A Officer and a Gentlemann the movie
Winter weekend of collaboration, craft and community
BROOKLYN, New York (1/19/10) – Presented by Beam Camp, the Brooklyn Inventgenuity Festival brings kids and their parents together with artists and big thinkers in a full weekend of hands-on making and building workshops and demonstrations. Girls and boys aged 6-17 and their parents can make amazing things out of electricity, fabric, wood, dirt, food and other materials, join in a signature Beam Camp Project, set individual and group World Records and learn the art of fixing common household objects.
The weekend will be jam-packed with a tremendous range of projects taught by some of New York City’s most imaginative and resourceful minds. Scheduled presenters and workshops include the Fixers Collective, Steve Gerberich’s Flap-Pet Shop, Art Bots by Christian Cerrito, and hydroponic agriculture, presented by Brooklyn Farms.
The event’s second day, Sunday, February 21 will also feature the Second Annual Brooklyn Kids World Record Day, hosted by the founders of the Universal World Record Database. Each participant will have a chance to set their own world record. Records set last year included Most Armpit Farts in 30 Seconds, Most Fake Mustaches Worn At Once, and Most Booty Shakes In One Minute. This year’s records promise to eclipse those in boldness and ingenuity. Additionally, a noteworthy group record will soon be announced.
The weekend marks the New York Premiere unveiling of Float With The Flowers, a 2009 Beam Project designed by architects Christine Baumgartner and Manuel Kretzer and built by Beam Campers.
Brooklyn Inventgenuity Festival takes place at The Invisible Dog Gallery (51 Bergen Street, Brooklyn) on Saturday, February 20 and Sunday, February 21 from 11am – 5pm. Admission is free but space is limited. Advance registration can be done here. Families can also view video presentations about Beam’s summer programs and learn more about summer registration.
In collaboration with video artist Daniela Kostova and film writer/director Mike De Seve, we’ll tell the story of a journey to the sun – powered by the sun; a Science Fiction film with emphasis on the Science with special effects, sets, lighting, costuming, acting, and blue-screen work.
What does solar power have to do with movie making? Everything. Before the invention a few decades ago of powerful movie lights, there was only one way to make movies: bright sunlight. All interiors and exterior sets had to be built outdoors and lit entirely by the sun. The earliest American studios, set in the Northeast, all worked this way. And when demand for movies exploded early in the century, the pioneers of the “biz” trekked west where there was enough solar power to meet the demand. The result? Hollywood, California.
Now America is rethinking its energy use like never before. What better time to re-examine the key technology that launched the movies, and see if we on the East Coast can’t give those West Coast upstarts a run for their money – and do it green to boot?
A Trip to the Sun will use solar power for almost every single part of making and showing the movie. A blue screen shooting stage will be lit entirely by the sun – built on a rotating platform that lets it turn to follow the sun’s journey across the sky.