A year and a half ago, a group of filmmakers went out to shoot a protest. It would be a short little piece, poetic and informed, and go viral among various community groups and activist sites. For me personally, it would also be the first time to work with Meerkats. How could I say no? The project happened to be about the lot of land that sat outside of my window, the Atlantic Yards. I also knew about the controversy that surrounded it and was eager to get involved in the debate. Brooklyn Boondoggle seemed like the perfect fit — work with nice people that had just become my neighbors about a subject all too politically and socially relevant to ignore.
Needless to say, one shoot at a protest turned into days into weeks into a full-blown project for the Collective. And as I am now awakened by bulldozers at 7:45am, protests have turned into endless legal battles into the construction we were all hoping to forestall.
While Brooklyn Boondoggle has screened at various venues and film festivals, it never seemed like the right time to be officially unveiled. It’s inherently difficult to make a fluid subject stay relevant, gutsy and lasting, but we did our best. I’ll be forever grateful for the experience of making it with the group of dedicated people that have become my dear dear friends.
We thank the countless writers, artists, council members and community leaders that continue to voice opposition. We also eagerly await to see the feature doc, The Battle of Brooklyn. And even as the lightweight of our flock, I have yet to turn down a night of going to Freddy’s Bar, a true original and what we sincerely hope to be a mainstay of our neighborhood.
24 crazed hours. 10 brilliant people. 1 awesome film. Vote for our film in the online competition! We stand the chance to win up to $40,000 in prizes, so help out your local filmmaker (that’s us ) by clicking the link below – takes about 3, maybe 4 seconds.
We made the film in just 24 hours, soup to nuts. We harrowedly stayed up late writing the script, shot all day long and wrangled both kitties and fish, scored and recorded the brilliantly simple music, and (re)wrote the film in the editing room – all in a day’s work for the Meerkat Crew. Check out the raw results of our work below, and watch for a tuned-up version coming your way soon.
so, i’ve been up to my neck in newnesses. moved across the country to portland. lots of art/music/film happening here (trying not to stalk gus van sant or matt mccormick, for example). i have a little blog where i put the things i think about and make: hearsayandhyperbole.tumblr.com. here’s the latest, a stop-motion in a series about dreams/dreaming. it is an intimate arena and sometimes we share it with near strangers. i think that’s ok, and we should just let it happen. that’s what this video/song is about.
Here’s the trailer for an amazing theatre/multi-media production by the brilliant Temporary Distortion out of Queens. Beautiful. Thought-provoking. Terrifying. See it! Oct 24 – Nov 14 Performance Space 122
Hey, remember when Whole Foods CEO John Mackey crap talked public health care in a Wall St Journal op-ed this summer, alienating his liberal consumer base? I believe he said something like “A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any. This ‘right’ has never existed in America.” Boy, that gets me steamed. The poor don’t have the right to survive, but the rich always have the right to profit, right?
Luckily, our friends at the Brass Liberation Orchestra took action a couple days ago, and executed a kickin’ flash mob in a Whole Foods store in Oakland, California! They called Mackey out for his “let them eat cake” richie-richery, and shook their booties for health care as a human right–check the cool video above.
Thirsty for more? The Single Payer Action website has some good follow-up coverage of the action (as well as lyrics to the BLO’s awesome song!) Plus, if you’re interested, I had some words of my own for Mr. Mackey on my blog recently.
Our festival run is underway! Since it’s premiere, STAGES has been accepted to 5 different film festivals around the country. Here is the information about our upcoming screenings
Thomas Pynchon’s new book, “Inherent Vice,” hits bookstores today. A Big Lebowski-esque jaunt through pot-addled late 60’s beachfront L.A., TP’s take on the crime fiction genre presents a sprawling and sometimes foggy cast of characters seen through the eyes of Doc Sportello, a consistently stoned private eye witnessing the last days of the free love era.
The online trailer for the book was produced as a collaboration between your very own Meerkat Media, Penguin Books, and Thomas Pynchon, and may or may not feature a cameo voiceover by the reclusive author himself.
In 2004, I created a program with the help of Meerkats Jay and Eric called, “In Her Image: Producing Womanhood in America.” This project uses multi-media and discussion techniques (rather than lecture) to spread awareness about media and body image.
I’ve been lucky enough to present this program and facilitate accompanying workshops nationwide for the past five years at schools, conferences, clinics, and universities. Now, to continue this work toward social change, I need some funding! So a few days ago, I applied to the Nau Collective’s Grant for Change. This grant is exciting not only because it’s funded by a collective (oh how we love collectives), but also because it’s partly decided by public vote — which is where you come in!Please help fund “In Her Image” by logging in and giving 5 stars on the “rate/share” tab!
Thanks so much for taking a second to vote by August 31st. There’s also a “share” feature — if you want to help spread the word about voting that would be amazing too.
And while you’re there, I highly recommend checking out the other projects that have been nominated. Every single one of them is totally inspiring, rekindle-your-hope-for-humanity type material…
We are extremely proud to announce that our feature length documentary STAGES won the top two documentary awards at the HBO New York International Latino Film Festival!
This would not have been possible without every single one of you who came out to see the film. Thank you for supporting our collaborative work and helping to bring attention to the importance of these kind of community arts programs. We’re looking forward to screening this film at festivals, community centers, colleges and theaters throughout the country over the next year.
When I moved to New York City four years ago I didn’t have a job, I only knew one person and I’d only been to the city once before. But I knew, despite all that, that this was the place for me.
I’d spent the past five years in Chicago. While there I went to school, taught inner city high school kids how to make movies and worked towards my most important goal – to be a filmmaker. After that fifth year I realized that one key ingredient was missing in my quest to make films. That ingredient was community. I had many great friends in the windy city but not a group of people that were interested in doing the things I wanted to do with filmmaking and putting in the work in to make them happen.
I decided to head to New York City with hopes of finding a community of people that I could make films with. I figured a city that played so many movies had to have many folks who wanted to make them as well. (more…)
A few of the meerkats and friends spent a relaxed lazy summer Sunday together yesterday in the Empire-Fulton State Park below the Brooklyn Bridge. Eric and I led a Freeschool workshop called “Make a Movie Like a Ninja” all about visual storytelling and getting the most out of whatever camera you already have.
Stay tuned for a video featuring all the in-camera edited movies that came out of the event and for now you can check out the rest of the photos right here.
We’re looking forward to having many more freeschools — creating secret pockets of collaboration and learning throughout the city!
Definitely let us know anything you would be interested in teaching or learning and we’ll do our best to find a way to make it happen.
What a cool idea: art created by many people though consensus collaboration!
An animated short has been recently created using the wikipedia model — 51 animators across the globe submitted scenes on facebook, the masses decide on which they like, movie get made.
Also: Steve Vai shreds wicked axe pixels in this love story between an electric guitar and a violin.
There’s also a “share” feature — if you want to help spread the word about voting that would be amazing too.
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