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March 16, 2010
Final Movie Night at Freddy’s?
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill]
by Perry Santanachote
Kings County Cinema Society has screened documentary films at Freddy’s Bar and Backroom once a month for nearly two years. Last Wednesday night, on the eve of the Atlantic Yards groundbreaking, an especially big crowd showed up. Around 40 people, twice as many as usual, squeezed into Freddy’s cramped backroom.
“It’s particularly bittersweet tonight because it’s quite possible it’s our last one here,” said Nick Shimkin, 26, co-founder of the Kings County Cinema Society. Freddy’s has received a notice to vacate the premises to make way for the Atlantic Yards development.
That notice was sent by developer — and Freddy's landlord — Forest City Ratner; it was not a court order.
A preview of Michael Galinsky’s Battle of Brooklyn, a documentary about the Atlantic Yards development, drew many patrons. Mr. Galinsky showed interview footage of Bruce Bender, from Forest City Ratner Company, riling up the crowd and sparking a lively discussion.
...Kings County Cinema Society usually selects and screens locally produced documentaries that veer off the beaten path.
“It’s curated for my fellow broke friends,” said Shimkin, who reaches out to filmmakers and venues with his partner, Tobias Arturi, so movie lovers don’t have to pay $12.50 to see a good film in New York.
NoLandGrab: Surely the screenings will continue at Chuck E. Cheese or Buffalo Wild Wings or whatever other such establishments Forest City will spring on the neighborhood, no?
Posted by eric at March 16, 2010 10:01 PM