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September 26, 2012
Creators of Atlantic Yards film, Battle for Brooklyn, Talk Opening of Barclays Center, Jay-z, Corruption, and More (Pt. 2)
Runnin' Scared
by Jason Lewis
Yesterday we introduced you to Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley, co-directors of the film Battle for Brooklyn.
The film follows Brooklyn apartment owner Daniel Goldstein and his fight to save his home from real estate developer Bruce Ratner and other powerful New York City figures and officials seeking to displace residents from their homes in order to make way for Ratner's Atlantic Yards development project.
...Michael on hosting a free screening on the night of the debut concert event at the Barclays Center:
Michael: [The screening] starts at 8 p.m. and Jay-z goes on at about 10 p.m., so they can stop by and see it. What would happen is, they would enjoy the movie and they would enjoy Jay-z. No one is saying that Jay-z isn't incredibly talented, and I think he's pretty awesome at what he does. I don't think there's anyone better -- well there's a few people better. But, the point is, it's not us versus them, it's more of a having information versus not knowing.
There's going to be a certain amount of protest, but certainly not aimed at the people going to see Jay-z. It's really aimed at getting the media to pay attention to the fact that every promise was broken, and that the system is rigged against the average person. That's really what it's about. I have no problem with anyone going to see Jay-z. I have no problem with anyone going to see the Nets. I do want them to know what happened, so that when this kind of thing happens again, people will have a little bit more knowledge and a little bit more ability to make it better for the public.
...Will you do something like this again?
Michael: Hell no! It almost killed us. We spent eight years on this project.
Suki: That shows why it was so difficult for the media to even begin to tell the story. It was very complex, complicated. It took eight years. It was just a difficult story, that's very hard to convey in an entertaining way. I felt like we did a pretty good job. Once again, we tried to more like Frank Capra than Michael Moore. In the sense that we wanted to tell a compelling story and a universal story rather than a political polemic.
Posted by eric at September 26, 2012 11:52 AM