scheduled world premiere in competition at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival when Dole threatened to sue both Gertten and the LAFF for slander.
" -What Not to Doc; May 5, 2011
"White Lines & the Fever & SBX! at Maysles Cinema"
"Last Thursday evening we closed out our hip-hop film series at the Maysles Cinema with screenings of White Lines & the Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug, and SBX! Holding Down the Tradition.
" -Egotripland; May 2, 2011
"Thank You Maysles Cinema!" "On Wednesday, April 27th Beyond Bullets took part in a screening at Maysles Cinema in Harlem. It was an honor to screen Bullets in the Hood at such an esteemed community space which was founded by renowned filmmaker Albert Maysles."
-Beyond Bullets, Downtown Community Television Center
"NY African Film Festival Resumes April 29th - May 1st at Maysles Cinema"
"Doc Watchers presents the next leg of the 18th Annual New York African Film Festival, April 29 through May 1st at the Maysles Cinema. The event includes the US Premiere of Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children and Q&A's with Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Xoliswa Sithole after the 7:30pm screenings
" -Words Like Whoa; April 28, 2011
"Kati With an I: Full of Difficult, Non-Trivial Choices" "Uneven and earnest, subtle and beguiling, Kati With an I reflects [Kati's] experience without judging it, and suggests a context without overstating it.
"
-Cynthia Fuchs(PopMatters Film and TV editor) PopMatters, April 8, 2011 Read more>
"Kati with an I" "This beguiling, intimate documentary portrait of a young Alabama teen and her coming of age takes the ordinary and makes something uniquely cinematic out of it, thanks to Greene's welcome flair for the poetic. ."
- New York Magazine, *Critics Pick*, Week of April 8, 2011 Read more>
"Awakened Identities" "A moving vérité portrait of an Alabama teenager during the 72 hours before her high-school graduation, this documentary won the Gotham Awards 2010 prize for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You. Well, now it is. As part of curator Livia Bloom's bimonthly series devoted to new documentaries, "Kati With an I," by New York filmmaker Robert Greene, gets a weeklong run, with bittersweet glimpses of a young life in transition that owes little to polished MTV realities..."Kati" shares a bill with Peggy Ahwesh's experimental 2010 short film "The Third Body," which uses NASA video from the 1980s to juxtapose the realms of faith and science. Mr. Greene will be present at Friday and Saturday screenings. "
-Steve Dollar Wallstreet Journal , April 7, 2011 Read more>
"A Girl Moves Toward Adulthood" "Taking its own sweet time to release information, Kati With an I, Robert Greene's endearing documentary about a strong-willed Southern girl's transition to adulthood, finds virtue in vagueness and significance in the everyday... Buoyed by a fully integrated soundtrack, Kati With an I delivers a lovingly personal observation of young people at a crossroads. The film's sound is not always crisp, but no matter: Kati's story is written in every vital, vérité frame."
- Jeannette Catsouluis, The New York Times, *Critics Pick* April 7, 2011 Read more>
"Kati with an I" "There's a strange and probably impossible purity to Kati with an I, Robert Greene's first documentary feature (his second, Fake It So Real, is currently on the festival circuit). Impossible because it's a contemporary story about young love that doesn't display or refer to any text messages or emails or Facebook, because it makes a Red Jumpsuit Apparatus song sort of make you want to cry, and because its central tension feels so profoundly earnest..."
-Christopher Gray Slant Magazine, April 6, 2011 Read more>
"PHOTOS: "Writing On the Wall" & "Rap City" at the Maysles Cinema" Follow the link for photos of the event!
- Egotripland, April 5, 2011 Read more>
"Kati with an I" "A smart teen girl about to graduate from high school faces an uncertain future in Robert Greene's sensitive if somewhat messy docu, "Kati With an I." As if shot from the p.o.v. of one of Kati Genthner's girlfriends, Greene's film heightens the chaos that runs through everyday life, occasionally shifting to clips from Genthner's childhood in the small town of Jacksonville, Ala. With a following built on the fest circuit, pic's weeklong run, starting Friday at New York's Maysles Cinema, could kick-start a grassroots national tour."
