No Land Grab: Battle For Brooklyn

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June 9, 2011

Battle For Brooklyn

Brooklyn Based

FORT GREENE With construction of the new Barclays Center underway, and the upcoming traffic diversion along Flatbush and Fourth Ave. set to happen July 15 [NLG: actually, July 24], many of us are now seeing the ramifications of the Atlantic Yards project. But for an excellent primer on how we got here, and who tried to prevent this eminent domain abuse, see Battle for Brooklyn tonight at Fort Greene Park. The documentary by local couple Michael Galinksy and Suki Hawley traces Develop Don’t Destroy’s seven-year fight against AY on the streets and in hearings, and provides an intimate character study of Daniel Goldstein, the apartment owner-turned-activist who wages a heroic fight against Forest City Ratner. Rev. Billy will deliver a sermon at 8:30 before the free, 9pm Rooftop Films screening, followed by a Q&A with the directors and Goldstein. It then opens at Cinema Village and indieScreen on June 17.

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At Rooftop Films, we are constantly working with local communities and city officials to try to use more of our city buildings for arts programming, and to keep these programs affordable for everyone. Battle for Brooklyn is a film that speaks close to our hearts and we are honored to be screening this film free in Fort Greene Park, only blocks away from the Atlantic Yards site.

Screen Daily, Standing up for Brooklyn

Over six years ago I was living in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, when I found out I had to vacate my prized apartment rental to make way for a new basketball stadium project. It so happened I was already moving to London within the month, but it was sad to know my old building on Vanderbilt Avenue – full of local character, great families who had been in the neighbourhood for decades, not to mention a unique painted advertisement for a now-defunct fried chicken restaurant – was headed for destruction.

Of course, some of my old neighbours didn’t flee the country when the neighbourhood was under threat. And their stories are chronicled in a new documentary, Battle For Brooklyn, by Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley (who I know from their earlier films including Half-Cocked, Radiation and Horns and Halos).

Prospect Heights Patch, 5 Things to Know: 'Battle for Brooklyn' Showing, Silly Dilly Band and Elisa Flynn (not together), More

You need to find out how Atlantic Yards became the Barclays Center. Head to Fort Greene to see an outdoor showing of Battle for Brooklyn 8:30pm. Fort Greene Park, Corner of DeKalb Ave. and Washington Park. Free. (And bring lots of cold drinks. It's supposed to be hot tonight.)

Posted by eric at June 9, 2011 10:53 AM