Great Scott — this Brooklynite is back from the future!
Forget the stereotype of Brooklyn newcomers moving in from the Midwest — the protagonist of “Movement and Location,” a new feature film screening at the Brooklyn Film Festival on May 31 and June 8, is an immigrant from 400 years in the future. But despite this set-up, the filmmakers say it is not a heavy science fiction flick.
“It’s casual science fiction,” said Bodine Boling, who made the film with her husband Alexis Boling. “The sci-fi is built into the story. But what the characters do is more important.”
There are no scenes of the future, and only subtle hints about what it might be like. But one thing is for sure — the future is no Prospect Park picnic. It caused the main character, Kim Getty, to leave her life behind and travel through time back to today.
“There’s no special effects,” said Boling, who played the lead, in addition to writing and editing the film. “We drop these little clues that are more subtle.”
The new arrival to contemporary Brooklyn begins making a new life for herself, but is thrown into turmoil when she discovers other visitors from the future — including her husband who was supposed to travel back in time with her.
Kim finds herself trying to choose between her new life and the past she left behind in the future.
“I imagine time travel is imperfect,” Boling said. “And it’s very much a one way trip.”
The whole film was shot in 18 days, predominantly in Brooklyn, with Alexis serving as director. The movie cost the Bedford-Stuyvesant couple just shy of a $100,000 to make, but they said it was worth every penny.
“I’m so proud of this,” Boling said.
Filming locations included various parts of Prospect Park, the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights, and Thistle and Clover — a Fort Greene boutique.
Part of the fun, said Boling, was getting to explore the park while scouting locations and shooting.
“No place that we shot in the park, was a place I had been to before,” she said. “It was beautiful.”
“Movement and Location” at Windmill Studios [287 Kent Ave. between South First and South Second streets in Williamsburg, (718) 388–4306, www.brooklynfilmfestival.org]. May 31 at 7:30 pm. $12; and indieScreen [289 Kent Ave. between South First and South Second streets in Williamsburg, (718) 388–4306, www.brooklynfilmfestival.org]. June 8 at 8 pm. $12.