- Robert Koehler, Variety, April 3, 2011 Read more>
"Adam Bhala Lough Q&A on "The Upsetter: The Life & Music of Lee Scratch Perry"
- wwwhatsup "punkcast 1886", April 3, 2011
"Kati with an I and Circo" "...The reason I love "Kati" and docs like it are that it unfolds an experience without me knowing what's going to happen, if anything. Just like life. Fortunately, there are some interesting developments, much of them subtle and slowly established, throughout."
-Christopher Campbell Indie Wire, March 31, 2011 Read more>
"Q&A: Blake "KEO" Lethem, Graf Legend & Original White Rapper" "Directed by Sandra King, originally aired on New Jersey public television, and rarely seen in full since, Writing On the Wall chronicles the adventures of Brick City graf writer Micah HAKIM Kelly's VOS (Vandals On the Street) crew. But perhaps the film's most intriguing point of historical significance is its footage of a young Blake Lethem, a/k/a KEO X-MEN, a/k/a Lord Scotch, a/k/a Scotch 79 – graf writer, visual artist, emcee – during his tenure with VOS."Egotripland, March 30, 2011 original article>
"Some Will Rob You with a Fountain Pen " "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer had inaugurated True Crime the previous evening, and there is double irony in that the now-TV face and disgraced former New York State attorney general and governor speaks often in this second offering: "double" in that, after audience guffaws at a juxtaposition of high-end business-expense call girls and his appearance, his is among the saner voices of knowledge, warning and meaningful suggestions. Personal foibles, he pleads, are not the equivalent of swindle and cynicism..." Review of Inside Job screening as part of the True Crime NY series by Donald Levit, Reel Talk - Movie Reviews, March, 2011 original article>
"Doc Talk: What's the Most Important Ethical Concern for Documentary Today?" "… Filmmaker Robert Greene agrees that documentary as journalism "is a flawed, limited thing," even while admitting that the legal controversy with 'Crude' is a serious issue and highlighting 'Restrepo' as a great example of the "new journalism" documentary. "I don't want my films called 'journalism,' he says. "There's too many decisions made for story and cinematic purposes in the best nonfiction films for them to be considered 'journalism.' And thank god for that."
Greene, whose excellent verite film about his half-sister, 'Kati with an I,' opens in NYC next Friday, concludes that above all "you have to tell the truth, even if it takes manipulation, editing and 'directing' to get you there." … "
-Christopher Campbell blog by Moviefone's Cinematical blog, March 30, 2011 Read more>
"Writing On the Wall" Documentary: HAKIM In His Own Words" " With next week's screenings in our "Under the Influence of ego trip Pt. 2" film series approaching we reached out to HAKIM (aka Micah Kelly) – featured artist in the film Writing On the Wall – to reflect back on his memories of the Newark graf scene, and share his thoughts on the 1986 documentary in his own words. Interview and PIX after the jump… "
- Egotripland, March 23, 2011 Link>
ADAM BHALA LOUGH AND ETHAN HIGBEE, 'THE UPSETTER' " Widely revered in reggae and hip-hop circles, Lee "Scratch" Perry is one of 20th century music's most influential and mysterious artists, a tried-and-true rasta man whose lasting contribution goes beyond spawning some of reggae's most seminal acts. He was, in fact, the driver for the aesthetic
innovations that germinated into the two genres mentioned above, and he reinvented the image of the studio engineer from mere technician to artistic focal point.
Now in his mid seventies and expatriated to Switzerland, he's the subject of the feature-length doc The Upsetter, from the
directors Adam Bhala Lough (The Carter, Weapons) and Ethan Higbee (Red Apples Falling). "
- Brandon Harris, Filmmaker Magazine, March 23, 2011 Link>
"Night Catches Us at the House of Maysles" "With cinema vérité master Albert Maysles filming, those of us who packed the Maysles Cinema last night experienced Night Catches Us, a film by Tanya Hamilton, as well as a post-screening Q&A with Hamilton and Jamal Joseph, Associate Professor and Chair at Columbia University School of the Arts (Film), writer, director, poet, and one of the youngest members of the Black Panther Party. Added to that were audience members who were also Panthers, contributing to the heart-felt and hard-hitting discussion about making film that is more art than entertainment and what it was like to be a member of the Black Panthers in the heat of it. [...]Go to the Maysles Cinema. It's a great place for some revolutionary inspiration."
