“Battle” In Seattle from October 7th - 13th

Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum cinema, as part of its “Remaking the Metropolis” mini-festival, is screening Battle for Brooklyn nightly from October 7th to 13th. 

Tickets, showtimes and more information.

> Seattle Times review:
Some wins, some losses in ‘Battle for Brooklyn’
(3 of 4 Stars)
“…Hawley and Galinsky, a longtime wife-and-husband documentary team, bring real suspense to the story, culled from many hundreds of hours of footage. Both opposing sides talk about “the soul of Brooklyn”; what’s also clear, from this movie, is a powerful sense of finding home.”
 

> Seattle’s The Stranger review:
Battle for Brooklyn presents a complex struggle between those at the top, those in the middle, and those at the bottom. Those at the top (Jay-Z, developers, the mayor) want to transform a section of Brooklyn into a profit-making machine. Those in the middle (mostly white) do not want to be displaced by this development. And those at the bottom (mostly black) have been bought by those at the top to politically promote the displacement of those in the middle. The documentary is fair and engaging from beginning to end. “

Why we Battle

The media times are changing.  Early on in discussing “Occupy Wall Street,” the media echo chamber repeated the idea that the protesters didn’t have real demands, implying that they were therefore irrelevant.  It was the wrong note to hit because the people weren’t buying it.  For the most part the comments section on the NY Times (as an example) was fast and furious in expressing outrage at the articles’ tone.  The people are no longer buying what the media is selling on this issue.

The thinking, up to now, has been that everything needs to be about organization, fund raising, and clear messaging.  “The movement has failed,” the media declared, ignoring the fact the the movement had different goals.  However, the message that is coming from the movement is that THE PEOPLE are fed up with these false structures.

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Bread and Circuses

I stayed up late last night looking at footage from the occupy wall street protest.  For the most part it’s pretty mild stuff.  There are very few truncheons swinging.  Yet the tone of dismissal and power is overwhelming.  There’s a palpable anger among the officers even as the protesters remain non-violent.  What’s even more disturbing is that the white shirts (the supervisors) are responsible for the most egregious acts of violence in both the mace video and the one of the orange shirted café worker who is trying to figure out what’s going on.  


For the most part the protests have gone un-reported (up until the violence of this weekend).  Slowly the media started to pick up on some of the more violent police actions.  In reference to uncut footage of a supervisor macing 3 calm women, a police spokesperson claimed that the footage was “doctored”.  It’s uncut footage.  The supervisor walks up and sprays mace in their faces and walks away.  The footage is clear.  I take particular offense at these charges because as filmmakers we take great pains to be even handed, yet we get accused of creating “propaganda”.  When those who are inside the tent, and used to controlling the message, are confronted with a counter narrative they often get very angry.

Today I went down to a tent on the plaza of the Atlantic Center mall to see Jay Z make a “surprise” announcement that he will do 8 shows at the arena and that the team will be called the Brooklyn Nets.  It was a total bread and circus moment.  While there are hundreds of people protesting on Wall Street there were hundreds of press people at this press event dutifully reporting the dominant narrative that they were led to.  When I pointed this out to press people they didn’t see the irony. 

When I first arrived (at the wrong location) I saw Marty Markowitz talking to an ABC news reporter. 



I offered Marty a copy of the film.  He refused to take it and told me that it was propaganda.  I explained that I made the film and asked if he had seen it.  “No, but I have had plenty of people tell me that it’s propaganda.”  I told him that I took offense at that notion as I had taken great pains to make it even handed.  I asked him again if he was sure that he didn’t want a copy.  He did not.  I didn’t film this exchange because I had no ill intent.  I sincerely wanted him to have a chance to view the film.  I offered one to the reporter as I had filmed him at the ground breaking.  He didn’t want one either.  Then Marty yelled at me that they didn’t have to take one. (UPDATE:  As I thought about this later I thought it was pretty hypocritical of Mr. Markowitz to accuse me of being a propagandist while organizing a propaganda event)

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“Battle” Completes Successful Run in Los Angeles

BATTLE FOR BROOKLYN just completed a successful run at the Laemmle Music Hall 3 in Los Angeles from August 19 to August 26.

Here is some of the Los Angeles press coverage:

LA Weekly feature article

IndieWire’s Anne Thompson “On Hollywood”

Los Angeles Times review 

indieWire interview with filmmaker Mike Galinsky

Review by Brent Simon, President of the LA Film Critics Association

Ron Kaye’s review on RonKayeLa.com

‘Battle’ Resonates from Brooklyn to L.A.

One week after the Los Angeles City Council approved a new NFL stadium, Battle for Brooklyn opens in Los Angeles as a cautionary tale for Angelenos hearing the same overhyped pie-in-the-sky job and revenue promises we’ve seen broken here in Brooklyn.

LA Neighbors United founder Cary Brazeman makes the connection, The “Battle for Brooklyn” Is Our Fight, Too, along with former LA Daily News editor Ron Kaye, ‘Battle For Brooklyn’ — How Politicians and a Developer Trashed a Neighborhood for an Arena.

Michael Moore Chooses “Battle” for His Traverse City Film Festival

Beloved and controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has chosen Battle for Brooklyn for his Traverse City Film Festival in his home state of Michigan. The film will screen at the festival on July 27tth and 29th.