Recent Events
Q&A with Costume Designer Jacqueline West and Costume Researcher Julie O'Keefe, moderated by JBFC Board President Janet Maslin
SOLD OUT: This event is currently sold out. There will be a standby line starting one hour before showtime in person at the box office. Jacqueline West has earned Academy Award nominations for her work on Dune, The Revenant, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Quills. For Dune and Benjamin Button, she also received [...]
Q&A with director Jude Chehab
Jude Chehab is a Lebanese-American filmmaker whose cinematic interests have drawn her to the exploration of the esoteric, the spiritual, and the unspoken. Her richly layered visual and intimate personal shooting style developed under the mentorship of Abbas Kiarostami’s final student group. Jude has been credited in collaborations with the BBC, Hot Docs, and Sesame [...]
9/20 6:30: Q&A with author Dan Callahan
Dan Callahan is the author of “Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman” and “Vanessa: The Life of Vanessa Redgrave.” He has written for “New York Magazine,” “Film Comment,” “Sight and Sound,” “Time Out New York,” “The L Magazine,” and many other publications.
Q&A with director Roger Ross Williams, moderated by Janet Maslin
Roger Ross Williams is an Oscar, Emmy and Peabody award-winning director, producer, writer, and the first African-American director to win an Academy Award ® with his short film Music By Prudence. Williams’ award-winning work pushes the boundaries of culture and film. In 2021 Williams was named an Indiewire Influencer for “changing the face of documentary [...]
Live musical performance from the Julian Lee Quartet
Cool Cats will be followed by a live musical performance from the Julian Lee Quartet, led by saxophonist Julian Lee, the 2017 recipient of the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award from Jazz At Lincoln Center. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Lee plays Alto, Tenor, and Soprano saxophones, clarinet and flute. Along with the Jazz [...]
Conversation with Steven Jenkins, Director of the Bob Dylan Center, and JBFC Board President Janet Maslin
Prior to joining the Bob Dylan Center, Steven Jenkins held leadership positions at nonprofit arts organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, including University of California Press, SFFilm/The San Francisco International Film Festival, Frameline/The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, San Francisco Cinematheque and The Friends of Photography/Ansel Adams Center for Photography. The Bob Dylan [...]
Barbie's Pajama Party
Come see Barbie for the first time (or the fourth) at Barbie’s Pajama Party on Tuesday, August 15 at 7:15. Wear your pajamas to get a free small popcorn (brownie points for pink PJs) and come early to grab a free Barbie-themed ice cream from our friends at Penny Lick Ice Cream (while supplies last). [...]
Critic, writer, and Pop Culture Happy Hour co-host Aisha Harris in conversation with JBFC Senior Film Programmer Monica Castillo
Join Pop Culture Happy Hour co-host Aisha Harris in conversation with JBFC Senior Film Programmer Monica Castillo to discuss Save the Last Dance and Harris’ debut book, Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me. Aisha Harris is a co-host and critic for NPR’s hit podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, where they gab about—you [...]
Introduction by "Beatleologist" Scott Freiman
Scott Freiman is a composer, a musician, software entrepreneur, and CEO of Qwire. He is the creator of Deconstructing The Beatles, a series of multimedia presentations about the composition and production techniques of the Fab Four. He has presented his lectures to sold out audiences throughout North America and has also taught a 13-part course [...]
Q&A with director A.J. Eaton, moderated by JBFC Board President Janet Maslin
A.J. Eaton is a filmmaker with a unique background in narrative, documentary, and music production. His love of music and movies was sparked after watching his folk-musician father write a song for a PBS documentary. Later, Eaton earned a political-science degree and became interested in stories of activism and democracy while working on a number [...]
*CANCELLED* Q&A with writers/producers/actors Ben Platt and Noah Galvin, moderated by Broadway producer Dori Berinstein
Ben Platt’s evolving body of work also includes memorable roles in the Tony® Award-winning original Broadway production of The Book of Mormon, Universal’s film adaption, Dear Evan Hansen, the blockbuster films Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2, and the acclaimed Netflix series The Politician, which he starred in and served as executive producer. Platt was [...]
Tito Puente Centennial Celebration: Mambo, New York, and the King of the Timbales
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Tito Puente’s birth in Harlem, join Senior Film Programmer Monica Castillo for a behind-the-history look at mambo, its role in New York City, and what happened next in Latin music before the screening of The Mambo Kings. Learn about the multiple forces that brought Puerto Rican and Cuban musicians [...]