- glowinski, Across 106th Street blog, March 20, 2011 read more>
"Waking Lives, Dream States" "Every other month, freelance film curator Livia Bloom presents new documentaries for a weeklong run at this Harlem temple to nonfiction cinema in all its forms. The series leads off with two quite different approaches to memory, family and place. First, New York underground film legend Ken Jacobs offers the short piece "Today Was a Scorcher." The brief effort revisits a family trip to Rome in the 1970s, in which ambient travel footage is made over into stroboscopic visual loops, at once hypnotic and heightened in perception. Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari's variations on the home movie look practically stately in comparison. His recent "Port of Memory" turns its focus on his family, facing the prospect of losing its home, applying a lyrical, contemplative camera to a mix of documentary and fictive narrative techniques. Mr. Aljafari will be present for Q&A sessions on Friday and Saturday."
- Steve Dollar, The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 11, 2011 original article>
"Port of Memory: An Oblique Demi-Documentary With Surprisingly Vivid Images" "An oblique, impressionist portrait of Arabs living in Jaffa, Kamal Aljafari's Port of Memory is only an hour long, but quietly and atmospherically touches on the Kiarostamian Uncertainty Principle, with Aljafari liberally corrupting his demi-documentary with scripted dialogue, rehearsals, and even digital effects. [...] Accompanying the film are Aljafari's silent doc short Balconies (a diptych rumination on the balconied vestiges of Ramle) and Ken Jacobs's magical The Day Was a Scorcher, which subtly fragments and reincarnates family photos from a '70s Rome excursion into a shuttering, 3-D valentine to the master's family."
- Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice, February 9, 2011 read more>
"Albert Maysles, Moving Up In The World" "Philip and his colleague Jessica Green schedule the films together (pictured above sandwiching the Young Harlem Award). 'My background in hip hop and media mesh well with Philip's fine art sensibilities,' said Jessica.
'We're the only cinema in the city showing documentaries exclusively,' said Albert. 'It helps to put Harlem on the (film industry) map.'"
- Yolande Brener, Harlem World blog, February 12, 2011 read more>
"Black History Month: Celebrate African-American heritage at these events" Time Out NY features our listings - Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts and The Cool World (Feb. 5), Doc Watcher's screening of Prep School Negro (Feb. 7), and National Jazz Museum's Jazz on Film screening (Feb. 8) in their recommendations for celebrating Black History Month! "A relative newcomer to the uptown art-house scene, this 55-seat cinema (cofounded by Oscar-nominated documentarian Albert Maysles) seeks to honor its neighbors by letting its patrons participate in the programming..."
- Article by Jennifer M. Wood,Time Out New York, February 1, 2011 Read >
"HW Weekend Picks: Black History Month At Maysles" Yola!Africa's celebration of the work of Congolese director Petna Katondolo's work and Under the Influence Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts: The Cool World screening are also Harlem World contributor Yolande Brener's picks for the first weekend in February, 2011.
- Article by Jennifer M. Wood,Time Out New York, February 1, 2011 Read >
"It's the Dog That's Racist: Discovering the legend of White Dog"
Racialicious' "Sexual Correspondent" Andrea (AJ) Plaid blogs about the Jan 21 screening of and discussion following White Dog presented by the ego trip collective: "...Exiting the theater that night, I noted the strange irony—and hope—of the series being housed in an indie theater located in the nexus of white-gentrifying Harlem. Perhaps this series is a good tonic, if not a great meeting point, for whites and the PoCs left in Harlem to gather to talk about the transitioning nabe and how well-off whites gentrifying it isn't simply viewed as a 'the neighborhood changing' so much as a blithe takeover, fortified by unaddressed white privilege, of a perceived spiritual and physical home of some Black people and our allies in the US and the world."
- By Andrea (AJ) Plaid, Racialicious blog, February 3, 2011 Read the full article>
"white dog / samuel fuller / 1982" "when i saw the email from jeff mao: "ego trip Presents WHITE DOG @ Maysles Institute 2morrow Nite!" i couldn't believe it! what a combination! [...] what strikes me most is how relevant race remains and what i like about egotrip is their progressive, provocative approach to racism and the combination of egotrip and maysles is so perfect. perfect because the maysles' between their works and efforts promote dialogue and understanding and egotrip represents the pulse of today's pop culture [...]the discussion reignited a fire in me. [...] i paid the maysles suggested donation of $10 but the evening was priceless."
