Upcoming Events / Updates
Today
Join us for an intimate conversation with on of the best in the business of screenwriting on Saturday, March 20th from 1-2pm.
Marilyn Horowitz is a NYU professor, writer, producer, writing coach, and script doctor. She won the New York University Award for Teaching Excellence in 2004. Marilyn hosts two seminars per year on the “Creative Business of Screenwriting” for New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT). Marilyn was the script consultant and associate producer on The Reawakening, an independent feature film produced under the auspices of the ABC New Talent Development Scholarship Grant.
Marilyn’s private writing students have gone on to sell scripts to Miramax, HBO, Hallmark Entertainment, and ABC, as well as gained admittance to the AFI Graduate Writing Program, Sundance Writers Lab, and the IFP Market’s No Borders Forum. Marilyn’s students have also won the 2002 and 2003 NYWIFT Screenplay Contests, placed highly in the Nicholl Fellowship, and were finalists in the Slamdance Film Festival and Austin Film Festival script competitions.
To learn more about Marilyn Horowitz visit: http://www.FinalDraftScript.com
Saturday, March 20th – 2:00 to 4:00pm
Screenwriting 101 — The Four Magic Questions of Screenwriting
Cost: $50 (We know it’s steep, but that’s why we’re having the “Conversation with” from 1-2pm) Pre-Registration Required.
This two-hour intensive workshop will end the agony that plagues screenwriters of all levels: How to structure a script. The Four Magic Questions of Screenwriting helps writers structure, write and rewrite scripts with ease. By asking your characters these four simple questions you will be able to outline your screenplay like magic. The Four Magic Questions of Screenwriting, part of The Horowitz System® of writing taught at New York University for over 10 years, has helped hundreds of writers create market-ready screenplays fast.
Spaces Limited. To register contact Classroom 34 at (410) 231-3434 or info@classroom34.com
*Poetry in the Morning*. Bring whatever you’d like to read for this eye-opening event. As host Dejean says, “Whatever you have to say, before work and school, on a Monday, is poetry.” Beginning March 15, Mondays from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m. (Yes, that’s a.m.) Bloombars. 3222 11th St NW. 202-285-0448. http://www.bloombars.com. *Free.*
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/04/AR2010030402003.html
They asked us to write about volunteerism. This is what came to mind: http://www.blackplanetrising.com/blog_item1.php
Black Planet Rising is a really cool site that connect volunteers with organizations in need.
To all the artistic seeds needing a little TLC, BloomBars has finally tilled “The Garden.” Come share your creation with the community. (Material must be appropriate for all ages). Suggested donation is $5-10.
Special featured artists this week, FRANK BELL. a young singer and songwriter extraordinaire, his music has been featured on MTV’s The Real World and he has played major venues from Atlanta to Times Square, NYC. Currently on his east coast tour, Frank’s only stop in DC is here at BloomBars. LISTEN TO THIS CAT!! www.frankbell.net
Hosted by Jonathan B. Tucker, of the 2009 DC Slam Team
Sign-up on the list starts at 8:30. show starts by 9pm. bring your poetry, music, comedy, song, rap, spoken word, or whatever. as long as it is within the realm of human respect it is okay. All ages and eccentricities. are welcome. That means ALL MATERIAL is appropriate for all ages, okay?
