Getting ready to step into the last PTA meeting of the school year last night, friend and filmmaker Michael Galinsky limped over and leaned on my shoulder. He was suffering from a case of pretty severe sciatica. Weeks of non-stop scrabbling to get word out about his and wife Suki Hawley’s new documentary, “Battle For Brooklyn“, had finally seemed to catch up with him in the form of a pinched nerve. I’m not lowering the odds on him by a long shot. Anyone who knows Michael knows that he won’t rest until everybody —and I do mean everybody— has purchased a ticket to this very fine, albeit controversial film. And, “Battle For Brooklyn” is very much worth seeing, regardless of whether you live near the Atlantic Yards footprint or on Florida’s panhandle. Land grab deals are rampant in this country. Anyone is a potential victim of developers and politicians and what they are doing in our towns and cities. If Brooklyn can be upended, with many of its residents tossed to the curb in the process, why not you or your neighborhood?
“Battle For Brooklyn”, a film some 8 years in the making, had its world debut right here in Kings County where it opened this season’s Brooklyn Film Festival. It subsequently took both Best Documentary Prize and Grand Chameleon Prize for best movie overall. The film also enjoyed a recent soggy screening at Rooftop Films and then went on to have a terrific theatrical opening last weekend. That opening, at both Manhattan’s Cinema Village and Brooklyn’s IndieScreen (home to the BFF), was successful enough for the former theater to extend its run another week. No small feat, just ask any documentary filmmaker.
So we’ve established that I am friends and fellow PTA members with both Michael & Suki. In addition to watching a somewhat early cut of the film in their living room last winter, I also showed a later rough cut at my own film series, filmwax. In fact, it was my debut screening too. So, there’s my disclaimer. We’re friends. I am not reviewing the film, I declined to do so a number of times. However, I stand behind “Battle For Brooklyn” and urge you to buy a ticket while the option is still there. The film has been largely ignored by the larger film community and press despite strong reviews from The New York Times, Time Out New York and the New York Daily News. One can’t help but wonder just how far the reach of the developers might be.
It’s important that films like “B4B” continue to get made. It is far easier when they are successful; when filmmakers, as a result, can make their money back and go on to make another movie. The good news, is that at just over 90 minutes, the movie is swift and highly entertaining. While you’re sitting there going through all the emotions that a good documentary makes you feel, know that in your own small way, you are helping to reduce Michael Galinsky’s stress.
