Daniel Maurer Not one but apparently two indie dramas about a restaurant owner and his wife are set to be filmed in the East Village – maybe even in your apartment.
Flyers posted in the doorway of 277 Tenth Street over the weekend indicate that “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” starring James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain, will be filming in the neighborhood for approximately one week between July 9 and August 31.
According to Variety, the film, written by Ned Benson, will actually be two stand-alone movies: one written from the perspective of the husband, and the other from the perspective of the wife.
The casting flyer informs locals that “we are currently seeking locations in your area for the film” without saying much more. If you think your bar looks like the type of place where a man would skulk into his beer while his wife goes back to college, you may be in business.
Courtesy of Kinofest NYC A still from “The Other Cheslea.”Maryna Vroda, whose film “Cross Country” won the Palme d’Or for best short film at the Cannes Film Festival last year, will make her stateside debut at the Ukrainian Museum this Thursday. She’s one of four Ukrainian filmmakers – plus one from Berlin and another from Brooklyn – who will kick off this year’s Ukrainian and Post-Soviet Film Fest, dubbed Kinofest NYC.
The festival is sponsored by neighborhood institutions such as the Self Reliance Federal Credit Union and Veselka, which will cater a reception following Thursday’s screening. Andrew Kotliar, its director, said he created it three years ago with the goal of “celebrating creativity, not an ethnicity,” though he also hoped to bring together some divided groups. Read more…
The Wall Street Journal sits down with longtime East Villager Richard Hell, who will introduce a screening of Robert Bresson’s “The Devil, Probably” at BAMcinématek next Thursday. The film was released in 1977, when Hell’s band the Voidoids also put out their album “Blank Generation,” and the writer-rocker sees some parallels between the two: “The complete hopelessness? The contempt for the revolutionaries and the hippies? That was exactly how I felt. ‘Please Kill Me’? That’s what that whole movie is about. Looking for some kind of compensation in obsessive sex? All my work is filled with that—hopelessness, despair and burying yourself with sex.”
Daniel Maurer A few weeks after filming at Hopper House the Coen Brothers are back, and taking advantage of NoHo’s cobblestone for their 60s flick “Inside Llewyn Davis.” A flyer on Bond Street between Lafayette and Bowery indicates they’ll be shooting Tuesday through Friday of next week. Cars must be moved by Monday at 9 p.m.
City Room sits in on a film class taught by the star of “127 Hours” and “Milk” at NYU, and the first-time professor’s curriculum is as avant garde as one would expect. Soon the nine graduate students will travel to Detroit to shoot a collaborative film with the themes of “rejuvenation and memory.” Of course, the class has its fair share of perks, too. The students’ films will likely get attention from film festivals, and then there’s just the thrill of spending time with Mr. Franco. “I got over being star-struck,” one student said. “But handsome, yes, he is handsome.”
Lauren Carol SmithGood morning, East Village.
The Associated Press tells us that Gavin DeGraw, who was attacked by at least two men in the East Village on Monday night, has been released after a night’s stay at Bellevue Hospital. A police source tells the Post that the singer was too drunk to remember the attack clearly, but his brother Joseph insists he was drinking nothing but cranberry juice.
If that incident isn’t keeping you away from the nightlife, the folks at DNA Info remind us that the first-ever AlphaBet City Dolly Film Festival starts tomorrow. Thirty independent films will be screened at bars and restaurants between Avenues A and C, from First Street to 14th Street.
Two new Bowery restaurants are coming along: Yesterday EV Grieve noticed that Veselka Bowery was readying its tables, and now Bowery Boogie notes that the Bowery Diner, from the owners of Peels, has put up some signage. Read more…
Joshua Davis The EPIX Movie Free-for-All is the first sponsored weekly film series held in Tompkins Square Park. Screening will take place Thursday evenings through Aug. 25. The East Village, with its history of art house theaters and independent video stores, has long been a destination for movie lovers. But for countless summers, East Villagers have had to trek uptown or head to out to Brooklyn to participate in a summer tradition: outdoor movie screenings.
That all ended last night when the EPIX Movie Free-for-All premiered its weekly film series in Tompkins Square Park with the screening of Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.”
“When we saw it was right here, and we could run and use the bathroom in our own apartment we were like, ‘let’s go,’” said Polly Seplowitz, 27, a nearby resident and public school teacher who came with her neighbor.
The series is the first sponsored weekly film event held in Tompkins Square Park, and organizers say they are pleased to bring an event patterned after the popular HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival to the East Village.
Read more…
