A Space for Gathering During a Time of Solitude in Images

I always had a plan. I had a plan for when my plan didn’t go as planned. When I knew I needed a break, I planned to not have a plan for a certain amount of time or until I got bored. This is the control I had in my life, until March 2020. Like most, I had a difficult time spending time alone inside. I would go days without going outside to avoid the feeling of forcing myself to feel better while breaking up my days of isolation. By August 2020, I accepted that going outside to walk around my neighborhood was the only thing I could control.

For the next five months, I walked around the Financial District almost every day with my camera and observed how people spent their time during the pandemic. It felt like overnight the unbearable heat rolled into the crisp coolness of a new season and new faces passed in and out. Being in the presence of others and watching them relax, laugh and connect brought me joy in a depressing time.

In particular, the piers were where I saw people gather the most. They joined friends, family and partners to share a meal, chat, nap or play with their dogs. The easiness of the water flowing up the East River behind them reminded me that we will always find space for what brings us comfort while we go through the motions of life. The motions we cannot control.

I wondered if these people were also coming up with ways to keep consistency in their life, if they were planners or non-planners and if they were embracing these moments spent relaxing when they had no where else to be. As a journalist, these are questions I would ask a stranger, but the pandemic caused anxiety and panic to rise in me at the thought of invading a someone else’s space. My brain was overwhelmed with “What is the right way to do it?” So I sat back, held up my camera and thought up stories of my own.

I imagined these women were joining for the first times in months. Old friends from college smoking and catching up on their latest dating app stories or the new hobbies they have picked up. They all ventured out into different career paths, maybe finance, environmental studies and jewelry design. Yet they all shared a moment over their memories and the year they share in common.

I sensed this pair was a couple. They took up weekly bike riding to stay busy and active. They lived with each other and spent every second together in their pandemic life, so this seemed like a good time to sit in silence on their phones. This is the comfort they needed in this moment, sharing each other’s presence while connecting with the outside world.

The ferry served as a getaway with all the people watching I enjoyed at the piers, but from a chosen seat as others walked on and off. I started to opt for the ferry as a way to commute over the subway, or hopped on it to a random destination and back when I had a lot of time to take up.

Some looked like they were traveling to the beach or another borough, while others looked as though they were leaving or heading to work in a medical uniform or suit. We were all living different lives in a time of universal despair, connected by our thoughts of what will happen next.

The America You Know: An Essay on Racism

Black Lives Matter Justice for George Floyd protest in Cleveland, OH, May 30.

We all know many who deny the details of how Black people have been oppressed and murdered for centuries because they think the facts sound too outrageous and monstrous to be true. That speaks to both the racism and the privilege that exists in America.

It has been time for each white person in America to begin unlearning everything we know, and teach white youth the truth about what happens and has been happening to Black people in our country. Until we stop hearing “all lives matter.”

We grow up with parents and teachers who tell us we can trust the police with our lives, while Black children are having extremely different conversations in their homes.

World maps pinned to the walls of our history classrooms hide the fact that the U.S., China, Japan, India and Eastern Europe together could fit inside the continent of Africa, because they were not made to appear that way.

We read about the Great Depression in textbooks eight years in a row in those same classrooms, instead of reading about and discussing the racial wage gap, the effects of redlining, modern-day slavery in our prisons and the names of Black inventors and scientists whose work was stolen by white men.

The textbooks our schools use are so whitewashed, they leave us thinking violence against Black people ended after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and the Fair Housing Act was signed in 1968.

We have the white privilege to continue to look away from the America we were not raised to know.

In the America we seem to know, we think being “not racist” is enough. We think not judging someone for the color of their skin is enough. Today, we need to recognize more forms that racism lives in. Today, we need to know to be “anti-racist” is to speak out.

Speak out when Black people are portrayed in a way to convince others they deserve the treatment they receive in this country.

Speak out against your white family members who sit at your dinner table and make racist remarks they excuse as “jokes.” Stop letting these remarks pass as jokes by laughing or sitting in silence.

Speak out against those who think racial slurs are ok because they “would never say that in front of a Black person” or because they “have Black friends.”