- by Nicole Nech, 'Nichole Nech: Justments from Motion Pictures, Music and Books' blog, January 22, 2011 Read the full article>
"Congo: My Country" "When scheduling Lumumba on the fiftieth anniversary of the murder of that now-rehabilitated Congo/Zaïre leader, Maysles Cinema had not realized that January 17 would appropriately coincide with Martin Luther King Day. Cosponsored with Friends of the Congo, the Raoul Peck biopic had been featured two years ago in the theater's Congo in Harlem and, as noted in introductory remarks, is 'not one-hundred percent accurate.'" Review of Maysles Cinema's screening of Raul Peck's biopic Lumumba, by Donald Levit, Reel Talk - Movie Reviews, November 2010 read more>
"His Name is Albert Ayler" The New Yorker's film critic, Richard Brody, blogged about this screening - calling My Name is Albert Ayler "a superb jazz documentary—one not available on DVD".
- Richard Brody, The New Yorker "Front Row" blog, Jan. 20, 2011 Read the full article >
"White Dog" The Village Voice's film critic, Jim Hoberman's "Voice Choice": "Filmed in headlines, framed as allegory, Sam Fuller's last great movie combines hard-boiled sentimentality and hysterical violence, sometimes in the same take"
- Jim Hoberman, The Village Voice, January 2011 read more>
"Year in Film: Culture High" Maysles Cinema gets two mentions in this article about the multitude of venues and approaches to showing films in NYC, in spite of economic woes. From the article - "Livia Bloom, guest curator, Maysles Cinema: ...You could say that Maysles Cinema only has video projection, only has 50 seats, but that's an advantage for a lot of reasons. There are a lot of films that are only available digitally, and look better on that screen and in that setting."
- Read the full article>
Edward O Bland's Cry of Jazz and Maysles Brother's Grey Gardens added to National Film Registry! Cry of Jazz, a lesser-known film we showed twice last year introduced once by film critic Armond White and once by Cry of Jazz director Edward O. Bland has made it into the National Film Registry (read an audience member review of the screening and Armond White led discussion here). Albert and David Maysles' 1976 documentary Grey Gardens, which is the centerpiece of our annual "Staunch!" Festival also made the list.
- Read the full list>
"Maysles Movie Center Among Grant Winners" "The Maysles Institute, the Harlem organization that runs a documentary movie house and community filmmaking classes, was one of 13 nonprofit organizations to receive a grant at the 2010 Union Square Awards on Friday. Among the diverse arts groups to be honored—with interests ranging from legal aid for immigrants to traditional Peruvian dance—the Maysles Institute was the only recipient focused on film exhibition and related education..."
- Nicolas Rapold, The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 6, 2010 Read more>
"Union Square Award Recipients Announced" "The Union Square Awards, a project of the Tides Center, has announced cash prizes totaling $545,000 to thirteen grassroots organizations in New York City working to strengthen low-income communities in the city's five boroughs...Recipients include...the Maysles Institute, which integrates documentary film screenings and community educational programs that emphasize stories and issues not presented in mainstream media..."
- Philanthropy News Digest, Dec. 2, 2010 (a service of the Foundation Center) Read more>
"A Song for the Genius Child" Review of Maysles Cinema's screening of Tamra Davis' documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, by Donald Levit, Reel Talk - Movie Reviews, November 2010 read more>
"Direct from the USSR" "With introductions and Q&As by their major director-participants on two days, Maysles Cinema recently presented four rare short documentaries. Pioneer octogenarians DA Pennebaker and Albssert Maysles reminisced and responded to questions during "The Thaw: Proto-Verity in the Soviet Union," a Malek Rasamny-Matt Peterson/Red Channels-Brecht Forum. The sessions touched on personal objectives and experiences, on technique and cinema history, and on politicians and plain folks during the brief window of pre-glasnost Cold War détente following Stalin's death..." - Donald Levit, Reel Talk - Movie Reviews, November 2010 read more>
"Bobbito Garcia's Playground B-Ball Film Festival:
Playground legends hit the big screen this past weekend." "This past weekend, Harlem played host to a one of a kind film festival; one that was dedicated to playground basketball. The four-night event took viewers through some of the best films of streetball to ever be documented. NYC blacktop legend Bobbito Garcia aka Kool Bob Love was responsible for putting it all together...'"
