this week in film and television

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL 2021

Mariana Valencia’s Futurity is part of 2021 River to River Festival

Multiple locations
June 10-27, free (some events require advance RSVP)
RSVPs open June 1
lmcc.net

The twentieth annual River to River Festival, one of the most eagerly awaited events of each summer, runs June 10-27, with free live performances and screenings on Governors Island, in Battery Park City, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, and other locations. Curated by Lili Chopra and Nanette Nelms, the 2021 edition features works that explore female identity, the African diaspora, colonialism, and other sociopolitical issues. Everything is free, but some events require advance RSVP, beginning June 1; from the way New Yorkers have responded to other live, free performances as the city opens up following the pandemic lockdown, you better be at your computer, ready to go, if you want to snag some tickets.

Among the highlights are processions through Battery Park City led by Miguel Gutierrez, Okwui Okpokwasili, and the Illustrious Blacks; a concert honoring Wayne Shorter, with esperanza spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Leo Genovese; the premiere of Arthur Jafa’s WS, a longer super nova, a tribute to Shorter; Maria Hassabi’s TOGETHER, which was booked immediately when it was part of the 2019 Performa Biennial; and nora chipaumire’s Nehanda, an opera based on the 1898 court case The Queen vs. Nehanda, involving a medium who was also a heroic revolutionary leader in Southern Rhodesia. Several films will be available to livestream following its public premiere.

Thursday, June 10
Opening Concert honoring Wayne Shorter, with esperanza spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Leo Genovese, La Plaza, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, 114 Norfolk St., followed by premiere of Arthur Jafa’s WS, a longer super nova, Flamboyán Theater, 107 Suffolk St., free with RSVP, 7:30

Saturday, June 12
A Day at The Arts Center at Governors Island, with site-specific exhibitions by Meg Webster and Onyedika Chuke, a participatory sculpture by Muna Malik, Open Studios with LMCC 2021 Arts Center artists-in-residence, Damon Davis’s film The Stranger, and more, free with RSVP, noon – 5:00

June 12-22
esperanza spalding, Songwrights Apothecary Lab, live installation, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, 107 Suffolk St., more info to come

June 12, 17, 24, 8:00, June 19, 26, 3:00
Livestreaming of Arthur Jafa’s WS, a longer super nova, followed by discussion with Wayne Shorter, esperanza spalding, Greg Tate, and Craig Street, free with RSVP

June 13-27
Damon Davis, The Stranger, allegorical film shot in Ghana about a Black American returning to his place of origin, starring Sel Kofiga, Damon Davis, Lola Ogbara, and Dalychia Saah, narrated by Ria Boss, with a score by Owen Ragland, digital streaming, free

Sunday, June 13
Processions, with Miguel Gutierrez, Teardrop Park, Battery Park City, free with RSVP

Sunday, June 20
Processions, with Okwui Okpokwasili, Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City, free with RSVP

Friday, June 25
Processions, with the Illustrious Blacks, South Cove, Battery Park City, free with RSVP

June 15-27
Womxn in Windows, multipart video installation in storefront windows exploring female identity, co-curated with Zehra Ahmed, Seaport District, free

June 16, 19, 22, 24
Black Gotham Experience, As Above So Below, interactive walking tours about the African diaspora in Lower Manhattan, featuring Kamau Ware and Rodney Leon, begins at 192 Front St., free with RSVP, 5:30 – 7:30

June 25-27
Mariana Valencia, Futurity, queerstories featuring Star Baby, Studio A3, the Arts Center at Governors Island, free with RSVP, 1:00 & 4:30

June 26-27
Maria Hassabi, TOGETHER, location TBA, free with RSVP, 6:00

Saturday, June 26
nora chipaumire, Nehanda, immersive, participatory, and durational filmed performance, La Plaza, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, 114 Norfolk St., free with RSVP

NEW YORK POLISH FILM FESTIVAL 2021

Małgorzata Imielska’s award-winning All for My Mother is part of New York Polish Film Festival

NEW YORK POLISH FILM FESTIVAL
Through June 6, $9 rental, $50 for all films
www.nypff.com

If you missed the sixteenth annual New York Polish Film Festival at Scandinavia House last week, either because you couldn’t find the time or are not yet ready to go to indoor theaters to watch movies, you still have a chance to check out seven of the nine films from the friendly confines of your living room. Through June 6, the works, programmed by festival founder and director Hanna Hartowicz, will be available online, either as individual $9 rentals or $50 to see them all; the jury consists of Stacy Keach, Veronica K. Hartowicz, Martyna Majok, Kama Royz, Cezary Skubiszewski, and Ewa Zadrzynska-Głowacka. In Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated Corpus Christi (Boże Ciało), Bartosz Bielenia is mesmerizing as a violent teenager who is sent from juvie to work in a sawmill in a small town, but instead he poses as a priest and starts preaching to the community, which has been torn apart by a horrific accident. It’s about revenge and redemption not only for the village but for Poland as a whole. A hit-and-run wreaks havoc on a close-knit town in Bartosz Kruhlik’s award-winning debut feature, Supernova, a harrowing look at local justice.

Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s Never Gonna Snow Again (Śniegu już nigdy nie będzie), the opening night selection, is a satire about a masseur (Alec Utgoff) with magic hands, but he just might be radioactive. Magic hands also play a role in Agnieszka Holland’s Oscar-shortlisted Charlatan (Szarlatan), based on the true story of healer Jan Mikolášek (Ivan Trojan), who starts rubbing the backs of the wrong people. Jacek Bromski’s Solid Gold is a political thriller pitting powerful businessman Kawecki (Andrzej Seweryn) against undercover agent Kaja (Marta Nieradkiewicz), who have a unique history. “The world is changing,” one character notes. “It’s no longer fit for living in.” Mariusz Wilczyński’s gorgeously hand-drawn animated Kill It and Leave This Town (Zabij to i wyjedź z tego miasta) is a bleak and bluesy piece of psychological horror about loss, with music by the late Tadeusz Nalepa and a character voiced by legendary director Andrzej Wajda. Zofia Domalik was named Best Actress at the Polish Film Festival for her portrayal of a seventeen-year-old who refuses to be caged in until she finds her mother in Małgorzata Imielska’s All for My Mother (Wszystko dla mojej matki), which won the Audience Award at the Warsaw Film Festival. Several of the films include special introductions from the directors. The 2021 NYPFF is dedicated to master auteur Krzysztof Kieślowski, who made such films as Dekalog, The Double Life of Veronique, and Red, Blue, and White; he passed away in 1996 at the age of fifty-four.

TRIBECA TALKS

Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Zola Mashariki will discuss 7 Years at Tribeca Festival

AT&T Terrace at Spring Studios
50 Varick St.
June 12-19, free – $40
tribecafilm.com

This year’s live discussions at the Tribeca Festival are taking place outdoors, on the AT&T Terrace at Spring Studios on Varick St. While some of the hottest events are already sold out — featuring such creators as Tina Fey, Sanaa Lathan, M. Night Shyamalan, Amy Schumer, Emily Ratajkowski, Blondie, John Legend, and Shira Haas — there are still many more available, with directors, CEOs, designers, and podcasters.

Thursday, June 10
Series Preview: Red Frontier, with Mimi O’Donnell, Sarah Nolen, Maria Dizzia, and Kara Young, $26, 7:00

Friday, June 11
Storytellers – Scott Z. Burns, $40, 5:00

Saturday, June 12
Jason Hirschhorn: The Business of Entertainment, free with RSVP, 1:00

Live Recording: Resistance, with Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. a musical performance by Ivy Sole, a poetry reading by Dominique Christina, and a stand-up set from Elsa Waithe, $26, 3:00

Sunday, June 13
Jason Hirschhorn: The Future of Podcasting, with Conal Byrne, Jason Hirschhorn, James Kim, and Rachel Ghiazza, free with RSVP, 1:00

Tribeca Talks: Jad Abumrad with Jason Reitman, $26, 5:00

Monday, June 14
Series Preview: Apple TV+ Siegfried & Roy Original Podcast, with Steven Leckart and Will Malnati, $26, 5:00

Scott Rechler Recalibrate Reality: The Future of NY, free with RSVP, 7:00

Tuesday, June 15
Directors Series — Doug Liman, with Jason Hirschhorn, 5:00

Wednesday, June 16
Live Recording: Ear Hustle, with Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, $26, 5:30

