American Theatre of Harlem

CULTURES COLLIDE celebrates the efforts of multi-cultural films and local filmmakers, featuring short and full-length films and an industry panel. Check the website for more information.


Screening Schedule



Thursday
March 6th
7pm - 9pm

Complimentary
Community Night


Friday
March 7th
7pm - 9pm

$10


Saturday
March 8th
7pm - 9pm

$10


Sunday
March 9th
3pm - 5pm

$10

Battle for America
Alrick Brown


Pandemonium
James Gilard


Love above all things
Vincent Zambrano


All you can eat
Tishin Padilla

Movement (R)evolution Africa
Joan Frosch


Luggage
Veronique Ndoumbe


Familiar Fruit
Alrick Brown


An Image of Reality
David Wigglesworth

Interrupted Motion
M. Shantale Maurice


Handology
Marlene Martin


Dread Night Folk
Eric Knight


Box Preacher
Alexander Pikes

A Deeper Love
Darrel Smith


What Black Men Think
Janks Morton


The Red Book
Naeema Muhammad


Weusi Art Collective Childrens Art Carnival
PANEL : Making Independent Film


Daddy Hunger
Ray Upchurch


Community
Treasure Presentation
Adelaide Sanford

Call for films!
2nd Annual Film Festival
February 23 - 26th 2006



Early submission deadline - December 19, 2005
Final submission deadline - January 3, 2006

Click here to download application

As reported in The Rap News Network the Hip-Hop Association [H2A], a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating, fostering and preserving Hip-Hop culture and its community, announces their annual arts and culture events for 2005: H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] International Film Festival and H2Ed [Hip-Hop Education] Summit.

Running from November 6–12, The H2O International Film Festival is a seven-day event with the Opening Gala at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and 6 days of screenings at the ImaginAsian Theater in NYC. This year’s theme, “PEACE, LOVE, UNITY & HAVING FUN!” highlights the Hip-Hop community of the late 80’s and early 90’s: a time when the community took action against injustice. The festival will show over seventy-five films including Bling: Consequences & Repercussions (Narrated by Chuck D, USA/Sierra Leone), BEEF 3 (USA), Hip-Hop Colony (Ghana), Testimonio II (Columbia),etc. etc.

Highlights from past years have included Kanye West coming straight off of a plane to perform “Jesus Walks” for a rapt audience way back in 2003. He shared that he’d been mulling over a song that he was trying to write lyrics for - - this fall’s smash hit “Gold Digger.” Appearances at previous years’ film festivals have included Melvin Van Peebles, Jessy Terrero (director of music videos for Sean Paul and Angie Martinez) and Loira Limbal (director of Estillo Hip-Hop, a documentary about Caribbean and South American hip-hop culture).

The American Theatre of Harlem is currently accepting submissions for the September 2005 production of its annual play festival, SEASONS.

Created in 2003, SEASONS is an annual one-act play festival, introducing audiences to dazzling new voices as well as the classics. SEASONS gives voice to talented playwrights, directors, and the ATH ensemble.

In the SEASONS tradition, we are seeking pieces that reveal the depth and range of the human experience, filled with all its glory and challenges.

Please send submissions to:

Attn: Seasons Submission
The American Theatre of Harlem
138 South Oxford Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Pedophilia and the pompous behavior of Boy's Choir of Harlem director Dr. Walter Turnbull aside, did you even know that there is a Girl's Choir of Harlem, scandal-free, bursting with talent and largely ignored and overshadowed by its older "brother."

Complaining in the Ideas and Opinions section of the New York Daily News, LION CALANDRA wrote that the boys perform for U.S. Presidents, the Pope and Nelson Mandela. Sing at Yankee Stadium, appear on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and show up at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. You can buy t-shirts and CD's on a website. In short, the young men are a cultural and musical institution, touring the world before regular folk and royalty.

Not so with the girls says CALANDRA.

Personally, I never heard anything about a girl's choir. No friend or family member has so much as mentioned one word about them, while some know the boys 'bootstrap' story. This is because the girls are often relegated to upstate New York trips, and singing at a graduation here or there. Their CD's are not promoted, no international trips booked, according to CALANDRA.

I don't know if that is true or not, but if you visit the website the images and copy are virtually all-boy, with one link that says Girl's Choir. In fairness, there is a loop at the top of the webpage that promotes The Girl's and Boy's Choir of Harlem and God's by Design, The Album.

Interestingly, CALANDRA points to a trump card that could tip the situation in favor of the girls. Enter the NYC Department of Education, which has both choirs under its domain, due to a unique cultural-education partnership which includes a school, The Choir Academy. Specifically CALANDRA noted that the city's contract with the school is up at the end of the school year and that education officials should demand changes or threaten to close the school.

The Academy, Intermediate School/High School #469, is one of several small public academies created during the tenure of Schools Chancellor Joseph Fernandez. It has 560 students - 300 girls, the rest boys - in grades 4 through 12 attending classes (and rehearsals) from 8:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Girls compete for about 100 positions in the girls choir and 35 positions in the performing choir. Boys compete for a similar number of spots.

Last year, Frank Jones, an assistant choirmaster, was initially supported by Dr. Turnbull, the choir's founder and embattled director, when it was reported that Jones had initiated inappropriate sexual relationships with boys in the choir.

Jones was convicted in 2004 and is serving a two-year sentence for these charges.

As for the girls, it's time to shine a bright light on what was described as "... 35 talented, hardworking young ladies - whose singing was described in Vogue magazine in 1997 as what it might be like if a band of angels had floated down to Earth to raise their voices for a brief moment in time..."

As reported in Crain's New York Business, the Apollo Foundation's first fundraiser is a few days away with a gala benefit scheduled for Monday evening, June 20th.

The event will feature performances by singer Vanessa Williams, gospel star Bebe Winans and R&B group Boyz II Men. Honorees include Sandy and Joan Weill, Charles Rangel and Spike and Tonya Lewis Lee.

It has been reported that the world-famous theater had been experiencing years of financial troubles. Said the Apollo's new president, Jonelle Procope, the new, not-for-profit foundation "... is dedicated to the preservation and development of the theater."

Proceeds will go to fund the general operations.