Speak out against the racists who hate Black people until they play on their favorite sports team, design the clothes they wear, create their favorite music or anything else they can benefit from.

Speak out against your racist coworkers who accuse Black customers of stealing.

Speak out against those who try to justify why a white police officer murdered a Black man, Black woman, Black boy or Black girl because they refuse to believe a white police officer would kill a person for the color of their skin, or that there is a criminal-justice system in place to let them with no prosecution.

Speak out against those who change the conversation about Black people being murdered to that good cop they know. They are shifting the focus away from the murders of Black people once again.

Speak out against those who form an opinion before they listen to how a Black person feels and fears every day doing the things we don’t have to think twice about. Especially when opinions should not be involved in the justice for a human being who was murdered anyway.

I have seen white people change and begin educating themselves, but if you cannot change someone’s racism, you can stop allowing it with silence.

Teach your friends who are “shocked” by what they see, who need a video of a murder to believe in police brutality.

Give them books, podcasts and documentaries that will teach them the truth of the Black community, that there is far more that goes on that a camera does not catch for us to see. Make them realize the violence that is covered up by the police.

It should never have been Black people’s job to teach white people what white people have been doing to oppress Black people for centuries.

And if they still won’t see the truth, speak out against those who will try to refuse the America they know is a lie created by white people who documented oppression, violence and racism in a different light.

When we are not speaking up to the white people in our lives, we need to listen. Listen to understand the white privilege we have. Listen to learn how we can correct our speech and our behavior. Listen to how we can be active allies. When you begin to get defensive, take a step back and listen.

White people need to see that the racist rhetoric and behavior that goes on in their homes and during outings with friends is fueling the oppression and the violence against Black people across the country, and white people’s refusal to face it.

What we need to refuse is our passion for change dying with the media coverage as it always does, and keep it alive when we vote.

We need to unlearn and relearn the America we know.

George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. Tony McDade.

These Virtual Cinemas Offer Screenings to Support Local Theaters During COVID-19 Closings

New rental streaming platforms allow you to contribute to closed theaters near you and across the country.

Movie theaters across the country are facing new challenges in the midst of COVID-19 shutdowns. / Lisa Fotios, Pexels

Distributors and movie theaters have launched virtual cinemas to support local theaters, their employees and filmmakers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ticket buyers can find new releases or classics to rent for a flat fee by searching for a local theater through a distributor platform, or from a local theater’s website.

Indie theaters, which rely on ticket sales and fundraising, are facing re-budgeting issues, paying rent without making ticket sales and being forced to furlough or lay off almost all of their employees as a result of closing during the pandemic. Theater closings, dozens of film festivals being canceled or postponed and halted productions and releases will result in indie films not receiving the same viewership. Hollywood Reporter estimated that $20 billion in revenue for Hollywood could be lost from the effects of Coronavirus.

While contributions may seem small compared to the estimated loss in revenue and major changes the industry will have to face, each rental helps determine how movie theaters and their employees will come out of this pandemic.

Below is a list of virtual cinemas that can be used to search for a theater near you to support:

One-stop Distributors

Film Movement Plus

Film Movement Plus’ Virtual Cinema offers festival favorites and international hits presented by dozens of theaters around the country. Viewers can search for a theater near them by selecting “A White, White Day,” “The Wild Goose Lake” and other streaming titles.

Grasshopper Film

Grasshopper allows viewers to support their neighborhood theater by contributing half of the box office to the selected theater and its staff. “Vitalina Varela,” “Light From Light” and “Redoubt” lead the selection perfect for those who love culturally-rich festival features.

Kino Marquee

Distributor Kino Lorber launched the Kino Marquee program to stream Cannes prizewinner “Bacurau” to share revenue with 150 virtual theater screens. The company is currently streaming 10 other titles, including “Sorry We Missed You” and “Capital” with an option to search for local theaters.

Music Box

The distributor launched StreamLocal to offer the latest international art house films and live stream Q&A discussions with filmmakers to directly support local cinemas. The program is currently streaming “And Then We Danced” and “Eating Up Easter” for $12.

