Prospect Park is ready for its close-up.
Brooklyn’s favorite green space will star in a new film screening at Nitehawk Cinema’s Shorts Festival on Nov. 22. “Lost in Prospect Park” — just one of dozens of pint-sized moving-pictures showing at the Williamsburg movie house’s second annual bash — is a short, silent, darkly humorous flick that is drawn from a personal experience to which any Brooklyn resident can relate, explained the filmmaker.
“I was with a casting company and I went to the park looking for people to fill a show I was working on,” said Park Sloper Lindsey Lambert, who wrote and directed the film. “Eventually, I got lost in Prospect Park.”
Unlike her visit to the titular park, which she described as “green and beautiful,” Lambert’s film is shot in black and white, and takes a cynical look at the high expectations that often accompany a budding romance.
In the film, Annie (Annie Gaarder) is enjoying a date in the park with her boyfriend James (Zach Gamble) on Valentine’s Day, when the couple becomes hopelessly lost. As the story progresses, Annie learns some new things about her sweetheart, and eventually comes to reconsider her romantic prospects, said the director.
“It’s about how relationships begin with certain expectations, and how quickly things can change for better or for worse,” said Lambert.
In addition to her past experience, Lambert chose to set her film in Prospect Park because of its natural splendor and abundance of seclusion, she said.
“Prospect is a really beautiful park, somewhere you can get a film crew in and find some quiet,” said Lambert. “It’s also one of my favorite parks in the city.”
“Lost in Prospect Park” at Nitehawk Cinema [136 Metropolitan Ave. between Wythe Avenue and Berry Street in Williamsburg, (718) 384–3980, www.nitehawkcinema.com]. Nov. 22 at 11:45 am. $11. Festival runs from Nov. 19-23.
