'Mixed Tape' Of a Film Festival In Crown Heights

Other people may go on a crash diet. Lahoe Ku went on a 30-day “trash diet” – eating only food she found in the garbage—and made a movie about it.

“Bon Appetit” is one of 31 films in the second annual Crown Heights Film Festival, being presented over the weekend at Five Myles Gallery, with free admission. At 25 minutes long, Ku’s film, which is part of the Friday evening bill, is one of the longest entries in the festival; the shortest lasts little over a minute.

The seeds for the Crown Heights Film Festival began in conversations at a restaurant. Crown Heights residents Pedro Marti, who works as a cameraman and photographer, and Erin Gleason, an artist and designer, were hanging out at Breukelen Coffee House on Franklin Avenue. Talk turned to the neighborhood and how many filmmakers lived here and they decided to have a screening to show their films. “There also aren't nearly enough cinemas in this part of Brooklyn, and we wanted to help fulfill that need," Gleason said via e-mail.

“We knew we wanted the film screenings to also be a social event, where people in the neighborhood can get to know one another,” she added.

They met with the owner of , who agreed that it was a good idea.

The festival that has resulted showcases the work of local filmmakers, but has expanded to include international entries as far away as Bolivia and The Netherlands (although in truth, most of these filmmakers currently reside in Brooklyn.) There is a casual reception each evening before the films so that neighbors can meet filmmakers and vice-versa.

The films that Gleason and Marti selected this year are in an eclectic range of styles and genres. “It's kind of like making a mixed-tape,” Gleason says. “We consider changes in mood, message, pacing, and film type when curating each night.” Genres include:

Animation, such as the stained glass window that comes alive in Jessie Brugger’s seven-minute “The Stained Glass Window,” which was shown Thursday night.

Narrative films, such as “The Secret Friend,” Flavio Alves’s 15-minute adaptation of a short story about an elderly widow, which was shown Thursday. Manu Di Feliciantonio, a resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant who grew up in Paris, is offering a 26-minute excerpt of what will eventually be a full-length feature film, “Lionel Fantom in Room 99” on the Saturday evening bill.

Fine art and experimental films, such as Run Shayo’s 10-minute “Becoming Be-going,” scheduled for Saturday, which the catalogue describes as “combining elements of Japanese Butah dance, clowning and spoken word” to tell the story of a “Chaplinesque everyman and his encounters with the lost survivors of some cataclysmic event.” 

Also included in this category is the three-minute film “Run Nigger” by Justice Whitaker. Asked about his name and his title, Whitaker, who has lived in Crown Heights for about a year, explains: “My parents were hippies and activists in California through the 70's and 80's, and the name they gave me has driven me in my work. "Run Nigger" is obviously … a shock technique—but it deals with a shocking situation that unless you have experienced it seems unreal. The entire film is a visual representation of a universal feeling in the core of black men in America.”

Documentaries, such as "Racing Towards Red Hook," Jessica Scott’s 21-minute film on the Friday schedule that follows three cyclists as they compete in the Red Hook Criterium.

This is the category for “Bon Appetit.” When Lahoe Ku moved to New York from Seoul, South Korea about two years ago, she was shocked at how much food Americans waste. She also missed being able to share food Korean-style with family and friends.  She sought out and discovered a new community, which calls itself freegan – the word is a combination of “free” and “vegan.”  She decided to spend a month living the freegan lifestyle—she stopped shopping for food, indeed ate only food she found in trash bags, accompanied by freegans and aided by a flashlight she wore on her head like a coal miner. She admits in the film to some downsides to her new preoccupation. “My place had a nasty smell.”

Ku moved to Prospect Heights several months ago to be close to her new job at The Doc Tank. She was pleased to discover that the neighborhood is full of filmmakers and film lovers.

For those who miss the film festival this weekend, Ku is holding a “Dumpster Diving Film and Talk” at LauchPad in the neighborhood next Friday, October 21, which will include a screening of the film.  “I’m inviting Freegan people and neighborhood people.”

The Crown Heights Film Festival is being presented at Five Myles, 558 St. John’s Place, through October 16. Admission is free