Post-screening conversation with filmmakers Carol Stein & Susan Wittenberg.
Delighting in the daily rhythms of life alongside the Coney Island boardwalk in the '80s, this recently restored documentary weaves together conversations with eclectic residents — Russian grandmothers, Puerto Rican sunbathers, and generational New Yorkers — alongside archival footage of the Brooklyn seaside from fifty years earlier in a sparkling summer portrait that celebrates unexpected moments of belonging and resilience in an ever-evolving community at the edge of the city.
“Brighton Beach is a film about survival, uprootedness, immigration, racism… marriage… how the poor find pleasure, how the old stay young, how people in crowded places share space, how the melting pot won’t melt. It is a film about a corner of gentleness and relief in a tough town.” —Carol Stein & Susan Wittenberg
“Unpeels layers of this bizarre neighborhood, its organized anarchy, its exquisite ugliness, its funny sadness” —Jonas Mekas
Preceded by:
Weegee's New York. 1946-48/51, US, 21 min. Edited by Amos Vogel.
“One of the most under-recognized films of the 1950s.” —Scott Macdonald
Special thanks to David Schwartz and Sara Ickow. Weegee's New York courtesy International Center of Photography, New York.
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We are proud to be sponsored by Istic Illic Pictures, Stellar Bookkeepers 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 Arts. Support provided by FRANC and the Fund for the City of New York.
