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January 05, 2006
Redford and BAM Bringing Sundance to Brooklyn
The Reeler today made a rare afternoon trip to Brooklyn, where Sundance kingpin Robert Redford was in town to announce a new partnership between his Institute and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. And the only things better than the timing--catching the press a couple of weeks before his bustling festival drives us all to nervous exhaustion--were the terms.
Running from May 11-20, 2006, the Creative Latitude: Sundance Institute at BAM series will bring upwards of 12 narrative and documentary features and six short films to be chosen from this month's festival. Throw in a script reading or two, a live director's commentary from a Sundance alum, panel discussions and a concert featuring work from the Institute's film music program, and you could almost have Park City East.
Steve Buscemi and Robert Redford plot world conquest from Sundance's new encampment at BAM (Photo: STV)
Or maybe Park City and the Institute itself is something akin to Brooklyn West, as Redford hinted to The Reeler after the event. "It all started there, from the very first day," he said. "The bulk of the artists who have come there have been from New York and Brooklyn, and it's been that way all through the 25 years. You get some from San Francisco and a few from L.A., but most of the people from L.A. started in New York anyway."
Wow. So I guess I will be a little busy out there covering New York film in a few weeks?
Reford paused, then nodded. "You're going to be very busy."
To hear him explain his inclination toward Brooklyn itself was equal parts cryptic and revealing--a sort of semi-spiritual odyssey he had followed well before launching his career here in the 1950s. "Even though I was born in Los Angeles, my love of Brooklyn goes a little bit beyond just being interested in the Brooklyn Academy of Music," he told the gathering in attendance during his announcement. As a kid I was enormously influenced by the mythology of Brooklyn. I don't know why; it might have to do with Irving Shaw, Henry Miller, Thomas Wolfe. Whatever it was, the literature coming out of Brooklyn enchanted me. And ever since that time, I've had this fantasy about Brooklyn, which included the Brooklyn Dodgers. So obviously there was a seed sown a long time ago with this fascination about Brooklyn that might lead to where we are today."
Which is kind of odd, because I totally relate in my cultural perception of Manhattan, right down to the Giants' old home at the Polo Grounds. But I digress, and at Steve Buscemi's expense!
"It looks like they’re going to be doing development too, which is great," Buscemi told me when I asked what a program as influential as Sundance's could mean to the New York film community. "One of the best times I ever had at Sundance was at the Filmmakers Lab in 1990 or '91. I was there with Reservoir Dogs. It was just Quentin and me and--I think--a local actor. We were just workshopping the scenes, we shot them on video and then Quentin would be critiqued by Terry Gilliam and Ulu Grosbard and Monte Hellman. It was just such a relaxed atmosphere--it's a great atmosphere for everybody to do their best wortk. If that could happen here, that would be be very exciting."
Indeed. Meanwhile, if the thought of traveling west of the Hudson petrifies you (I've already zapped my therapy budget for '06), clear some calendar space in May and cheer the folks at BAM (president Karen Brooks Hopkins and executive producer Joseph Melillo in particular) for helping bring Sundance to you. At least you will not need to pack a parka.
Posted by stvanairsdale at January 5, 2006 05:20 PM
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