The Brooklyn Bridge Park Summer Film Festival,
celebrating its fifth season, will once again present stars under
the stars for six Thursdays at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park.
This year’s films will be "a little bit of a mix" with
movies that take place in Brooklyn ("Arsenic and Old Lace,"
"Dog Day Afternoon"), movies directed by Brooklynites
(Woody Allen’s "Radio Days," Spike Lee’s "25th
Hour") and movies starring Brooklyn actors (Eddie Murphy
as the voice of Donkey in "Shrek" and Richard Dreyfuss
as Matt Hooper in "Jaws"), said Sharon Soons, a spokeswoman
for the series’ host, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy.
Each evening will also include a short produced or directed by
a Brooklynite. One filmmaker who answered BBPC’s call for entries
is Brooklyn Heights resident Marvin Starkman, who produced "The
Box" (1961), a comic tale of technology gone wrong, shot
by cameraman John Cazale, who later played Sal in "Dog Day
Afternoon."
Starkman, who met Cazale while they were both students at Boston
University, told GO Brooklyn, "Cazale was so multitalented
it was incredible. Photography was one of his many skills. I
asked him to shoot my film as a favor."
In addition to "Dog Day," Cazale also co-starred in
"The Godfather" Parts I and II. He died shortly after
filming 1978’s "The Deer Hunter."
"The Box" stars Michael Lombard ("Prizzi’s Honor,"
"Thomas Crown Affair") as a man who buys a television
that won’t work the way he wants it to. The film was made on
a shoestring budget with "short ends," leftover unexposed
pieces from larger reels.
"We filmed ’The Box’ in Michael’s apartment," says
Starkman. "He was appearing on Broadway at the time, and
he had only one free day when we could do the filming. He lived
over a movie theater, and that was where the fuse box was located.
The movie theater closed at midnight. So when we blew a fuse
in the afternoon, we knew we had better not blow another fuse
after midnight, or we couldn’t shoot the film."
Starkman, who is an actor/director with the Abington Theater
Company, has directed two shows at The Brooklyn Heights Synagogue
– "The Tenth Man," in 1996, and "Incident at Vichy,"
in 2003.
The Summer Film Festival kicks off on July 8 with "Radio
Days" (1987), a nostalgic piece that crosscuts between Allen’s
youth in Brooklyn and the uptown scene populated by radio personalities.
It will be shown with Starkman’s "The Box."
On July 15, viewers will be entertained by the groundbreaking
animated film "Shrek" (2001), a delightful story of
the triumph of true love. This will be preceded by the short
film, "Clay Life," a biographical portrait by Robert
Yulfo, who was part of the HBO Young Filmmakers Lab at the Prospect
Park YMCA.
"Dog Day Afternoon," critically acclaimed as one of
the finest films of the ’70s, will be shown on July 22. In this
alternately tragic and funny movie, Al Pacino plays a bisexual
man who robs the First Savings Bank of Brooklyn to finance a
sex-change operation for his transvestite lover. Much of it was
filmed in Windsor Terrace. Cazale is his rifle-toting accomplice.
The short film that night will be "Dog Given Right,"
produced and directed by Chris McCawley, Craig MacNaughton and
Joel S. Silver.
On July 29, the series screens "Arsenic and Old Lace"
(1944), a film adaptation of the Broadway hit about the lovable
Brewster sisters, two spinsters who poison bachelor callers to
their Brooklyn Heights house in order to save the gentlemen from
loneliness. "Two Fat Ladies," by Irish director John
Hayes, will be the short film that night.
Spike Lee’s 2002 film, "25th Hour," about the last
24 hours heroin pusher Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) gets to spend
with his best friends, a bond trader and a high school English
teacher, before he goes to prison to serve a seven-year sentence,
screens on Aug. 5. The short film that night will be "Date,"
directed by Eva Saks.
The series ends on Aug. 12 with Steven Spielberg’s first mega-hit,
"Jaws," the thriller that made everyone afraid to go
to the beach in the summer of ’75. It features Richard Dreyfuss
as Matt Hooper, a marine biologist who along with Chief Martin
Brody (Roy Scheider) and crusty sea dog Quint (Robert Shaw) must
outwit a 28-foot great white shark attacking swimmers on Amity
Island, a fictional East Coast resort. Koyalee Chandra’s short
film, "Hic," will be screened, too.
This film series may be the most user-friendly and amiable in
the city.
"We have a great audience. Everyone is so considerate. We
tell people to act the way they would at a movie house, and they
do," said Soons.
Two years ago, Soons introduced neon-colored fly tape running
along the lawn to make convenient aisles, and free valet parking
to help keep bikes off the lawn.
"If you ride your bike we’ll take it, give you a ticket
and watch it while you watch the movie," says Soons.
Viewers can either bring a picnic dinner and sit on the grass
or purchase a meal prepared by nearby Rice restaurant at the
screening. Snacks – popcorn, soft drinks and water – are also
available for purchase.
On-site chair rental is available, too.
Other amenities include a trolley that runs a circuit including
the park and the three neighboring subway stations: Clark Street
(2, 3), High Street (A, C) and York Street (F).
Of course, the ultimate goal of the film series is to build support
for a "world-class park on the waterfront," said Soons.
"A lot of people don’t know enough about the park. They
don’t realize it’s going to run from Atlantic Avenue to Jay Street."
The film series currently attracts 1,000 to 2,000 people, depending
on the weather, she said. This year its biggest sponsor is Independence
Community Bank, which foots much of the $40,000 bill for the
six nights.
Soons says an environmental impact study is currently underway,
and she is hopeful "shovel will be put to ground" by
2006.
In the meantime, what better way to spend a summer night than
to watch a Brooklyn film while facing the spectacular Manhattan
skyline, in the shadow of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges,
with all of Brooklyn spread out behind you?
Brooklyn Bridge Park Summer Film Festival screens films on Thursdays
from July 8 through Aug. 12 at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park,
located between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges in DUMBO.
Enter at Water Street. All screenings start at dusk (about 8:45
pm) and are free of charge. Rain dates are the following Fridays.
For more information, visit www.bbpc.net
or call (718) 802-0603.
