Posts Tagged ‘Film’

Creek Show

Thursday, August 29th, 2013
The Final Flick by the Crick for the season (Armory Square).

Welcome to the Urban Drive-In: The final Flick by the Crick for the season (Armory Square) was held last evening.

Our Problem can become Our Opportunity

Thursday, March 21st, 2013
Khalil Kain, activist

Khalil Kain, actor and activist, spoke at the Landmark Theater downtown to say we need to teach empathy to stop gun violence. Khan is a stage actor and is best known for his role in the Hip Hop film noir classic Juice.

Khalil Kain along with a room full of city leaders made an appeal to end gun violence in Syracuse.

Kain, who was the keynote speaker on a stage full of city leaders, talked about how his life was affected by gun violence and the work he’s doing in New York City.

Soul Food Unchained

Saturday, January 12th, 2013
Collard Greens (comfort food)

Collard Greens (comfort food)

Documentary filmmaker Byron Hurt’s newest effort ‘Soul Food Junkies’ will broadcast nationally on PBS Monday night. The film is a critical celebration of comfort food and its effects upon families (particularly his own).

Soul Food Junkies’ was screened this summer in conjunction with Imagenation in NYC.

Hurt visited Syracuse a few years ago to screen his film ‘Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes.’

State of Blue

Friday, November 16th, 2012
Jeff Stockham

Jeff Stockham

Syracuse Trumpet player Jeff Stockham will perform in tomorrow’s Remembrance Day Parade in Gettysburg, PA.  Stockham also appears in the new film “Lincoln” by Steven Spielberg.

Verbal Gymnastics

Friday, June 15th, 2012
Legends of Hip Hop

Legends of Hip Hop

Doug E. Fresh by SIF

Musician-turned actor Ice-T gives a behind music view of the rap game in the new documentary “The Art of Rap.” He spoke in a recent interview about the changes in Hip Hop and the evolution of MCs.

Below listen to the unique flow of Big Daddy Kane. Kane came to Syracuse a few years ago and is included in the film.

Long Live the Kane by SIF

Insider’s Guide to the City Game

Thursday, May 24th, 2012
Street Ball: The Love of the Game

Street Ball: The Love of the Game

Pass the rock.

Dribble, dribble, shoot.

Pick & Roll.

Give & Go.

Tighten-up on defense…

Pick-up basketball is part of a universal language that was well-chronicled by Alex Wielgus and Chuck Wolf in the early 80s.  The game is always the game, whether you are in Syracuse, DC, Kansas or Seattle. But there are some places where the game borders on religion. One of those places is New York

Later tonight hoops afficianado and writer Bob Garcia (aka D.J. Bobbito + Cool Bob Love) and Kevin Couliau will screen their film Doin’ It In the Park: Pickup-Basketball, NYC.  This self-funded project is an hour plus documentary on vim, vigor and vitality of NYC hoops.  In many ways the city and the courts and bball culture are the main character of the film, but there are some great interviews with Pee Wee Kirkland, Kenny Smith, Kenny Anderson,  Smush Parker and also some great vintage footage of the Doctor (Julius Erving) operating on a NYC blacktop as a youngster.
Dave Cain, the Director: He's got game

Dave Cain, the Director: He’s got game

Syracuse’s David Cain, who grew up in Harlem and played at St. John’s, is excited about seeing the film.  He says that there is a unique energy to basketball in New York. He talked about the allure of playing at Rucker Park, near where he grew up during a recent phone interview (listen below).

Dave Cain by SIF

Doin’ It will also be screened later this summer at the ImageNation Outdoor Film Series, which was founded by Syracuse’s Moikgantsi Kama.

Bright Lights, Our City

Thursday, May 10th, 2012
Crooked Arrows Premiere

Crooked Arrows Premiere

Crooked Arrows, an independent film about a Native American lacrosse team, had it’s premiere in downtown Syracuse on Wednesday. Fans and student athletes lined along Montgomery Street to get a peek at the actors and VIPs in attendance.

The film was co-produced by SU professor Neal Powless (pictured above, lower right).

Hi There

Thursday, March 1st, 2012
Actor, director, writer Lawrence Hilton Jacobs speaks at Syracuse University on Wednesday.

Actor, director, writer Lawrence Hilton Jacobs spoke at Syracuse University on Wednesday.

Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, aka Cochise, aka Papa Joe, aka Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington, aka Larry FORD (friend of Richard Dubin) was the latest celebrity to participate in the Conversation on Race and Entertainment Media at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.  During the more than 1 hour talk, Dubin and Jacobs reminisced about their days as actors in New York City, 70s sitcoms and blaxploitation flicks.

Jacobs has starred in film, television and on Broadway in his over 40-year career, from The Jacksons to Welcome Back Carter and Cooley High.

Both men dropped pearls of wisdom for the students.

“You have to have raw nerve. There is no easy road.” Jacobs said. “Acting is a business. It’s a craft, it’s work. ”

Dubin added that Hollywood is not a place where you go to apply for a job, but rather somewhere where you use entrepreneurial skills to create opportunity for yourself.

It’s hard to believe this series has been running for over a decade. The last Conversation I saw was with Chappelle Show Director Rusty Cundieff a few years ago.

Officers and Gentlemen

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Dr. Roscoe Brown and Merriette Chance Pollard

Dr. Roscoe Brown and Merriette Chance Pollard

Check out a movie review for Red Tails by Phinesse Demps from Soul of Syracuse.  Red Tails,  starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terence Howard,  tells the story of Tuskegee Airmen such as Dr. Roscoe Brown (above). Brown visited Syracuse in the 1990s.

Save the Children

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Salina B. Lazarus, Tonya Lewis Lee and Pastor Daren Jaime at Syracuse University

Salina B. Lazarus, Tonya Lewis Lee and Pastor Daren Jaime at Syracuse UniversityProducer, attorney and author Tonya Lewis Lee says she was surprised to learn several years ago that infant mortality rates among African American women were twice that of whites and Latinos here in the United States.  She also found out that even among educated African American women, and those with access to healthcare, the infant mortality rates were disproportionately high.

“Clearly this is not a poverty issue,” she says.

Lewis Lee, the national spokesperson for the Healthy Baby Begins with You Campaign, was in town today at Syracuse University to present the 36-minute documentary she produced titled: Crisis in the Crib: Saving Our Nation’s Babies.

Despite the alarming statistics, Lewis Lee says she is optimistic that with increased education, further advances in genetics, as well as a collective effort from government, the medical community and the private sector working together, things can improve.

“There’s no overnight fix,” she says.

Lewis Lee talked earlier this year to NIFTN’s George Kilpatrick about her book Giant Steps to the Change the World.  She said her next project will be to co-produce a film adaptation of the Christopher Paul Curtis book The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 along with actor, comedian Chris Rock.