PRESENTS FOREIGN PARTS A film by Véréna Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki US / 2010 / Color / 80 min. / 1.86:1 / SD & HD video / English, Spanish and Hebrew w/ English subtitles An Alive Mind Cinema Release from Kino Lorber, Inc. 333 W. 39 th St., Suite 503 New York, NY 10018 (212) 629-6880 Publicity Contact: Matt Barry Kino Lorber, Inc. (212) 629-6880 ext. 35 mbarry@kinolorber.com
LONG SYNOPSIS A hidden enclave in the shadow of the New York Mets' new stadium, the neighborhood of Willets Point is an industrial zone fated for demolition. Filled with scrapyards and auto salvage shops, lacking sidewalks or sewage lines, the area seems ripe for urban development. But FOREIGN PARTS discovers a strange community where wrecks, refuse and recycling form a thriving commerce. Cars are stripped, sorted and cataloged by brand and part, then resold to an endless parade of drive-thru customers. Joe, the last original resident, rages and rallies through the street like a lost King Lear, trying to contest his imminent eviction. Two lovers, Sara and Luis, struggle for food and safety through the winder while living in an abandoned van. Julia, the homeless queen of the junkyard, exalts in her beatific visions of daily life among the forgotten. The film observes and captures the struggle of a contested eminent domain neighborhood before its disappearance under the capatilization of New York's urban ecology. SHORT SYNOPSIS A hidden enclave in the shadow of the New York Mets' new stadium, the neighborhood of Willets Point is an industrial zone fated for demolition. Filled with scrapyards and auto salvage shops, lacking sidewalks or sewage lines, the area seems ripe for urban development. But FOREIGN PARTS observes and captures the struggle of a contested eminent domain neighborhood before its disappearance under the capatilization of New York's urban ecology.
CREDITS Directed and Produced by Véréna Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki Camera, sound and editing Véréna Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki Post-Production Sound Mixer Ernst Karel Post-Production House Modulus Studios Support Sensory Ethnography Lab Film Study Center
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS WORLD PREMIERE Festival del film Locarno AWARDS Opera Prima ( Best First Feature ) Award Cine Cinema Special Jury Award Best Film Docs Barcelona Film Festival Best Film Ethno-Anthropological Dei Popoli Film Festival Best Film Punto De Vista Film Festival FESTIVAL SELECTION Locarno Film Festival 63 rd edition 2010 New York Film Festival (October 10 th, 2010) Vancouver International Film Festival 2010 VIENNALE 2010 Festival dei Popoli BAFICI 2010 SELECTED SCREENINGS Unknown Pleasures / Berlin Dochouse / Brussels DocsBarcelona Festival Internacional de Cine en la Ciudad de Mexico Spokane International Film Festival Punto de Vista True /False Film Fest Bradford International Film Festival
PRESS QUOTES Without sentimentalizing the neighborhood or its people...ms. Paravel and Mr. Sniadecki cast an appreciative eye on its beauty... - A.O. Scott, The New York Times Gentrification, economic inequality, class conflict, and the rusty reality of the American Dream...are omnipresent concerns, given profound weight by the directors' patient, attentive approach. - Nick Schager, The Village Voice An open invitation toward an honest acknowledgement of the community s dilemma... - Tom Hall, IndieWire...carries within itself a stirring vibrancy and yet unfolds with patience and an unfettered trajectory, like a lovely and detailed visual elegy. - Chris Cabin, Slant Magazine There's something of Edward Burtynsky's manufactured landscapes here, and the sequences describing the fates of these wrecked and abandoned cars are positively hypnotic: metal-on-metal violence is supremely photogenic. - Adam Nayman, Reverse Shot Foreign Parts...encapsulate[s] both the harmony and the chaos of Queens final frontier. - MediaRights...the film intimately invites you into the lives of a few specific people that have learned how to live in this overlooked enclave. - Raven Maragh, Vox Magazine At times, the stark shots of Willets Point feel like a splash of cold water to the face...the strongest points of the documentary are the personal stories of people in the community - Kayo Homma-Komori, Schema Magazine Engrossing...The high niche value of this film paired with its engaging direction makes it a perfect candidate for sleeper success." - Richard Mowe, Box Office Magazine
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS Verena Paravel Verena Paravel is a French anthropologist and filmmaker. She made her first short video, 7 Queens at the Harvard University Sensory Ethnography Lab. She has recently completed Interface Series, five short videos shot entirely through Skype. Her work--screened in Boston, Paris and New York City's Amie and Tony James Gallery--explores evanescent forms of intimacy, mediation, and space and draws on experimental ethnography. Since 2009, she has been a Fellow at the Film Study Center, and a postdoctoral associate of the Sensory Ethnography Lab, Harvard University. Filmography Foreign Parts (2010) Interface Series (2009) 7 Queens (2008)
J.P. Sniadecki John Paul (J.P.) Sniadecki is a filmmaker and a PhD candidate in anthropology at Harvard University. His films have shown around the world and received several awards, including the 2009 Joris Ivens Award at the Cinema du reel Film Festival for his 2008 documentary Chaiqian (Demolition), which focuses on migrant labor and urban space in Chengdu, China. He is also a chief organizer and curator of Emergent Visions, a film series that screens new independent cinema from the People's Republic of China. A Blakemore Foundation Fellow, he currently lives in Beijing and is involved in a number of film and research projects. Filmography Foreign Parts (2010) The Yellow Bank (2010) Sichuan Triptych (2010) Chaiqian / Demolition (2008) Songhua (2007)
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