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bed-stuy, ny 11233
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PUBLIC ARTS PROGRAMMING / DESIGN (2000 - ): one of the things i love about nyc (in stark contrast to los angeles where i grew up), is the enormous amount of free public cultural programming that is available throughout the city. when i moved to bed-stuy in 1999, however, i was dismayed to see few of the type of events that i had gone to in virtually every other corner of the city.
i decided that i should do something about it, so i approached the then-fledgling museum of contemporary diasporan arts (MoCADA) and said, essentially, “you need public programming, i need an organization with 501(c)(3) status in order to fundraise.”
from those conversations, the KIDflix film fest of bed-stuy! was born (click here for the facebook page). every friday night in august in bed-stuy’s fulton park, we show free family-oriented films – with an emphasis on audience participation – focusing on issues concerning the black community in general, and the bed-stuy community in particular. we also strive to have thematically-linked live acts precede each screening.
we believe that it is important for any public programming to have diverse input, so we have collaborated with other non-profits such as the african film festival, dctv, red clay arts, reel sisters of the diaspora film festival, scenarios usa, and others. although the first few years came out of pocket, our sponsors now include target, jpmorganchase, foodtown, and a number of local politicians.
while we are proud of the quality and variety of films that we've screened over the last 8 seasons, we are particularly proud of the programs in which we were able to present the work of independent filmmakers. those include:
bite-size cinema – this was an evening of live-action and animated shorts and workshops all created by young, black, local filmmakers, presented by the filmmakers themselves. the screening was curated by red clay arts.
the boys of baraka – we were the unofficial new york premier of this independent film about disadvantaged youth from baltimore attending boarding school in africa (the official new york premier was at the film forum the following week). the filmmakers were on hand for q & a.
bullets in the hood: a bed-stuy story – this documentary was made by local teenagers after the 2004 shooting of Timothy Stansbury on a project rooftop. the filmmakers were on hand for q & a. it was followed by legacy, an independent film about 4 generations of black women living in the projects of chicago who were able to break out of a cycle poverty, drug addiction, violence, and despair. the screening was done in collaboration with dca tv.
hiphop: new world order – this was an independent, self-financed film made by a 25-year-old black woman who traveled to countries around the world to document how the street culture that our community’s youth help create influences people on a global scale.
teen flix – this was an evening of shorts made by teenage winners of a storywriting contest – addressing topics of concern to them, such as aids and teen pregnancy – in which the top stories were produced by hollywood professionals. the screening was done in collaboration with scenarios usa
reel shorts – we preceded each feature in our 8th season by a short from the reel sisters of the diaspora film festival.
a traditional indian dance performance & workshop preceded born into brothels.
dancers & drummers perform before the screening of orfeu negro (black orpheus).
a traditional brasilian folk dance workshop was given to teach a few samba moves to kids like this one.
teen filmmaker Terrence Fisher takes questions.