Scott Rechler Recalibrate Reality: The Future of NY with David Rockwell, free with RSVP, 7:30

Saturday, June 19
Black Filmmakers vs American History, with Jelani Cobb, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Kasi Lemmons, and Melina Matsouka, moderated by Warrington Hudlin, $40, noon

7 Years: A Conversation with Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Zola Mashariki, $26, 5:00

TRIBECA FESTIVAL 2021 FREE OUTDOOR SCREENINGS

The original Shaft is part of Tribeca free outdoor screenings program

TRIBECA FESTIVAL
June 10-20, free with RSVP
Other tickets and passes 20% off with code TFMEMORIAL21 through May 31
tribecafilm.com

The 2021 Tribeca Festival might have dropped the word Film from its name, but it is still jam-packed with movies, being held this year indoors, outdoors, and virtually for people hanging at home. From June 10 to 20, there will be dozens and dozens of free screenings in parks across the city, including Van Cortlandt Park, Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, Soundview Park, Hudson River Park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Walter Gladwin Park, and the Battery. Below are the programs, featuring films old and new, that are still available; tickets must be reserved in advance, so you better hurry. And if you’re looking to purchase tickets for other, paid, screenings, use code TFMEMORIAL21 to save 20% through Memorial Day.

Thursday, June 10
Love and Monsters (Michael Matthews, 2020), Van Cortlandt Park, free with RSVP, 5:30

Belly (Hype Williams, 1998), Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 5:30

Raising Victor Vargas (Peter Sollett, 2003), Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 8:00

Friday, June 11
Johnny Mnemonic (Robert Longo, 1995) in black-and-white, Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 5:30

Bill & Ted Face the Music (Dean Parisot, 2020), Van Cortlandt Park, free with RSVP, 6:00

Edge of Tomorrow (Doug Liman, 2014), Van Cortlandt Park, free with RSVP, 8:00

Kiss the Ground (Josh Tickell and Rebecca Tickell, 2020), Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 8:00

The Host is screening on June 12 in Soundview Park

Saturday, June 12
Moana (Chris Williams, Ron Clements, and John Musker, 2016), Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 2:30

Pacified (Paxton Winters, 2020) Soundview Park, free with RSVP, 3:00

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (Mariem Perez Riera, 2021), Pier 76, Hudson River Park, free with RSVP, 5:00

Stateless (Michèle Stephenson, 2020), Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 5:30

2020: Now Showcase B: Lost & Found, Soundview Park, free with RSVP, 6:00

The Host (Joon-ho Bong, 2007), Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 8:00

Sunday, June 13
Takeover (Emma Francis-Snyder, 2020) and Cucarachita Martina’s Musical Adventure (Waldo Cabrera, 2020), Soundview Park, free with RSVP, 4:00

Perfume de Gardenias (Macha Colón, 2021), Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 4:00

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (Mariem Perez Riera, 2021), Soundview Park, free with RSVP, 5:00

Landfall (Cecilia Aldarondo, 2020), Rockaway Beach 30th St. Playground, free with RSVP, 6:30

Monday, June 14
The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001), the Battery, free with RSVP, 4:30

The Royal Tenenbaums will be holding court June 14 at the Battery

Thursday, June 17
2020 Shorts: Update Required, Marine Park, free with RSVP, 5:30

Tribeca NOW Special Screening: Incarceration Nations: A Global Docuseries (Dr. Baz Dreisinger), Marine Park, free with RSVP, 8:00

Friday, June 18
The Conductor (Bernadette Wegenstein, 2021), Marine Park, free with RSVP, 6:00

2020 Shorts: Animated Shorts Curated by Whoopi G 2020, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, free with RSVP, 6:00

The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999), Flushing Meadows Corona Park, free with RSVP, 8:00

Saturday, June 19
The Last Dragon (Michael Schultz, 1985), Walter Gladwin Park, free with RSVP, 2:00

Selma (Ava DuVernay, 2014), Astoria Park, free with RSVP, 2:30

He Got Game (Spike Lee, 1998), Walter Gladwin Park, free with RSVP, 5:00

Just Another Girl on the IRT (Leslie Harris, 1993), Astoria Park, free with RSVP, 5:30

Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1991), Astoria Park, free with RSVP, 8:00