Oscilloscope

O-Scope launched Circle of Quarantine, a digital film subscription for $49.99 for 10 digital downloads of any 10 Oscilloscope titles. $10 of each subscription will be donated to the Cinema Worker Solidarity Fund to help cinema workers affected by COVID-19 shutdowns. The distributor will also virtually screen “Saint Frances” at art house theaters around the U.S.

Bleeker Street’s “The Roads Not Taken,” starring Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Laura Linney and Salma Hayek, is offered across multiple virtual cinemas and on the distributor’s website.

Independent Theaters and Chains:

AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, based in Montgomery Country, MD

The AFI Silver Virtual Screening Room supports the theatre and cultural center by streaming new titles every week from $4.99 to $12. This week’s additions include “2 Weeks in Lagos,” “Roar” and “The Times of Bill Cuningham” alongside a number of others to choose from.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, based in Texas, Virginia, Colorado, Missouri, California, New York, Nebraska, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina and Minnesota

Alamo-At-Home helps the national chain and filmmakers in the months ahead by screening a mixture of new releases and classics, including “Straight Up,” “Extra Ordinary,” “Porno” and“Reefer Madness” from $7.75 to $12. The virtual cinema upholds Alamo’s charm with Weird Wednesday and Terror Tuesday programs.

Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, based in California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Texas.

The company that brings enhanced movie-going experiences to 25 cities in the U.S. started Cinépolis Virtual Cinema to support its theater employees and filmmakers. Cinépolis is also donating two tickets to local nurses for every $50 e-gift card purchased through May 5. Current titles to rent are priced at $6.99 to $12 and include the new releases “Bit” and “The Roads Not Taken.”

Cleveland Cinemas, based in Cleveland, OH

50 percent or more of all Cleveland Cinema Virtual Screening Room revenue will directly go to Cedar Lee Theatre, Capitol Theatre, Chagrin Cinemas, Apollo Theatre and Tower City Cinemas. New films open each Friday. This week, the screening room debuts “Driveways” and is continuing to screen “The Booksellers” among a range of other titles from 99 cents to $12.

Facets, based in Chicago, IL

The Virtual Cinema supports the nonprofit’s mission and filmmakers from around the world by offering newly released independent and international films. From “Heimat Is a Space in Time” to “Balloon” and “A Good Woman Is Hard to Find,” April and May's titles offer diverse experiences from $9.99 to $12.

Film at Lincoln Center, based in Manhattan, NY

A portion of all FLC Virtual Cinema screenings will support FLC, which features a dozen thought-provoking and some award-winning titles for the 2020 spring season from $9.99 to $12. “Someone, Somewhere,” “Liberté” and “On a Magical Night” are just a few of the international films to look forward to.

Maysles Documentary Center, based in Harlem, NY

The Virtual Cinema supports the nonprofit’s dedication to the exhibition and production of documentaries. “Earth,” “Pahokee,” “No Data plan,” “Mossville: When Great Trees Fall” and “Made In Harlem: Zora Neale Hurston’s Fieldwork Footage” are on the schedule through June from $10-$12. Some titles also include live Zoom sessions or replays of Q&A’s.

Roxie, based in San Francisco, CA

50 percent of each ticket purchased through the Roxie Virtual Cinema goes to the vibrant, community-centric nonprofit. Current screenings include “Hilma af Klint” and “The Whistlers,” some being donation-based and others ranging from $4.99 to $18.00. The theater will also help support the Lyon-Martin Health Services through screening “No Secret Anymore: The Time of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.”

The Release of “The Hunt” Brings Last Year’s Criticism of It Into a New Perspective

Fox News and President Donald Trump framed “The Hunt” as controversial before anyone had seen it, unknowingly reflecting the premise of the film. (Some spoilers).

I was scrolling through political pandemic opinions on my Twitter timeline when I saw a friend’s post about a scandal linked to an article with no facts that backed up their propaganda-like statement. When I messaged them to ask if they had found any elsewhere, they spoke as if the details that pointed in the direction of their assumption were enough evidence to make it true. I felt I was chasing this friend in circles until I surrendered to save myself from mental exhaustion. 

