FILMYARD 2017

Theater location: 62A Trenton Ave. Frenchtown, NJ. 08825 Directions→

Curated by Independent Film Producer and Chair of the Producers Guild of America on the East Coast, William Horberg, FilmYard offers a diverse program of first-run and independent films, documentaries and overlooked gems, and invites filmmakers and musicians to accompany the films for lively post-screening Q and A sessions and live performances.

JAZZ ON A SUMMER’S DAY

Dec 1st, 2017 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Celebrated fashion photographer Bert Stern captures the performances, people, and setting during one Saturday of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. For his one and only film, Stern teamed up with jazz aficionado Aram Avakian to create a breezy and colorful document of not only some of the greatest mid-century jazz performers but also of a certain slice of American life in the ‘50s. Jazz on a Summer’s Day features fantastic performances from an unbelievably talented and diverse lineup, including Louis Armstrong, Anita O’Day, Dinah Washington, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, and Mahalia Jackson. Interspersed throughout are Stern’s photographic observations of the scene’s people, yachts, streets, and beaches.

AN EVENING WITH JARED MOOSSY

WITNESS: LIBYA
LUCKY MAN
CHESTER, PA

Nov 4th, 2017 8:00 PM – 10:30 PM

As part of our FilmYard program, ArtYard invites you to join us for a special evening with Jared Moossy.

We will be screening his acclaimed HBO documentary Witness: Libya, along with his short films Lucky Man and Chester, PA, followed by an In-Person conversation. An exhibit of some of his photography will be in the FilmYard gallery space.

Jared Moossy is an established photographer who has worked in war-torn and impoverished countries and was Director of Photography on the HBO series Witness. While he is mostly known for his photography, he is a humanitarian first. An advocate for human rights at all cost.

Moossy has witnessed the fragility of human existence in his own skin. He was critically injured by a drunk driver in a motorcycle accident on September 3rd, 2015. His road to recovery, under his wife’s unconditional support, has been as difficult as it has been inspiring.

KEEP THE CHANGE

Oct 14th, 2017 8:00 PM – 10:30 PM

Plot:

Two autistic adults strike up an unlikely and transformative relationship in Rachel Israel’s charming romantic comedy.

David, an upper-class charmer, leads a very comfortable life until he is mandated to attend a support group for adults with disabilities. There, he is forced to come to terms with his own high-functioning autism, despite his resentment towards being singled out as different, or anything other than what he interprets as ‘normal.’

The director of this film, Rachel Israel, will be with us for a conversation after the movie.

Rachel Israel received her BFA from RISD and her MFA from Columbia University. She is an adjunct professor at RISD and has directed short films that have screened worldwide. Israel’s feature debut, Keep the Change, has received support from the Sundance Institute, Rooftop Film Festival, and the Princess Grace Foundation. ArtYard is honored to have her with us for a conversation about the film.

ELEGY

Sept 9th, 2017 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

As part of our poetry and music event on Sept 9th, 2017, ArtYard will screen a short animation by Elsa Mora titled Elegy, inspired by Aracelis Girmay’s poem.

THE 5000 FINGERS OF DR. T

Sept 3rd, 2017 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Plot: Young Bart Collins (Tommy Rettig) lives with his widowed mother Heloise (Mary Healy). The bane of Bart’s existence are the hated piano lessons he endures under the tutelage of the autocratic Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried). Bart feels that his mother has fallen under Terwilliker’s influence, and gripes to plumber August Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes), without result. While hammering at his lessons, Bart dozes off and enters a musical dream.

OUTDOOR SUMMER SCREENING

August 11th, 2017 8:00 PM – 10:30 PM

Roger Ebert said “Like a lost episode from “Twilight Zone,” [Carnival of Souls] places the supernatural right in the middle of everyday life and surrounds it with ordinary people. It ventures to the edge of camp, but never strays across the line, taking itself with an eerie seriousness. Unlike most of today’s horror movies, “Carnival of Souls” has few special effects – some wavy lines as we pass through various levels of existence, and that’s it. Instead, it depends on crisp black-and-white photography, atmosphere and surprisingly effective acting. It’s impossible to know whether this movie was seen by such directors as David Lynch or George Romero. But in the way it shows the horror beneath the surface of placid small-town life, it suggests “Blue Velvet,” and a shot of dead souls at an abandoned amusement park reminded me of the lurching undead in “The Night of the Living Dead.”

Original electronica score composed and performed live by Matthew Cullen and Jeff Mercel.

