Coming Soon To A Dumbo Near You

So we all know that Dumbo is the sworn enemy of Williamsburg, The feud that had raged between these two ultra hip neighborhoods for the last century and a half has caused more blood shed than the civil, revolutionary and Napoleonic wars combined. The struggle over who has the hippest artists and the coolest lofts is not one which will be decided in our lifetimes, that's just how it is.

One small band of artists is calling for a cease fire, however. The aptly named Brooklyn Underground is tired of all the war and famine and sieges. "We just want the hoods of Brooklyn to unite, however briefly," Claims Gaia Cornwall Artistic Director of the Second Annual Brooklyn Underground Film Festival. And we peace-loving, draft fearing citizens can only say "Huzza to that!"

Seriously, though. There's an actual independent film festival going on this week in your very own borough and it's looking to be about as slick as shit can get. It runs from the 8th through the 14th (in DUMBO) and will showcase more than 90 of short and feature length movies.

A still from "Spangled"

Some Films of Note:
Bruno S. Estrangement is Death - A documentary about a chap named Bruno who got his fifteen minutes in a Werner Herzog film. Bruno apparently tries to out crazy Herzog's most famous fiend, Klaus Kinskey.

Pepe Villa Body Shop - Which documents three years in the life of a Cuban family living in Miami's Little Havana as they try to keep it together and run a small auto-body shop.

Steady - A brilliant mocumentary of a Texas shot-gun wedding, replete with everything a country wedding needs, including the spaghetti buffet.

Additionally there are tons of shorts peppered throughout the programs.
Notably: Revelations by Gerald, Interviews, Correcto! Incorrecto! Not Too Much Remember, Such Is My karma, and tons more.

"It's a really tight list," Josh Koury, the festival's program director assures me. "Usually a film festival will stick their crappy movies earlier in the days. But we don't really have any crap. I feel kind of bad for our afternoon screenings, because they're all so good. I just hope people come out to see them."

Aside from movies the underground is busy assembling a huge bar and a stage in the lobby. Local artists are hanging their work, or just painting over whatever's on the walls to begin with. There will be nightly parties culminating in one massive bash Sunday night. So even if you hate the movies, you should still come out and get drunk and listen to music and look at art nice and cheap. The lobby will be open to everyone from around 3 in the afternoon till 10, after that its $3 or $4. Prices for the movies are only $6 for each program (try finding something that cheap on Bedford!)

Ticket sales and real information can be found at www.brooklynunderground.org

Seriously guys, enough with the blood shed. Let's all go to the movies!!!!!

--B.C. Edwards
carter@freewilliamsburg.com