This mere example of how we operate social media grabbed my attention as I had just watched “The Hunt” two days before. The film that reflects how we express our assumptions about others’ beliefs online was originally set to release on Sept. 27 of last year. The filmmakers and Universal Pictures postponed its release after Fox News and President Donald Trump criticized the film based on a few lines of the script that mentioned hunting “deplorables.” The film was released on March 13 on Amazon Prime, and the criticism proved to be misleading from what the film was really about, symbolizing its premise before anyone even watched it.

“The Hunt” is a gory satire, action thriller and horror film all wrapped into one 90-minute film directed by Craig Zobel and produced by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. Twelve strangers wake up near an open field with no sense of geography and a box full of weapons to find out they are being hunted by a group of elites. One of “The Hunted” (Betty Gilpin) derails their plan as she fights her way to the mysterious ringleader (Hilary Swank). 

.       .       . 

The filmmakers and Universal Pictures paused the film’s marketing campaign days after the El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio mass shootings that occurred on Aug. 3, as the trailer showed people being shot at. 22 people died and 24 were injured when a gunman opened fire with an assault rifle in an El Paso Walmart. Hours later, a gunman killed nine and injured 27 in a popular nightlife area of Dayton, also using an assault rifle. Those, of course, were not the only mass shootings that took place in the U.S. in 2019.

A few days after the mass shootings, Hollywood Reporter shared a line from the first act of the film’s script: “At least The Hunt's coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables.” Hillary Clinton used the term “deplorables” to describe Trump supporters during the 2016 presidential election.

Fox News widely covered the plot of “The Hunt.” Fox Business host Lou Dobbs called it “sick” and “twisted.” The media outlet aired various segments debating its promotion of hunting “deplorables,” and highlighted Twitter users who did the same. Political satirist Tim Young told Fox News the film “shows just how hateful the left has become.” The list goes on.

Trump told Variety Hollywood is “treating conservatives very unfairly,” and tweeted that the movie was made in order to “inflame and cause chaos.” Less than 24 hours later, a statement appeared on the movie’s website that has since been taken down. “We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film,” the statement said. 

Left-leaning media outlets covered the film by highlighting the criticism from Trump and Fox News. Business Insider concluded the movie “isn't about liberal elites hunting ‘deplorables,’” after obtaining the entire script. Perhaps left-wing media would have reacted in a similar light if the roles of “The Hunters” and “The Hunted” were reversed, but I can’t say for sure. That would make me a hypocrite, wouldn’t it?

.       .       . 

The happenings of mass shootings in the U.S. would have been reason enough to postpone releasing a film in which people chase others down with assault rifles, but that is not what most Fox News commentators and Trump based their criticism of “The Hunt” on. They took the term “deplorables” out of the context of the script as a whole and ran with it. Even some counterarguments were based upon more assumptions that those being hunted would likely win in the end. Let’s also remember that the elites are the murderers who hold such an arrogant title. They weren’t made out to look better than anyone else.

Zobel wrote in an email to Variety, “Once inaccurate assumptions about the content and intent of the movie began to take hold, I supported the decision to move the film off its release date.” He also said the ambition of the film was to “poke at both sides of the aisle equally.”

After watching “The Hunt” from beginning to end, that was my exact takeaway. The hunting of “deplorables” was a concept introduced in a text messaging conversation at the beginning of the film to leads the audience into action-packed satire. While there was more creative room for satire to be used, equal shots are taken at liberals and conservatives in their dialogue and in their survival.

Rather than verbally labeling them or dressing anyone in MAGA hats, co-writers Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof lace the screenplay with comments about climate change, cultural appropriation and veganism for the viewer to associate with a political party themselves. Before one of the elites kills one of the kidnapped, they say, "For the record ... climate change is real.” Blumhouse Productions also produced “Get Out,” which balanced horror and satire to turn heads toward racism in the U.S.

Betty Gilpin as Crystal in ‘The Hunt’ / Universal

Our rush to judge others by what side of the political divide they stand on is exemplified through our inability to identify Crystal with either one, the badass heroine who drives the storyline. Despite her being plucked from Mississippi and placed on the side of “The Hunted,” she starts killing off the elites without saying anything political like everyone else around her. She doesn’t really say anything at all. Gilpin portrays a bit of an odd yet intriguing personality paired with effortless humor, which isn’t overshadowed by the political team Crystal sides with, if either. That is what the film is really about.

