Bronx News Roundup, Wednesday, June 15

Welcome to the Wednesday early afternoon edition of the roundup. I'll be your humble host and guide today as we navigate through the latest Bronx news. 

Weather: Just downright lovely out here in the Boogie Down. Should stay this way until Friday.

Story of the Day: The New Downtown Bronx?
Pop quiz: Where's downtown Bronx? Give up? OK, you guessed correctly. There is no designated, or even unofficial, downtown Bronx area.There's no one place where borough commerce can congregate and entice even more corporations and businesses to set up shop. That could change with the coming expansion of the Hutchinson Metro Center near Westchester Square. Joseph Simone, president of New Rochelle-based Simone Development Companies, is building on the success of the Metro Center's first building, a renovated and updated version of a former residential treatment center. A new nine-story office building is set to open across the street from the original building this summer and is already 90 percent leased, mostly by medical groups and law firms. Construction on a twin tower is expected to begin this summer as well. When fully completed, in an estimated five years, the complex will have 2 million square feet of office space. The kicker: the final tower will supposedly include a high-end hotel and conference center.

Bronx International Film Festival

Tonight's your last chance to catch the Bronx International Film Festival, happening this weekend at Lehman College, which features narrative and documentary films from around the world. Screenings will start at 8 p.m. and tickets cost $5. Visit www.bronxstage.com for more info.

Below is a preview from one of tonight's short films--"Cold April," directed by Mike Smith Rivera:



Click the jump for a summary of the film from the festival's organizers.

Preview: Bronx International Film Festival

Here's another preview from one of the films featured in this weekend's Bronx International Film Festival at Lehman College, which started last night and continues tonight and tomorrow evening. Visit www.bronxstage.com for tickets and information.

This clip, from "A Joke," by Andy Brown, is based on short story by Anton Chekov. It'll screen tonight. Here's a little synopsis from the Festival's website:

"Bryce and Nadia have been dating for about 3 months when Bryce decides to bring her to his favorite sledding hill. After a little persuasion, Nadia agrees to ride with him down the steepest slope on the hill. As they are barreling down the hill, Bryce leans in and whispers 'I Love You' into Nadia's ear. When they reach the bottom of the slope, Nadia is not sure if she heard Bryce's whisper or not. And Bryce is not giving her any clues. They continue to go sledding together for the rest of the winter. Each time they descend the slope Bryce chooses the most treacherous moment to lean in and whisper into Nadia's ear. Come springtime, they must part ways because Bryce is leaving to study abroad. Years later Bryce returns to sledding hill and reveals why he had only spoken those words to her while speeding down the slope."


A JOKE - TRAILER from Andy Brown on Vimeo.

Bronx International Film Festival

[Note: this was supposed to appear last night, but, for some technical reason that we don't understand, did not.]

The Bronx International Film Festival, which started last night at 8 p.m. at Lehman College, will feature the U.S. premiere of a feature documentary by Mark Henderson entitled "My Kidnapper."

Here's a summary of the film:

"In 2003 Mark Henderson was one of eight backpackers taken hostage whilst trekking in the Colombian jungle. What had started as an innocent tourist adventure, ended up as 101 terrifying days of captivity and uncertainty about his future. Eleven months after his release Mark received an email from Antonio, one of his kidnappers, and one of the other hostages received a facebook friend request from Antonio’s girlfriend, another of their captors. That email was the start of a five-year correspondence between hostage and kidnapper that eventually drew Mark back to the one part of the world he thought he’d never see again and face to face with the man who had once held the key to his freedom.

My Kidnapper is an emotional journey into a kidnapping, told from all sides. This deeply personal, authored documentary follows Mark and three of his fellow hostages as they return to the Sierra Nevada mountains in northern Colombia, the place where they lived out their worst nightmares. As they travel deeper into the jungle, they discover the truth behind what happened to them, come to understand how they all dealt with the ordeal and finally have the chance to confront two of their kidnappers."

Here's a clip, below. Visit www.bronxstage.com for more information or to reserve tickets.

Bronx News Roundup, June 17

The Bronx International Film Festival kicks off today (we're one of the festival sponsors). We've been posting trailers for some of the films being screened, so check back here later. And click here for more info, or to reserve tickets.

