What Up Prince of Persia!

The Stranger is listing Brownstones as a "recommended" movie with a green star. They also had a nice review of the documentary earlier this week. We're planning to see Bilal's Stand (listed above) after our screening tonight.

What Seattletonians Are Saying

A roundup of comments and blog posts about our screenings in Seattle:

Already one of the bigger talkers among the many films being shown at SIFF this month, "Brownstones to Red Dirt" has raised $53,000 for Seattle-based Schools for Salone to build a new primary school. -- Humberto Martinez, Seattle PI, The Big Blog

This show had me laughing until I cried (wait until you meet Malik with his back up plans) and then I just plain cried. It was amazing to see an eleven year-old boy say that he feels like he's treated like dirt and then see children that sleep on dirt in the next scene. One of the most heart wrenching scenes involved the Sierra Leonians doing a reenactment of the war that tore their country apart and turned them into the orphans that they are. -- Arletta Gustafson, The Common Room

Children have a way of reminding us that interacting with other cultures will change our self-centric priorities. This film is a beautiful document of that. -- Dustin Kaspar, SIFF Programmer, 2010 Programmers' Picks

We Heart Seattle Film Fest

Day One at SIFF was a great success. We showed Brownstones to a sold-out crowd of 350! Outrageous. A special thanks to the incredibly supportive Dustin Kaspar, SIFF's Educational Program Coordinator, for taking such good care of us.

Here are a few comments from people after the show:

I think that this movie was incredible and awe inspiring. It shows how the love we have is limitless and that we can overcome anything with the help of others. The connection that the students made was so beautiful and made me happy. - Anna

I heard about this movie from a friend that lives in Washington state. She said it was amazing and that she laughed so hard she cried. And then she just cried. - Michelle

This film is beautfully graceful. My family tree has roots in Sierra Leone, and I grew up in South Central Los Angeles in the 1970's. This film hit home. Hopeful, Heartbreaking, and in some parts humorous. - Kelly

Our First Seattle Press Review

Kim Voynar at Movie City News gave Brownstones a thoughtful review:

When Fred says that growing up as a black kid in the projects makes him feel like "dirt, a black piece of dirt," my heart broke a little. In this post-Obama age, that a black child in America should think that of himself should be unfathomable; that these kids view white people with distrust and fear unthinkable; yet poverty and racism continue to be lines that divide us in our own country. How can we ever hope to heal the world if we cannot even heal ourselves? The answer is: We can't.

And, by the way, we're on their homepage, wedged between Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessie Eisenberg!

Greetings From Seattle!

We arrived in Rain City late last night...it was indeed raining. And Pearl Jam was on the radio on the drive to the hotel! Ha. We're psyched to be here. Our first screening is tonight: 6:30 pm at SIFF Cinema. We'll also be at Pacific Place Cinemas #10 on Monday at 3:45pm. Please come by!

Prepare Your Heartstrings ...

We got a lovely review from Bethany Jean Clement at the Seattle Film Festival:

What is more adorable than sixth-grade pen pals? INTERNATIONAL sixth-grade pen pals, half of whom are orphans. Prepare your heartstrings for some major tugging: This documentary documents a group of sixth-graders in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn pen-palling with a group of parentless sixth-graders in war-ravaged Sierra Leone. They wonder: Is it true that in New York the whole house has light anytime, night or day? Do they skateboard in Sierra Leone? The children learn things about each other's lives and—yes—their own. Watching them read each other's letters is fantastic.

There are several other SIFF reviews here.

Countdown to Seattle, 6 Days and Counting!

Hey all! Just 6 days until our first screening at the 36th Seattle International Film Festival. It's an honor to be a part of the largest festival in the country! Check out the incredible films showing this year.

Here are the Brownstones showtimes for anyone in the area. Or pass along to your friends and family! Tickets can be purchased here.

Saturday, May 29, 6:30 pm SIFF Cinema
Monday, May 31, 3:45pm Pacific Place Cinemas #10

We'll be at both screenings for Q&A's, along with the creator and director of Seattle-based Schools for Salone, Cindy Nofziger. We've partnered with this wonderful and dedicated nonprofit to build a school in Freetown for the children in the film.

Brownstones Comes Home: Brooklyn Showtimes

This just in! We have two screenings at the upcoming Brooklyn International Film Festival:

Saturday, June 5, 5pm at Brooklyn Heights Cinema
Wednesday, June 9, 5pm at Brooklyn Heights Cinema

You can buy tickets here. We hope you can make it out!

Brownstones Will Screen in Brooklyn!

Great news. We were just accepted to the 13th Brooklyn International Film Festival, running June 4 through 13. We should have screening dates and times in the next few days. Hope you can be there!

In the News: The Bed-Stuy Library

A little more love from the NY Daily News:

Is it too much to want a school library? For students at four Bedford-Stuyvesant public schools that share a building, it apparently is.

"Our kids want to read, but we don't have books," said Elizabeth Glenney, a sixth-grade English teacher at Urban School for the Environment, one of the schools in the building on Tompkins Ave. "I feel like we're failing them."

The school has started a library fund with $10,000 donated by the makers of a documentary film called "Brownstones to Red Dirt," which focuses on a pen pal program between Environment School sixth-graders and a group of orphans from Sierra Leone.

The schools need about $150,000 to get a full-fledged library running.