Shaft (Gordon Parks, 1971), Walter Gladwin Park, free with RSVP, 8:00

Sunday, June 20
Indeed Presents Rising Voices, featuring works by Johnson Cheng, David Fortune, Stacy Pascal Gaspard, Deondray & Quincy LeNear Gossfield, Kantú Lentz, Boma Iluma, Gabriela Ortega, Dre Ryan, Elisee Junior St. Preux, and Shelly Yo, free with RSVP, Walter Gladwin Park, 11:30

James and the Giant Peach (Henry Selick, 1996), Astoria Park, free with RSVP, 3:00

The Witches (Nicolas Roeg, 1990), Walter Gladwin Park, free with RSVP, 3:00

Love and Basketball (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2000), Astoria Park, free with RSVP, 5:00

2020 Shorts: Choose Your Battles, Walter Gladwin Park, free with RSVP, 5:30

Dead Presidents (Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes), Walter Gladwin Park, free with RSVP, 8:00

DanceAfrica Festival 2021

BAM, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Mark Morris Dance Center, and online
May 29 – June 14, free – $44
www.bam.org

“Ago!”

For many people, Memorial Day Weekend means beach, barbecue, and a day off work. For me, and those in the know, it signals BAM’s DanceAfrica, an annual celebration of the arts across the African diaspora. The forty-fourth annual event takes us to Haiti with a series of virtual and in-person live programs honoring the spirit of the Caribbean island nation that has persevered through colonialism, revolution, occupation, violent dictatorships, coups, and a devastating earthquake. The festival is already under way with the public installation “A Return: Liberation as Power,” featuring works by Delphine Desane, M. Florine Démosthène, Mark Fleuridor, Adler Guerrier, Kathia St. Hilare, and Didier William projected on the BAM sign at the corner of Lafayette and Flatbush Aves. through May 31. Also available now is “DanceAfrica 2021: Choreographers’ Conversation,” a free online talk with DanceAfrica artistic director and DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers founder Abdel R. Salaam, Dieufel Lamisere of HaitiDansco, Portsha T. Jefferson of Rara Tou Limen, Fritzlyn “Fritz” Hector of the Fritzation Experience, and Adia Tamar Whitaker of Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective, moderated by Collegium for African Diaspora Dance founding director Thomas F. DeFrantz. The fantastic DanceAfrica Bazaar, always a highlight of the festival, has gone digital as well, with clothing, accessories, food and drink, and home goods available online.

On May 28 at 6:00, teens grades 9-12 can take part in the free multidisciplinary presentation “Haiti in Full Scope,” a virtual exploration of Haitian history and culture. From May 28 to June 3, FilmAfrica, in conjunction with the African Film Festival, will present screenings of such features, documentaries, and shorts as Raoul Peck’s Meurtre à Pacot, Eve Blouin and Raynald Leconte’s In the Eye of the Spiral and Leconte’s Real Maravilloso, Guetty Felin’s Ayiti Mon Amour, and Philippe Niang’s Toussaint Louverture. The centerpiece of the festival is BAM’s first evening-length dance film, Vwa Zanset Yo: Y’ap Pale, N’ap Danse! (“Ancestral Voices: They Speak . . . We Dance!”), debuting May 29 at 7:00, with commissioned pieces from HaitiDansco in Cap Haitien, Rara Tou Limen Haitian Dance Company in Oakland, Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective in Brooklyn, and the Fritzation Experience in Brooklyn in addition to a Libation ceremony and the Procession of the Council of Elders. “Out of the darkness of this pandemic we see a brilliant new digital platform that enables us to present our annual celebration through the magic of film! The future and spirit of DanceAfrica, in person or virtual, lives within audiences and communities of the world,” Baba Abdel R. Salaam said in a statement. That will be followed by a free live virtual dance party at 8:00 with DJ Hard Hittin Harry.

There will also be a free hands-on community workshop for caregivers and children of all ages on May 29 at 10:00 am at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 with Nadia Dieudonné; the inaugural Community Day Bantaba, consisting of virtual dance performances submitted by community members, along with a photo booth and introductions by DanceAfrica Senior Council of Elders Mamma Lynette White and Baba Bill Mathews; an adaptive workshop and a master class on May 31, held in person at the Mark Morris Dance Center and virtually, the former designed for persons with disabilities, led by Pat Hall, the latter for intermediate and advanced dancers, led by Dieudonné; and a DanceAfrica Timeline, taking us back through the archives of this unique and inclusive festival, founded in 1977 by the great Chuck Davis.