An off-duty Bridges and Tunnels cop fired his gun at a group of attackers during a road rage scuffle following an accident on the Major Deegan.

Gothamist showcases a collection of striking photographs from the LIFE image archive of the South Bronx during the early 1950s dubbed the "Bronx Slums."

Make sure you buy a ticket--and keep your recceipt--before boarding the Bx12 bus. Transit officials are cracking down on fare-beaters who've been taking advantage of the MTA's "pay at the curb" option, where tickets are purchased before riders board the bus.

The owners of a Westchester building that was the source of an oil spill in the Bronx River on June 2nd will be footing the bill for its cleanup.

The Huffington Post profiles Edda Lopez, a University Heights resident who is taking on Bank of America in a foreclosure battle (the Norwood News ran a story on Lopez earlier this month, as did this blog. Read here and here.)

The Huffington Post also chronicles, through photos, one blogger's trip to a Bronx recycling facility.

Paul DeRienzo, a South Bronx elementary school teacher, writes that charter schools--largely concentrated in the South Bronx and Harlem--could be making our school system more racially segregated.

Police are investigating two fatal stabbings that happened yesterday. 

The South Bronx has seen one of the highest jumps in subway ridership in recent years, according to a survey (the Aqueduct Racetrack stop, in Queens, has the lowest ridership, with a 72 percent drop-off over the past decade).

Countdown to Bronx International Film Festival

Here's the next installment in our countdown to the Bronx International Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday night at 8 p.m. at Lehman College and runs through Saturday night. The festival features narrative and documentary  films from all around the world. Tickets are now just $5.

For more details on the Bronx International Film Festival, click here.

In the lead up to the film festival, we'll be showing a preview from one of the featured films. Here's the trailer for a short documentary (about the Bronx!) by Erik Spink, called "The Scavenger."

A brief synopsis:

The Scavenger is the story of Joseph Garagalo a WWII veteran who was in the 121st Battalion, U.S.N. Sea Bees, 4th Marine Division. Many years after his service during the war, he decided that his community was not doing enough to remember those who sacrificed for freedom. So he set out to create The Bronx Veterans Museum. The only problem was; no one wanted to give the museum a dedicated space. After many months of struggle, a very unlikely home opened its doors to a fellow American hero.

The Scavenger: Trailer from Erik Spink on Vimeo.

Countdown to the Bronx International Film Festival: June 17-19

The Bronx News Network is co-sponsoring the Bronx International Film festival, which starts on Thursday, June 17 and runs through Saturday, June 19, at Lehman College. In the run-up to the festival, we're going to post previews to some of the featured movies.

Below is the trailer for "Defin" (or "The Burial"), a narrative short film from Turkey that will air on Saturday night.

Here's a short synopsis, provided by the festival operators:

"The Burial \ Defin” is the story of two brothers who have a bond stronger than blood. The legend starts in the 50s, in a dark unknown place where two merciless gangsters (Tarik and Kenan) fall in love with the same girl. And it resolves with the murder the girl (Selma). Upon this, the brothers leave the town and the ones who know the real story keep their silence for years as the story turns into an urban myth. Until 20 years later, same two men appear and start inquiring the past. Now nobody is safe. Like every deadly secret, there is a time when somebody has to pay.

Defin from Goksel Ergene on Vimeo.

For more trailers and details about the Bronx International Film Festival, click here.

8th Annual Bronx International Film Festival

Save the Date!

The Bronx Stage & Film Company presents the 8th Annual Bronx International Film Festival, at the Lovinger Theater, at Lehman College, starting a week from tomorrow and running from June 17-19.

Nearly 20 independent films, from near and far, will be presented. Kicking off the festival will be "Special When Lit," a UK documentary, which rediscovers the game of pinball. Following it will be another UK film entitled "My Kidnapper," a documentary directed by Mark Henderson, a man who was held hostage while visiting Colombia. The documentary takes you back to Colombia to revisit the place where he and three other hostages, lived out their worst nightmare.

Within the three days, shorter narratives like "Penny and Charlie" and "Tick" will also be shown. All the films come from a variety of places, including the U.S., Canada, Turkey, Norway and France.

All screenings will begin at 8 p.m. General admission is $5 per night. Those interested can find out more details and/or make a reservation by visiting www.bronxstage.com or calling (718) 907-0079.

Lehman College is located at 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. E.