- By Franklyn Calle, Slam Online: Your Source for the Best in Basketball, Nov. 3rd, 2010 read more>
"Where Ignorant Armies Clash " "Eleven years old now and released in Europe in 2001, Africa in Pieces: The Tragedy of the Great Lakes/L'Afrique en Morceaux...has its first-ever American showing during documentary Maysles Cinema's second annual Congo in Harlem series. A following panel and Q&A featured the Egyptian-French director, Canadian law specialist and member of numerous human rights tribunals Luc Côté, and UN Congo consultant Jason Stearns..." - Donald Levit, Reel Talk - Movie Reviews, October 2010 read more>
"Marcus Samuelson's Harlem" - Red Rooster owner and Top Chef Masters winner's favorite Harlem Spots "Harlem's creative side is on view at the edgy Maysles Cinema where films such as the recent Harlem Homegrown series are screened."
- Travel & Leisure, October 2010
original article>
"Guerrilla Epic Battle of Chile, Back Onscreen at the Maysles" "In the running for the most riveting and vital historical document ever put on celluloid, Patricio Guzmán's 1975–78 guerrilla epic The Battle of Chile, given three marathon screenings at the Maysles, is an unembedded, unfiltered political grenade that explodes anew this election season..."
- By Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice, Sept. 8, 2010 read more>
"Animated Lives, Annotated Crimes: The Battle of Chile Marathon" "Politically charged Third-World documentaries are a category unto themselves... during the 1970s, the form was at a fever pitch. Several hours long, the three-part "The Battle of Chile" is remarkable as it follows the events leading up to the coup d'état that brought down the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende on Sept. 11 1973, and the subsequent military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinoche. Commemorating what curator Liv Bloom calls "the other 9/11," the Maysles Institute revives Patricio Guzmán's electrifying piece of history-in-the-making, in which filmmaking truly becomes a guerrilla act."
- Steve Dollar, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 9, 2010 original article>
"Timeless comes to Harlem!!" "Tools of War in conjunction with Maysles Cinema and Mochilla brings Timeless to Saint Nicholas Park in Harlem with help from VTech.
Tuesday night in Harlem under looming rainy skies the Timeless Machine landed at the Tools of War Park Jam. Christie-Z and Tools of War have been bringing this amazing free event to parks all over New York for many years now. Giving people the opportunity to see hip-hop as it was originally done in the park. " - VTech Phones read more>
"How to Get From Alabama to Harlem? Ride the Internet" "The story of how the debut New York performance of the Huntsville, Ala., rap duo G-Side ended up in the basement rec room of a storefront movie house in Harlem can be traced back, in part, to some money changing hands at an Italian restaurant in the East Village several years ago. In between came the Internet of course — always the Internet — helping to shape this tale of how hip-hop moves in 2010.... " - By Jon Caramanica, The New York Times read more>
"Q&A: Bertolain Elysee, Co-Curator of the Maysles Institute's "Country Rap 2: The Gulf States" Series"
"...Via e-mail, we spoke to co-curator Bertolain Elysee about the event's expansive intentions, why libertarians should love 2 Live Crew's Luke, and Lil Wayne and Lil Boosie's particular kind of political activism..." - Brandon Soderberg, Sound of the City (Village Voice blog) read more>
"Black Is the Color" "...Rain moved the free park event indoors, where Mount Morris Presbyterian Church proved perfect for the artist, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon...whose mother was a Methodist minister and who began in a church choir..." - Donald Levit, Reel Talk Reviews read more>
"A Movie a Day, Day 60 - Nina Simone Great Performances: College Concerts and Interviews"
"...At one point, [Simone] tells Stroud that, even though her music is so firmly rooted in the political realities of her time and place, she thinks it's universal enough to live on after she's gone. If she could have seen her audience last night as they clapped, laughed, called out in response to things she said, and rose at the end for a standing ovation, she would have known she was right about that too.." - Elise Nakhnikian, The House Next Door (Slant Magazine blog) read more>
"Documentaries Go in Bloom and Under the Knife" Filmmaker Magazine says, "Livia Bloom has assembled a fascinating program this week comprised of three rarely shown films all dealing with plastic surgery and the construction of beauty. The centerpiece is Mitch McCabe's feature Youth Knows No Pain...definitely recommended." read more>