This is by far the coolest bio we’ve ever read, and most hilarious….Did we SAY LISTEN TO THIS CAT. Listen! www.frankbell.net
Frank Bell was born in Calabria. His father was a soldier in the Calabrian mob, and his mother was a professor of Romantic Literature in a convent school. His family moved to Argentina when he was very young following the sudden death of his father’s employer Don Aldo Brancaleone. They settled in Iguazu Falls near the Brazilian border where little Frank became fluent in Portugese and Spanish in addition to his native Calabrian dialect. When his father was deported back to Calabria for gun-running Frank left home. He headed for the pampas to become a gaucho, learning to ride and throw the bolos and developing his lifelong taste for yerba maté. While visiting Buenos Aires he had a chance encounter with the famous Argentine impresario Señor Fulgensio Sorprender who saw potential in the hirsute young gaucho and cast him as the lead in a local production of Evita. Frank stole the show and his acting career was launched. Frank then moved to New York City to pursue acting and had a notable string of successes in off-broadway art house productions, including the legendary Utica Community Performing Arts Center production of Streetcar, before his acting career was briefly sidetracked for a season playing power forward for the Nets. When a serious dental sprain ended his basketball career, Frank reluctantly returned to acting. He and his roommate, Vin Diesel, then moved to LA to act in TV and cinema. The two actors no longer live together in their small Hollywood apartment – each now has a mansion in the Malibu colony – but they are planning to work together soon in a Miramax biopic on the life of Warren G. Harding. Frank is also a serious graphic artist and has had a number of one-man shows in select galleries in Soho and the Bowery. His influences include Red Grooms, Hieronymous Bosch and Margaret Keane. He has been married twice, once for several years to Uruguayan actress Lola Chang, with whom he had three sets of twin girls, and again for part of an afternoon to Julia Roberts. He is currently an eligible bachelor and an avid reader of the personal columns.
Samba Classes are Back! Many of you may remember “Levantamos and BloomBars present: A Celebration of Afro-Brazilian Culture” back in November. Zezeh gave a class no first-time Samba dancer will ever forget. What a workout!!! Don’t be that guy/girl standing up against the wall watching everyone do the dance you with you could do. Just think, by next year you’ll be ready for every carnival party in the city, if you don’t chose to go to Brazil to experience the real deal.
Zezeh Zax is a Washington, DC based dancer, teacher, and professional performer of Brazilian samba and founder of the ZEZEH BRAZIL Dance Troupe. Originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Zezeh Zax is a former Carnival Queen of the Unidos do Peruche samba school. She has danced professionally for over 15 years in a number of countries, appearing on Brazilian television shows and performing in a variety of venues in the United States.
Brazil In Bloom Photo Exhibit Featuring The Work of Anne Pellicciotto
Come to any BloomBars event to view Anne’s amazing photos from her travels throughout Brazil on our second floor gallery. The closing reception will be on Friday, March 26th at 7:00pm. Ann is amazing, you’ve got to come meet her. Not only is she an incredible photographer, she also helps non-profit organizations with strategic planning and organizational development. Buy out the photos and we might be able to afford her services!!!
Bio
Anne Pellicciotto, a native of Washington, DC, rediscovered her eye on a sabbatical in 2006 to NE Brazil; and since that time she has devoted much energy to arts and social action. With her work, Anne seeks to evoke a sense of balance and assurance in a world of uncertainty. Her photographs have earned her a number of awards. ‘Canoa Kids’ gained first prize in The Washington Post Travel Photo Contest for 2006, first in the International Visions Gallery ‘America in Focus’ contest in Washington, DC in December 2006, and runner-up in National Geographic Adventure’s Wide-Angle Lens Contest 2007, among others. She has exhibited at the Watergate Gallery, Int’l Vision, and held a solo show at the Brazilian American Cultural Institute in Washington, DC, as well as Manjericão Gallery in João Pessoa, Paraίba, Brazil. Anne’s portfolio can be found online at www.anneseye.com.
All photos are signed, numbered first edition prints, printed on acid-free archival paper and set in acid-free mats. 20 percent of proceeds go to support to BloomBars. For more info about the projects or works contact Anne at: anneseye@gmail.com
Come to any BloomBars event to view our second floor gallery.
BloomBars Presents Its First Mural Project: “Felipe’s Story”
The mural “Felipe’s Story” by DC-based artist Joel Bergner explores the world of an 11-year-old boy growing up in one of Rio de Janeiro’s shanty towns, known as favelas. “Felipe’s Story” focuses on the joy, resiliency, and rich culture of the people in the favelas, despite extreme violence, lack of opportunities and inclusion in mainstream society. This is the story of one boy—and the shared story of one billion, who live in urban communities known as slums, ghettos, shanty towns, and favelas. While their cultures, languages, and situations may be very different, children across the world share Felipe’s challenges and his needs as well as his joyful smile, his goals and dreams for his life, and his resilient spirit.