NERUDA

May 20th, 2017 7:00 PM – 8:45 PM

Pablo Larraín (JACKIE, THE CLUB, NO, TONY MANERO) weaves an engrossing fable around the 1948 manhunt for celebrated poet and politician Pablo Neruda, who goes underground when Chile outlaws communism and is pursued by an ambitious police inspector (Gael García Bernal) hoping to make a name for himself by capturing the famous fugitive.

Before the screening ArtYard will be open for Poetry on Demand: at 4 PM local poets will be stationed at manual typewriters. The public is invited to sit down, share their stories, and commission a custom poem on the spot. Subjects of poems will be invited to read the works aloud before the screening.

ABOUT ELLY

May 6th, 2017 7:00 PM

Starring internationally acclaimed actress Golshifteh Farhani. Directed by Asghar Farhadi, Academy Award-winning director of A SEPARATION.

The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.

The screening is followed by a discussion with organizer and speaker Mohammed Naeem.

As an advocate for gender equality, Naeem has advised human rights delegations at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, addressed gender/conflict at international summits, presented at the Consortium for Gender, Security and Human Rights and Center for Civil and Human Rights, guest lectured at universities, and recently addressed the historic United Nations Beijing+20 March for Gender Equality with Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary General of the United Nations.

CITY OF HOPE

April 21th, 2017 Starts 7:00 PM

This acclaimed feature about a fictional New Jersey city was written and directed by iconic American writer/director John Sayles and has been rarely screened since it’s theatrical release.

Sayles is the Oscar-nominated writer and director of Return of the Secaucus 7, The Brother From Another Planet, Eight Men Out, Lone Star and many other classics.

The screening is followed by an in-person discussion with John Sayles and producer Maggie Renzi.

I CALLED HIM MORGAN

April 7th – Screening starts @ 7:00 PM

Followed by jazz quintet consisting of Karl Berger, vibes, Ingrid Sertso, vocals, Graham Haynes, trumpet, Warren Smith, drums and Ken Filiano, bass.

Music starts @ 9:00 PM

On a snowy night in February 1972, legendary jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan was shot dead by his common-law wife, Helen, during a gig at a club in New York City. The murder sent shockwaves through the jazz community, and the memory of the event still haunts the people who knew the Morgans.

Founder and director of the prestigious Creative Music Foundation, Inc., dba The Creative Music Studio, Karl Berger is a six-time winner of the Downbeat Critics Poll as a jazz soloist and recipient of numerous Composition Awards. Professor of Composition, Artist-in-Residence at universities, schools, and festivals worldwide, Karl is a Ph.D. in Music Esthetics.

FIRE AT SEA

Hassan Hakmoun and Adam Rudolph in Concert

March 18th – Screening Starts 7:00 PM

Concert starts 9:00 PM

Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary Feature and the first nonfiction film to ever win the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Fire at Sea takes place in Lampedusa, a remote Mediterranean island that has become a major entry point for refugees into Europe.

Hassan Hakmoun and Adam Rudolph in concert.

Concert starts right after the screening, at 9:00 PM

Hakmoun is an acclaimed Gnawa-style musician and composer from Morocco who resides in NYC. Rudolph is a composer, orchestra leader and world percussionist from Chicago.

2017 OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORTS

Feb 25, 2017 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Animated Shorts: Blind Vaysha, Borrowed Time, Pear Cider and Cigarettes, Pearl, and Piper.

Short Films, Live Action:Ennemis Intérieurs, La Femme et le TGV, Silent Nights, Sing, and Timecode.

William Horberg, (right) in conversation with special guest Patrick Harrison, New York Programs and Membership Director for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, joined us before the screening for a conversation with the community.

BANG! THE BERT BERNS STORY

Feb 4, 2017 – 7:00 PM

Music meets the Mob in this biographical documentary, narrated by Steven Van Zandt, about the life and career of Bert Berns, the most important songwriter and record producer from the sixties that you never heard of. His hits include “Twist and Shout,” “Hang On Sloopy,” “Here Comes The Night.” and “Piece Of My Heart.” He helped launch the careers of Van Morrison and Neil Diamond and produced some of the greatest soul music ever made.

From left to right, Jill Kearney, executive director of ArtYard and William Horberg, FilmYard curator, with special guests Brett Berns, producer/co-director of the film and the son of Bret Berns, and Gary Sherman, an arranger, orchestrator, and conductor who worked closely with Bret Berns on most of his recordings.