April 3, 2004 |
| Island Gets Film Festival – And Filmmakers, Too |
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If you’re on the Island
two weekends from now, you’ll have a chance to see Roosevelt Island in a
number of films, as the Historical Society brings RIFF – the Roosevelt Island
Film Festival – to Manhattan Park Theater Club. It’s a fund-raiser
for the Society, but also an opportunity to see how the Island has been
used in films ranging from a clip the Edison Company shot from the east
channel while the Queensboro Bridge was under construction, to Spider-Man,
in which the evil Green Goblin created general havoc and, among other misdeeds,
destroyed the Island-side Tramway station. The festival is set for the weekend of April 17-18,
in three sessions. Full-length feature films include Blackwell’s
Island, with John Garfield and Victor Jory (prison corruption exposé),
from 1939; Night Hawks, with Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams
(heavy Tram involvement), 1981; Dead End, with Humphrey Bogart, Sylvia
Sidney, Joel McCrea, and Claire Trevor, 1936; and Spider-Man (heavy
Tram mayhem), 2002.
Among short films in the festival, The Garden features Islander Al Lewis as a Holocaust survivor who relives terrors of his past and interacts with fellow gardeners on Roosevelt Island. Roosevelt Island: Land Without Dogs is a mockumentary whose title suggests its subject. See below for a listing of times and prices. Meanwhile, the Island has been the setting for two more films in production. Sean Penn has been shooting at the south campus of Coler-Goldwater Hospital. A more visible Main Street presence has been the crew working on Dark Water (photos, page 1 and this page). Locations include PS/IS 217, Goldwater Hospital, 540 Main Street, and Capri Pizza. Shooting is scheduled for the subway station on Thursday (April 8) and the Tram on Monday, April 12 (service will be suspended from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.). Meanwhile, additional shooting is scheduled at 540 Main Street, both inside and outside. Dark Water is being directed by Walter Salles, who directed Central Station, which won an Oscar nomination for best foreign film. It stars Jennifer Connelly (House of Sand and Fog and a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for A Beautiful Mind), John C. Reilly (sang Mister Cellophane in Chicago, playing Renee Zellweger’s husband), Pete Postlethwaite (nominated for In the Name of the Father), Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Braveheart), and Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible). Connelly’s daughter is played by a six-year-old, Ariel Gade. ROOSEVELT ISLAND FILM FESTIVAL Saturday, April 17, 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Afternoon films include a short Thomas Edison film of Blackwell’s Island, Angela’s Island, No Dogs Allowed, and Night Hawks. Evening films include the Thomas Edison short, No Dogs Allowed, The Garden, and Blackwell’s Island. Sunday, April 17, 1:30 p.m. Featured films include the Thomas Edison short, The Last Trolley in New York, Dead End, and Spider-Man. Adults, $10; children, $6. Series subscription
for all three shows: Adults, $25; children $15. All films will be
shown at the Manhattan Park Theatre Club at 6 River Road.
For more information, call (212) 688-4836 or visit www.rihs.us.
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