DAN'S PAPERS, September 3, 2010 Page 62 www.danshamptons.com
Black Films
Up and UP
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mind, she has taken a inclusionary view of the festival world, choosing film festival veterans like Joy Road, a Sundance selection, as well as Cookie, an 11-minute short that bowed at the TribecaFilm Festival, about three boys dealing with a prostitute. Monet knows independent films can always use more exposure and she is well aware that it is a hard, long road from concept to finished product. Her own film, Deceptive, was shot in 12 days, but took 31/2 years to finish. The success of films like Precious, which went from film festival to successful feature, with a helping hand from Oprah and Tyler Perry, is legendary. “That won’t be everyone’s story,” Monet cautions, but she is aware that exposure is key for independent films, and who knows where the next Precious may come from? “All things are possible,” is Monet’s motto about film production—and life in general. Monet plans to return to the East End this winter to screen “a very great film,” that she is currently in talks to secure. “I do what I love and get to help others,” she said. Speaking about staging the HBIFF in the Hamptons, Monet remarked, “It’s great having a home to come to and show our work.” Hamptons Black International Film Festival, September 3-5, Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor; and in Montauk at Gurneys and the Last Hope Lagoon for Cinema on the Beach; and the Montauk Movie theater. For information/schedule: HBIFF.org; Tickets are $25 for a day, or $10 per film. 347-713-7965.
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because he felt the developer’s commitment to hire at least 15% female or minority contractors was too small. Peter F. Vallone, Jr. of Queens said he would vote for the project. He said that he was disappointed that the Empire State Building refused a city request to turn on blue and white lights in honor of Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday. He declared that he would think of the new Vornado building as “Mother Teresa Tower.” He didn’t care what Vornado would name it. In the end, the City Council voted 47 to 1 to approve the plan to build the new skyscraper on Seventh Avenue, the only dissenter being the aforementioned Charles Barron of Queens. And so it will be that sometime in the near future, you will be able to look up at the smiling, confident and upward-soaring Empire State Building and see, right next to him, his mean-looking slightly younger brother Biff, just a smidge shorter, right by his side. As for any new New York self-confidence, it will have to wait. The new Freedom Tower will indeed be completed in a few years 1,776 feet
Celebrate radical maturity. “Peconic Landing allows us to experience radical maturity, the time after professional life.
These are exciting years to fill with all the things we’ve always wanted to explore. ” CONNIE & JACK DENNE Former professors of literature Peconic Landing residents since 2003
O P E N H OUSE September 8th from 10-12pm & September 21st from 1-3pm Please RSVP: 631-477-3800 ext. 242 P E C O N I C L A N D I N G .O R G
G R E E N P O RT, N E W YO R K
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high downtown where the recently lost Twin Towers once were. But as almost everybody knows, it is really just a 1,368-foot building with a great steel “Freedom” antenna plunked onto the top of it. A symbol of renewal? Yes. A symbol of strength? Yes. The tallest building in the city? Well, sort of. It’s steel top doesn’t count as skyscrape, though. And besides that, there’s now a real skyscraper in Dubai that’s 2,700 feet high. Thus the tallest building with the greatest view in the city of New York will remain the Empire State Building.