Athena, the ringleader, proves to be hypocritical in her assumptions about Crystal when they finally meet face to face. Athena reveals the hunt was triggered by negative rumors circulating the internet about a joke she made. “You wanted it to be true, so you decided it was,” she says, right before Crystal reveals an assumption Athena has made herself. I will at least leave that to be a surprise if you have not watched it already.

While watching this scene, I reflected on how four years of journalism school taught me to read articles without jumping to conclusions or refrain from judging others for who they voted for, but it still takes a conscious mind not to. The filmmakers created an entertaining reflection of society in which most people will either be offended when watching or learn to laugh at themselves and change the way they view those in front of them and online.

That point was made clearer when a revitalized marketing campaign came out in February with a trailer that emphasized more of its satire. The new poster for the film said, “The Most Talked About Movie of the Year That No One’s Actually Seen...Decide for Yourself,” in bright orange, bold font with the original date crossed out next to the new release date.

Most reviews written after “The Hunt” came out on Amazon focus on aspects of the film itself, as well as how different the plot turned out to be from the plot criticized last August. Fox News has not published any articles about the film since its release.

It is ironic that a film that portrays how people rush to make assumptions about others based on the details they focus on had assumptions made about it based on two lines pulled out of an entire script. Yes, the plot of the film is much more exaggerated than media coverage of Hollywood and if it happened in real life the elite would look pretty guilty with a horrific sense of humor, but isn’t that satire? “The Hunt” may not be the most compelling film ever made, but the irony is powerful in and of itself.

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” Breaks Your Heart in the Most Beautiful Way

Céline Sciamma unmasks the reality of how women live and experience art in a light that has never been seen before. Ever.

Adèle Haenel as Héloïse in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” / NEON

I could not let another week pass without writing about “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” I was lucky enough to see the French 18th Century period piece writer and director Céline Sciamma won Best Screenplay for at Cannes last year in a theater followed by a Q&A with Sciamma herself. Now anyone who has access to a Hulu account is lucky enough to stream what Sciamma calls a “manifesto about the female gaze.”

Marianne (Noémie Merlant) arrives at an isolated island in Brittany and is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), who has just left the convent. Reluctant to marry an Italian suitor who will receive the portrait before she arrives in Milan, Héloïse believes her mother hired her as a companion. Marianne paints her by candlelight at night using the memory of subtle glimpses she catches of her on their cliffside walks during the day. Their intimacy and attraction to one another grow into a consuming love for each other and the art they immerse themselves in together.

In a world where the male gaze is shoved in our faces with every advertisement, TV show, film and really anywhere it can exist, Sciamma gives us the female gaze through a lens that introduces a world of new ideas based in and around patriarchy, rather than suggestions. And she does so without depending on a score to cue us in on how to feel.

The film begins with Marianne teaching a painting class when she has a flashback, which is the rest of the story that plays out from her perspective until we meet her in the present-day again at the end of the film. The only sight of men is about three minutes in and during the very last scenes, with most of their backs turned to the camera. Five of them row Marianne in a boat to the estate Héloïse lives when her wooden crate of canvases falls into the water and is carried away by the irregular waves. Without hesitation, she jumps in to salvage them and right away introduces the idea that even when men are beside her, Marianne does not need them.

Male domination in their world is clear but forgotten in the pockets of desire that drives Marianne, Héloïse and the housemaid Sophie (Luàna Bajrami) to latch onto blissful moments of freedom when Héloïse’s mother, the Comtesse (Valeria Golino), leaves the estate for a few days. They are so expressive of passion for their freedom, it is easy to forget to separate the actors from their characters as if you are peeking into their real lives. But as we are introduced to more details of why Héloïse does not want to be painted, the reality of society pulls us back into their struggles.