Q&A with writer and performer Christine Barker, moderated by Broadway producer Dori Berinstein
Christine Barker was raised in a military family and grew up living in Europe and throughout the United States. When her father retired from the military, her family settled in Santa Fe, NM. After attending two years of college at UCLA, Ms. Barker moved to New York City to pursue a career in dance and [...]
Q&A with filmmaker and musician Kenny Vance, moderated by JBFC Board President Janet Maslin
Kenny Vance, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is an original member of the chart-topping Sixties group Jay and the Americans, the iconic opening act at the first-ever U.S. concerts of the Beatles, as well as the Rolling Stones. Outside of performing, he’s watermarked many chapters in popular culture. Vance orchestrated debut guest performances by Prince, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown on SNL as Musical Director. His creative [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Jon Bowermaster
Jon Bowermaster is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s “Ocean Heroes,” his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741 mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. Jon has written eleven books and produced/directed more than thirty documentary films. His feature documentaries include Dear President Obama, Antarctica, [...]
Live musical accompaniment from Ben Model
Ben Model is one of the nation’s leading silent film accompanists, and performs on both piano and theatre organ. Ben works full-time presenting and accompanying silent films in a wide variety of venues around the USA and internationally, carrying on a tradition he learned from silent film organist Lee Erwin. Over the past 4 decades [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Nancy Buirski and producer Susan Margolin, moderated by JBFC Board President Janet Maslin
Nancy Buirski is the Director/Producer/Writer of Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy; Director/Producer/Writer of A Crime on the Bayou (2021); Director/Producer/Writer of The Rape of Recy Taylor (2017); Director/Producer/Writer of By Sidney Lumet (2015); Director/Producer/Writer of Afternoon of a Faun (2013); Director/Producer/Writer of The Loving Story (2011); Producer for Loving (2015); [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Ivy Meeropol, moderated by writer Alec Wilkinson
Ivy Meeropol’s latest feature documentary After the Bite, about the explosion of great white sharks and seals on Cape Cod, will premiere on HBO July 2023. She premiered her HBO documentary Roy Cohn: Bully, Coward, Victim at the 2019 New York Film Festival and in 2020 the film was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding [...]
Q&A with writer Kyle Turner, moderated by JBFC Senior Film Programmer Monica Castillo
Kyle Turner is a freelance writer and editor based in Brooklyn, NY. His work has been featured in Slate, NPR, the Village Voice, GQ.com, and the New York Times. He is also the author of The Queer Film Guide: 100 Films That Tell LGBTIA+ Stories, out from Smith Street Books and Rizzoli on May 16. [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Vuk Lungulov-Klotz
Vuk Lungulov-Klotz is a Chilean-Serbian filmmaker raised between Chile, New York City, and Serbia. He is an alum of the Sundance Institute Labs, the Tribeca Film Institute, and the Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative Program. As a transgender storyteller, he hopes to expand queer narratives. His work focuses on intimate moments we often miss if we’re [...]
Special live performance & conversation with musical theater star Ali Ewoldt, moderated Broadway Producer Dori Berinstein
Ali Ewoldt grew up in Pleasantville and went on to become the first person of color to play Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. She has also appeared as Cosette in Les Misérables (Broadway, National Tour), in The King and I (Lincoln Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago), and as Luisa in [...]
Q&A with Misty Copeland, director Lauren Finerman, and producer Leyla Fayyaz, moderated by JBFC Senior Film Programmer Monica Castillo
Misty Copeland is a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, the first Black woman to be promoted to the position in the company’s 75-year history in 2015. She has performed some of the most iconic classical ballet roles, including Odette/Odile in Swan Lake; Juliet in Romeo & Juliet; Giselle; Manon; Coppelia; Kitri in Don Quixote; [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Sasha Korbut, moderated by JBFC Director of Special Event Programming Chris Holliday
Incomplete filmmaker Sasha Korbut is a film producer, writer, dancer, and actor based in New York City. Korbut has studied at The Joffrey Ballet School and worked with leading dance companies in South Korea, China, Spain, and the U.S. He has contributed to numerous print and online magazines including OUT, Filmmaker Magazine, and Medium. As [...]
Spider-Verse Art Activity
After the screening, join us upstairs in the Jane Peck Gallery to make Spiderific backpack charms with our friends at Super Awesome Artland! Get ready to stencil webs and pair ‘em up with real Spider-Man figurines so you can bring them into your Spider-Verse!