In 2009, Joel went to the City of God (Cidade de Deus), a favela made famous by the 2002 film of the same name, to live with Felipe and his family while he worked at the community-based organization CUFA. CUFA is a Hip Hop- based organization that runs community centers in favelas all over Brazil, providing favela residents with free classes in theater, break dance, computer literacy, graffiti art, sports, and more. It was co-founded by City of God resident MV Bill, one of the Brazil’s most famous rappers, whose songs are deeply social and political, often exploring the violent reality of youth in the favelas. Beyond his music, he has written books, made documentaries, and speaks to youth all over Brazil. His social-artistic work has been recognized by UNICEF and the Brazilian government, and he was appointed a Citizen of the World by the United Nations in 2004.
Joel became friends with MV Bill in 2007 while interpreting for the rapper in New York and DC, and became interested in favela issues. He accepted MV Bill’s invitation to teach English at CUFA and live in the City of God, where few outsiders have the opportunity to get to know. Through the many friendships that Joel made in several different communities, at CUFA and in his warm host-family, Joel had an eye-opening experience and learned a great deal, and wanted to share this with others in DC. He received a grant from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities to create a mural about his experience.
The mural “Felipe’s Story” is a continuation of a series of aerosol murals that Joel created in the City of God that featured residents and focused on family dynamics. Felipe’s mother was deeply involved with the drug gang that controlled the City of God and many other favelas in Rio. She had a daughter with her boyfriend, one of the drug traffickers, who was later killed in one of the gun battles between police and heavily-armed young traffickers that are daily occurrences in Rio’s favelas. She then had a relationship with Felipe’s father, a police officer who became corrupt, and ultimately met the same fate as the previous boyfriend. Though she is no longer involved in a life of drugs and crime, her past trauma has left her with psychological issues and several bullet wounds, and Felipe and his sister have been raised by their elderly grandmother along with other cousins. Felipe has witnessed violence his whole life, and tells stories of violent deaths, of bodies being thrown into the sewage-filled creek that runs by his house, and of a friend of his who was killed by traffickers. Bullet holes are everywhere; on walls of the family house, the elementary school across the street, and the nearby CUFA community center.
Despite the oppressive violence, the social exclusion that favela residents face, and the extreme lack of job and educational opportunities, the City of God is a community where Joel found many fascinating and intelligent people, a strong and dynamic culture, and many uplifting and inspiring social forces, such as CUFA. On any given day, Felipe and the other children can be seen laughing in the tropical sunshine, playing soccer on the street, taking theater and dance classes, and studying their homework. There is a current lull in violence, as the community has been “occupied” for months by hundreds of heavily armed military policemen, part of a new government experiment to create a period of stability to allow for much-needed infrastructure and social projects. Whether this experiment can work in the long run remains to be seen, and the goal is daunting: there is so much work to be done in any given community, and there are currently 5 favelas being occupied out of the roughly 1,000 favelas in Rio. But for the estimated 80,000 residents of the City of God, this period of relative peace has brought relief and an opportunity to build their community.
“Felipe’s Story” is the latest work by artist, teacher, and youth counselor Joel Bergner, whose colorful and intensely- detailed public murals are on display in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, Baltimore, Brazil, Peru, and more. He has done community-based work for many years with marginalized youth, refugees, immigrants, the homeless, and the mentally ill. He has worked with many organizations in cities across the US and abroad, and has drawn upon these experiences as inspiration for his artwork. His murals have covered topics such as Afro-Colombian culture and human rights issues, immigration in the US, the civil war in El Salvador, the history of communities in DC and Baltimore, and Afro-Brazilian spirituality and culture, among many others. He has led youth mural projects, collaborated with other artists, and directed a project that featured a series of murals by international artists. His art has been published in many publications and websites, including the New York Times and Time magazine, and he has been featured on the global news networks Al- Jazeera English and Voice of America. For more information on Joel’s work, go to www.joelsmurals.com.
