"Where is the theater?"

On Tuesday night, the group ventured into Williamsburg, Brooklyn to see an independent film. Alan had given us directions and said it wouldn't be too hard to find.

Wrong.

I was actually coming from a dinner (which I'll expand on in a future post) and I was rushing so I wouldn't be late. The subway ride was fine; an easy #1 and a transfer to the L. I got out of the subway and orientated myself and started walking.

When I arrived at what I thought was the correct street, I couldn't quite find it. I looked and looked but nothing. Suddenly, it appeared.

What I had found was Spectacle Theater, a tiny independent theater. It is run entirely by volunteers, which is pretty incredible. When you walk in, BAM, the seats and screen are right in front of you. The theater doesn't hold too many people, making for an intimate setting.

The film we saw was Panorama Ephemera. It is based off of the archives of Richard Prelinger. He collected "ephemeral" films aka short films on a wide variety of topics. The film we saw is Prelinger showing off his collection by stitching together over 60 films. Some were short clips and others were much longer. Below is the trailer from Spectacle's website:


The film was fascinating because there were so many great clips and it was interesting to think about how Prelinger put the film together. Many of the clips seemed to be from the 1950s and it allowed the audience to think about the 1950s and how the 1950s viewed the past.

After the film, some of the group went home and a few of us went to a local hot dog joint Alan knew of to discuss the film. Tasty and a nice way to end the night!