Q&A with director Lisa Cortés, moderated by The Hollywood Reporter's Abbey White
Lisa Cortés is an Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy-winning film producer and celebrated director. The film Precious (2009), which she executive produced, received the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama at the Sundance Film Festival. Marking the acting debut of Gabourey Sidibe, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards® and won [...]
Virtual Q&A with filmmaker Marvin Samel - Closing Night reception follows
Marvin Samel (writer-director) was born in Brooklyn, NY to Mordecai and Fela Samel. Raised by not only immigrants, but Holocaust Survivors, his childhood was filled with the colorful and oftentimes comedic conflicts. In 1995, fueled by his passion for premium cigars, Marvin founded Drew Estate as a kiosk in the World Trade Center Mall, which [...]
Q&A with Dr. Rachel Rothstein
Dr. Rachel Rothstein holds a PhD in history from the University of Florida. She has received fellowships from a number of institutions, including the Polish-American Fulbright Commission, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She served as an American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Jewish Service Corps volunteer in Timisoara, [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Alexandra Dean
Alexandra Dean is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer. She produced news-magazine documentaries for PBS before becoming a series and documentary producer at Bloomberg television, producing the series Innovators, Adventures and Pursuits. She also writes about invention for Businessweek magazine. Today, she is a founding partner at Reframed Pictures.
Q&A with actors Moshe Lobel, Petro Ninovskyi, and Lili Rosen
Moshe Lobel (Mendele) is a native Yiddish speaker from Hasidic Brooklyn, Moshe Lobel debuted on the New York stage as the lead in New Yiddish Rep’s Awake and Sing. In 2018, he joined the cast of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Oscar and Tony Award-winner Joel Grey. The show won the Drama Desk [...]
Virtual Q&A with filmmaker Marvin Samel
Marvin Samel (writer-director) was born in Brooklyn, NY to Mordecai and Fela Samel. Raised by not only immigrants, but Holocaust Survivors, his childhood was filled with the colorful and oftentimes comedic conflicts. In 1995, fueled by his passion for premium cigars, Marvin founded Drew Estate as a kiosk in the World Trade Center Mall, which [...]
Virtual Q&A with director, writer, producer Julia Mintz
Julia Mintz’s work focuses on narratives of bravery and resistance against unimaginable odds. She has been on the producing teams for films that have been shortlisted for the Academy Awards, premiered at Cannes, Sundance, and TriBeCa, and won Emmy, Peabody, and festival awards.
Opening Night Q&A with actors Moshe Lobel, Petro Ninovskyi, Lili Rosen, followed by a reception
Moshe Lobel (Mendele) is a native Yiddish speaker from Hasidic Brooklyn, Moshe Lobel debuted on the New York stage as the lead in New Yiddish Rep’s Awake and Sing. In 2018, he joined the cast of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Oscar and Tony Award-winner Joel Grey. The show won the Drama Desk [...]
Q&A with director Sam Green, moderated by JBFC Director of Film Programs Ryan Harrington
Sam Green (Director | Writer | Editor) is a New York-based documentary filmmaker. Green’s most recent live documentaries include A Thousand Thoughts (with the Kronos Quartet, 2018), The Measure of All Things (2014), The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller (with Yo La Tengo, 2012), and Utopia in Four Movements (2010). With all of these works, [...]
Q&A with director Roger Ross Williams, moderated by Jackie Glover
Roger Ross Williams is an Oscar, Emmy and Peabody award-winning director, producer, writer, and the first African-American director to win an Academy Award ® with his short film MUSIC BY PRUDENCE. Williams’ award-winning work pushes the boundaries of culture and film. In 2021 Williams was named an Indiewire Influencer for “changing the face of documentary [...]
Screening and book talk with Colors of Film author Charles Bramesco, moderated by JBFC Senior Film Programmer Monica Castillo
Charles Bramesco is a freelance film and TV critic living in Brooklyn. A former staff writer for Rolling Stone, he’s been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Guardian, and many other fine publications. He is the author of two books—Colors of Film: The Story of Cinema in 50 Palettes, and the Vampire [...]
Barbie's Block Party at JBFC Media Arts Lab Parking Lot
Channel your inner doll at BARBIE’S BLOCK PARTY on Saturday, July 22 from 5-9pm at the Media Arts Lab Parking Lot! Here’s what to expect: Delicious treats from local food trucks such as Kinwich Refreshing brews from Soul Brewing Company A trip down memory lane with a vintage ice cream truck through Bill’s Good Humor Photo opportunities with a real-life Barbie [...]
