Latest News: BROOKLYN CASTLE has been selected by P.O.V. to screen nationwide on PBS in 2013. BROOKLYN CASTLE previously opened theatrically nationwide on October 19, 2012. www.brooklyncastle.com
BROOKLYN CASTLE
Director: Katie Dellamaggiore
United States, 2012, 101 min
Shooting Format:HDCAM, DVCPro
Festival Year:2012
Category:Documentary Feature
WINNER: Best New Director
Crew:Producers: Katie Dellamaggiore, Nelson Dellamaggiore, Brian Schulz - Editor: Nelson Dellamaggiore
Email:info@brooklyncastle.com
Synopsis
Intermediate School 318 is an inner-city school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where more than 65 percent of the students are from homes with incomes below the federal poverty level. I.S. 318 also happens to have the most winning junior high school chess team in the nation. The school has cultivated many of the nation's highest ranked chess players, and if Albert Einstein, who was rated 1800, were to join the chess team, he'd only rank fifth. Chess has helped transform the school from one cited in 2003 as a "school in need of improvement" to one of New York City's highest achieving middle schools. But a series of recession-driven public school budget cuts now threaten to undermine those hard-won successes.
Trailer
About the director
Katie is an Emmy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker and commercial director. Her feature directorial debut, Brooklyn Castle, won the SXSW Audience Award, was a New York Times Critic's Pick, and was nationally broadcast by PBS's acclaimed POV series. At Courageous Studios, Warner Bros Discovery's branded content studio, Katie directs bold, culturally relevant premium storytelling for advertisers. She’s directed commercials for Delta, Sleep Number, Subaru, Hulu, Lego, The Salvation Army, Abbott and Micron. Her recent work for Amica won the Digiday Best Brand Series award. Katie's latest feature, Small Town Universe, won the Global Health Competition Award at the Cleveland International Film Festival and received support from the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, the National Endowment for the Arts, Tribeca Film Institute, Catapult Film Fund, The Rogovy Foundation, The Gotham Film & Media Institute and the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Notes
Director Katie Dellamaggiore will be available for a Q&A after the screening.