In their short span of utopia, Sciamma introduces new ideas to the audience, which she expanded on at the Cinépolis Q&A in Chelsea. After one of their sex scenes, Marianne and Héloïse rub some sort of hallucinogenic drug on their armpits. Sciamma said she was wondering how she could make the exploration of drugs look different and translate into the open ideas of sex. She said not that many people know that “The armpit is the second clitoris.” The audience reacted in silence, then laughter as if everyone was comprehending what she had just said simultaneously.

In an earlier scene, the film confronts the usual idea of abortion when Héloïse looks away from one happening right in front of her. Marianne turns to her and says, ‘look.’ That one word signifies the power in facing the crevices of a woman’s life that are made out to be so hidden and grotesque, we are programmed to look away even when they are right in front of us.

Merlant (left), Haenel (middle) and Sciamma (right) on the set of “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” Sciamma previously wrote and directed “Girlhood” and “Water Lilies.” / NEON

 “A relationship is about inventing your own language,” Sciamma told the Independent. “You’ve got the jokes, you’ve got the songs, you have this anecdote that’s going to make you laugh three years later. It’s this language that you build.” Sciamma invents Marianne and Héloïse’s language through their shared love of literature, music and artwork.

A prominent peak in the film comes a little more than halfway through. Young girls gather by a bonfire and chant the Latin lyrics “Fugere non possum” that Sciamma wrote, which she said translates to “they come fly.” She said she adapted this line from Friedrich Nietzsche’s sentence,“The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.”

The girls’ harmonized chanting and clapping snap you into a trance in which all you can focus on is Héloïse’s gaze into Marianne’s eyes that barely breaks, even as the trim of her gown catches fire. This scene both escalates the acknowledgment of their attraction to one another and introduces the girls who society thought of as witches, and what they did for fun when they hung out.

The film does not need a score to cue the audience in on how to feel when Héloïse reads “Orpheus and Eurydice” aloud or when Marianne plays the piano for her after she confesses she has never seen an orchestra live despite her love of music. These moments tell you everything you need to know about what they are feeling.

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is the result of a woman pouring her heart, soul and all she knows into a visual work of art for marginalized groups to look to. Sciamma makes sure the learned language of the film pays off in the two scenes she concludes the film with, one for Marianne and Héloïse, and one for the audience. You will get up off your couch with the understanding of what it means to mourn over a language invented out of love and how to celebrate it.

“Swallow” Is a Graphic Discovery of Control and Female Empowerment

Emphasis on the graphic part.

Haley Bennett as Hunter in “Swallow” / IFC FILMS

In the nauseating psychodrama “Swallow,” Hunter (Haley Bennett) is a pregnant housewife who develops a craving for inedible, life-threatening objects as the isolating and controlling environment created by her husband Richie (Austin Stowell) and his parents eat at her.

I had two questions as I started watching: How will I be able to stomach this? And, how has writer and director Carlo Mirabella-Davis created a 95-minute film out of this concept? While I could barely look at the screen as she struggles to get a thumbtack down, I was captivated by how the film played out to be a story of female empowerment.

Hunter looks as if she stepped out of the 50s with the kitten heels, swing dresses and pearls she wears as she vacuums her impeccable home. While Richie works, that is where she passes her time all day by playing games on her smartphone, which pulls you back into a contemporary vision. In a dinner scene early on, Hunter is ignored by Richie and his parents and she resorts to abruptly chewing on ice to ground herself. Shortly after, she swallows a marble, followed by a thumbtack, a battery and increasingly dangerous items.

She is diagnosed with Pica, a disorder in which someone craves and eats non-food items. It is clear that as she chooses larger, sharper objects to swallow, the more in control and proud she is — for a brief moment. She is so elegant that I was almost rooting for the serenity she feels in her quiet home during these moments, no matter how gut-wrenching her secret is.

Hunter is so genuine, sweet and heartbreaking that it is as easy to connect with her as it is to a real person. No questions about what led her to this point went unanswered as her family history unravels with her. This film will continue to surprise you as she breaks away from her husband and isolation. A film that began with extreme discomfort beautifully transformed into a film about the strength of women, closure and hope, and left me feeling content for hours after it ended.

You can stream “Swallow” on Amazon Prime Video.