A Trinidadian street vendor must decide whether to save his estranged father; another documentary about the search for the reclusive creator of Bitcoin; a recently split couple having to pretend to still be together—these are just a few of the gripping dramas people can expect from the 17th Bushwick Film Festival, set to kick off next week in nearby Williamsburg.
For the first time, the festival will be sponsored, at least in part, by Netflix, the major streaming company that opened a studio in Bushwick two years ago. Kweighbaye Kotee, who started and still runs the festival brand, said she was able to land the money at the last minute as a sponsor for its opening night on Oct. 16, alongside the Johnnie Walker whisky brand and the cable company Spectrum. In a press release, Kotee pins the deal on meeting meeting with Nick Maniatis, an executive who runs some of Netflix’s studio work.
In addition to screening some 13 or so feature-length movies and about 75 shorts, Kotee’s festival will also run a comedy night with writers and stand-ups, a filmmaking industry luncheon, and a ticketed reading of “Electric Homies,” an unproduced screenplay written by Roberto Fatal that was put on the “GLAAD List” of Unproduced LGBTQ Screenplays in 2022.
Kotee says the overarching theme in her Bushwick Film Festival this year is “Producing the Dream.” On one hand, she said, it’s “about the work it takes to realize a dream.”
She pointed to a feature like Doubles, a debut from NYU film school graduate Ian Harnarine that’s been playing various small festivals for about a year without a wide release date. This past July, the movie played at a screening put on by the Filmmakers Collaborative of Trinidad and Tobago, and now it’s here. Harnarine had to leave New York and move back home to Canada to put together a budget just to make it.
“When someone says, ‘Follow your dream,’ they don’t tell you that that dream takes a million steps,” says Kotee, about this.
Other movies playing the festival include Paul Kemp’s Canadian bitcoin documentary Searching For Satoshi, and The Opener, described as a “feel-good, underdog music doc” about a small-time struggling actor named Philip Labes, who lands a slot opening for Jason Mraz. It arrives in Williamsburg after playing the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience last month.
More local programming comes on the shorter side, including “Loft and Found,” a pilot for a “mockumentary” webseries that is set in Unit J, a local DIY venue in Bushwick. The festival has slotted it in a shorts program called “Everyday Hustle.”
But Kotee says that her “Producing the Dream” idea also falls in line with the political moment.
The emergence of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president — and the prospective chance for a woman to finally serve in the White House — had also convinced Kotee that she was onto something.
“This is kind of a dreamy year,” says Kotee.
Speaking of dreams, another of the shorts programs that Kotee has put together is called “Dream Keepers.” According to the festival’s website, it will feature documentaries that “highlight the vital role of cultural anchors—both people and community staples—in preserving heritage, fostering connection, and shaping identity.”
These include a short about Emilio’s Ballato, a longtime Italian spot in Manhattan, paired with a different short about Italian Iron Works, a metals workshop in Cobble Hill.
“We’ve been here for 17 years,” says Kotee. “We have a community that we’ve been serving those years. A lot of them may not live here anymore. A lot of them are feeling like things are not for them.” One of her biggest visions for her festival, she says, is “to open up a film and media center in Bushwick.” Currently, according to their media kit, she employees a “20+ full-time staff over the years,” as well as hundreds of interns.
One aspect of this year’s festival that Kotee said was unique is that it’s the first time she feels like the COVID-19 pandemic is “very, very, very far away.”
“We are getting our stride back,” she said.
The Bushwick Film Festival takes place between October 16th-20th, at Williamsburg Cinemas. Get tickets for screenings here.
Top image taken from Ian Harnarine’s “Doubles.”
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