“Ame!”

ReelAbilities FILM FESTIVAL: NEW YORK

ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York
Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan online
Through May 5, $12 per virtual film, $45 for in-person comedy night
reelabilities.org/newyork

“Everybody has crutches,” multidisciplinary artist and performer Bill Shannon says in Crutch, screening at the thirteenth annual ReelAbilities Film Festival. “Some of them you can see; some of them are invisible.” Founded in 2007 by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, the festival is “dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with disabilities.” Running through May 5, it opened April 29 with Michael Parks Randa and Lauren Smitelli’s Best Summer Ever at the Queens Drive-In at the New York Hall of Science, with appearances by Itzhak Perlman and Lachi, and will be virtual the rest of the way (with one notable exception), consisting of eighteen programs, from panel discussions and Q&As to shorts and full-length films as well as a comedy night. The eight feature documentaries can be streamed throughout the festival; each will also have a live Q&A with the filmmakers and/or subjects. Among the topics explored in the works are disabling injury (Ahead of the Curve), Down syndrome (The Special), blindness (Maricarmen), amputation (Augmented), mental health (The World Is Bright), autism (In a Different Key), and ALS (closing-night selection Not Going Quietly, with Temple Grandin participating in the Q&A).

There will also be a Gamechanger talk about authentic storytelling with Lauren Ridloff and Katherine Croft, “Black Future Month: Legacy, Present & Afro-Futurism” with Keith Jones, CJ Jones, Tameka Citchen-Spruce, Safiya Eshe Gyasi, Diana Elizabeth Jordan, and Trelanda R. Lowe, “Fashion, Beauty, and Disability” with KR Liu, Natalie Trevonne, Dana Zumbo, and Aubrie Lee, an author talk with Jodi Samuels about parenting children with disabilities and her book Chutzpah, Wisdom and Wine: The Journey of an Unstoppable Woman, as well as four collections of shorts. In addition, there will be a live reading of the pilot script for the unproduced television series Disgraced with writers Julie Klausner and Alex Scordelis and star Shannon DeVido along with Amy Sedaris, Larry Wilmore, Jackie Hoffman, Chris Gethard, Sasheer Zamata, and others, and a live, hybrid comedy show with Maysoon Zayid, Tina Friml, Martin Phillips, Jenny Cavallero, and Ryan Haddad, hosted by Pamela Schuller, taking place in person on the JCC Manhattan rooftop ($45) and online ($15).

SHAKESPEARE HOUR LIVE! ROMEO & JULIET PRESHOW CELEBRATION

Who: Claire Danes
What: Shakespeare Hour Live! discussion about Romeo + Juliet
Where: Facebook Live and YouTube Live
When: Friday, April 23, free, 8:00
Why: Twenty-five years ago, Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes starred as the title lovers in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, pitting two business empires against each other, the Montagues and the Capulets, while using the the Bard’s original dialogue. On the night that PBS’s Great Performances presentation of the National Theatre’s Romeo & Juliet, which was filmed following Covid-19 protocols, is making its US premiere, Danes will talk about the movies and the play in the latest Shakespeare Hour Live!, the ongoing series hosted by DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, whose artistic director, Simon Godwin, directed the National Theatre production. Luhrmann’s 1999 movie features Brian Dennehy and Christina Pickles as Romeo’s parents, Paul Sorvino and Diane Venora as Juliet’s folks, John Leguizamo as Tybalt, Dash Mihok as Benvolio, and Miriam Margolyes as the nurse, while Godwin’s version, which makes full use of the National Theatre space, stars Jessie Buckley as Juliet and Josh O’Connor as Romeo, with Tamsin Greig as Lady Capulet, Lloyd Hutchinson as Lord Capulet, Colin Tierney as Lord Montague, David Judge as Tybalt, Alex Mugnaioni as Paris, Shubham Saraf as Benvolio, Adrian Lester as the prince, Fisayo Akinade as Mercutio, and Deborah Findlay as the nurse.