GreeNYC mascot Birdie will be on hand for annual Winter Jam in Prospect Park
The Nethermead, Prospect Park
Enter at Ocean Ave. & Lincoln Rd.
Saturday, February 5, free, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
www.nycgovparks.org
It’s been one crazy winter, with record-breaking amounts of snow being dumped on the city. If you haven’t taken advantage of all the fun the white stuff can offer, head over to Prospect Park on Saturday for Winter Jam, the free annual sports festival sponsored by the Parks Dept., the Olympic Regional Development Authority, and the Prospect Park Alliance. Scheduled activities include cross-country skiing, showshoeing, and snow sculpting on the Lake Placid Snow Field, skiing and snowboarding lessons in the “Learn To” Area, the Red Bull Butter Cup snowboard trick contest, and the Pride of New York Winter Market. It’s sort of like Brooklyn’s own mini-version of the Winter X Games. There will also be live performances by the Skyriders, the Nick West Quartet (11:30), Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds (12:30), Dujeous (1:30), InnerParty System (2:30), and BR & Timebomb (3:30), hosted by Craig Baldo.
Much like the end of the silent film era itself, the last horse-drawn trolley is doomed in Harold Lloyd’s final silent film. Big business is playing dirty trying to get rid of the trolley and classic old-timer Pop Dillon. Meanwhile, Harold “Speedy” Swift, a dreamer who wanders from menial job to menial job (he makes a great soda-jerk with a unique way of announcing the Yankees score), cares only about the joy and wonder life brings. But he’s in love with Pop’s granddaughter, Jane, so he vows to save the day. Along the way, he gets to meet Babe Ruth. Ted Wilde was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director, Comedy, for this thrilling nonstop ride through beautiful Coney Island and the pre-depression streets of New York City. SPEEDY is being screened for free February 2 at 7:00 as part of the New Sounds Live Silent Film Series at the World Financial Center, with a live score played by the Alloy Orchestra. For more on the series, read our twi-ny talk with festival curator John Schaefer 
Written and directed by first-time feature filmmakers Antonio Naharro and Álvaro Pastor, ME, TOO is a beautifully told story about a man with Down syndrome trying to make it in the so-called normal world. When Daniel (Pablo Pineda) first shows up for work at a government disability agency in Sevilla, Laura (Lola Dueñas) mistakes him for someone who has come seeking help, not the person who will be occupying the desk next to hers on a daily basis. Daniel does not see himself as a victim, and he is clearly not a charity case; instead, he has earned a university degree and refuses to allow his disease — or, more important, the way his disease is viewed by others — to limit the things he can accomplish in life. Soon Daniel and Laura grow very close, but she is unable to let their relationship reach the next level, regardless of how much they care for each other — and how many times she instead goes to a local bar and picks up strangers. Meanwhile, Luisa (Lourdes Naharro) and Pedro (Daniel Parejo), who both have Down syndrome and are members of the Danza Mobile dance company, which works with people suffering from intellectual disabilities, have fallen in love, but they feel free to express it, even in public, which gets them in trouble with Luisa’s mother (Catalina Lladó). The contrast between the two romances, one of which is “mixed” but both of which are complicated, is well handled by Naharro (who also plays Daniel’s older brother in the film) and Pastor, steering clear of the kind of sappy melodrama that could have compromised the film’s point of view. They deal with the issue of the infantilization and stereotyping of people with Down syndrome with just the right amount of honesty and subtlety to avoid becoming a pedantic message movie. Both Dueñas, an Almodóvar regular, and Pineda, making his cinematic debut, won Silver Shells for their acting at the 2009 San Sebastian Film Festival. Pineda is in fact the first person with Down syndrome in Europe to earn a major university degree, and he is endearing in the lead role, never overly sentimental, and the script avoids treacly moments, as does Guille Milkyway’s soundtrack. ME, TOO will be screening as part of the ReelAbilities NY Disabilities Film Festival on February 5 at the JCC in Manhattan and on February 6 at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington.