UNTITLED PIZZA MOVIE
(Parts 1-3) by David Shapiro. 2023, US, 94 minutes. Co-presented by Filmmaker Magazine
In the early ‘90s, two friends set out on a quest: save New York by making a pizzamentary. Repeatedly purchasing a video camera on a 30-day return policy, under the guise of a nonexistent show called Eat to Win, David Shapiro and his best friend, Leeds Atkinson, memorialized fabled pizzerias across five boroughs and ate for free.
Decades later, the friends long estranged, David, now a filmmaker, receives a troubling email. He sets out to investigate what happened to his old friend, their city, and a pizza man they once met along the way, Andrew Bellucci.
Shot across three continents over thirty years, employing a remarkable archive — a city in the throngs of gentrification captured on hi-8 video tape — Untitled Pizza Movie is a form-pushing documentary about the fault lines of class, friendship, filmmaking, and memory. And pizza.
Written, directed, and edited by acclaimed filmmaker and born-and-bred New Yorker, David Shapiro, we present the first three episodes of this seven-part series.
Conversation with filmmaker David Shapiro and Scott Macaulay of Filmmaker Magazine following screening.
Our Sponsors
Rockaway Film Festival would like to thank VBX™~Vernam Basin Terminal for generously hosting us at the Arverne and Annex Cinemas in addition to BBX™~Barbadoes Basin Terminal for contributing to such.
We are proud to be sponsored by Blundstone®, Istic Illic Pictures, and NYC Ferry. Rockaway Film Festival made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Rockaway Film Festival is funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Art. We receive additional support from Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.