NEW YORK SPIN

New York Spin is a project on transmedia storytelling: 87:00 feature film for movie theaters; 63:00 film for TV; six short films and eighteen stories for digital networks. A cutting-edge site was built in 2002 including interactive content/navigation. Structure follows opposites: first/last, win/lose, up/down, in/out. Segments are connected, some characters appear in several stories, and the last character is seen in all of them. I Cast: 6 characters, 18 side characters I Team: Two-men crew, 14 interviewers, 12 collaborators, 60 participants I Production: 120h footage and 150+ shooting days in 16 months I Boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island I States: New York/Upstate, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, San Francisco, Pennsylvania, Vermont I Countries: US, Spain, Mexico, Dominican Republic. I Behance

“It seems frightening to scratch the surface of reality: ice and fire burn at opposite poles of Earth laws and human metaphors. Maybe this is why meeting people is a radical challenge. Approaching daily life, New York Spin aims to recompose a broken mirror through an intimate portrait of the city. Emotional pain of fragmented memory, dreamed or conjectured, is believed to redeem humanity. Through a tapestry woven from everyday life, the film manipulates characters as illusionists do both for simple beauty and symbolic power. An overreaching view that grows from the heart of New York.” —PV

Ice and Fire Burn

Scene 1 I Int - Day I Shadows in blue The world in a breath I Silence. Blue. A human landscape of lights and shadows. A man is breathing. A woman is breathing. The world is listening. I The world in a wave I A kite flies over the heads of people of all colors. The ocean roars. Seagulls are hungry. I Three girl friends steal water from the sea. A brave boy throws sand! Grandma is barefot. I What do the voices say? I The world in a soul I A woman cleans the back of a Green Man. Pigeons!! I The sunset is lit by the wonder wheel. And the Coney Island towers are not twins. I What do the voices say? Scene 2 I Ext - Day I Coney Island The song Homelands by British-Indian Nitin Sawhney enters over a flying kite. I The music, passionate and hybrid, fills a small moment in the life of the city: a sunset in Coney Island, where the geographical edge of New York meets the spirit of the rest of the world. I We also hear voices in different languages. And the beginning of the last poem written by Samuel Becket: What is the word. I What is the word as a New York portrait. [Script excerpt]

Script

“People departing and arriving, people speaking and in silence / expected dirt and unexpected charm / endless waits and sudden achievements / exhilarating climax and poetic staging / threatening shadows and essential presences / end roads and roads with no start / shame and pride / political unrest, social protest, critical grotesque / tradition defense, family celebration / pain, suffering, anger, cries, screams, howls / happiness, joy, hope, laughs, whispers, chants / passion, love, beauty.” I “Lester Humphrey plays with his wrestler’s toys in the bath / Luis Barrios supports the Puerto Rican group macheteros / Darko Jelisic recalls war / John Kelly discusses HIV / Judith Le Blanc says she has never been in another capitalist country / Juan Fernández describes his worst fire / Patty Ordóñez is totally silent / Carmen Curihuentro explains why she hides from Chilean police / Carl Jacobsen remains in blindness / Stephanie Monsu sticks a cigar in Keith The Clown’s butt / Richard Washington assists a baptism in a bath tab / Peanut’s grandmother doesn’t want him to keep pigeons in the closet / Patricio Díaz talks about champion horses / Daniela Caminos dances flamenco in the snow / Lisa Rubin lives surrounded by strange creatures / Aunt Rae cannot talk about her children / Enrique Cantori warns against cooked food / George P. Crayton III performs kung fu / Baby Lucy Gammon smiles / Cynthia Walker confesses she may never be able to conceive / Dr. Dean Benzia talks about terminal illness / Lida Ahmady cries talking about Afghanistan / Ken Cron envisions cyberspace / David Matiano fulfills his mother’s dream / and more.” —PV

Stories

[IN] Do you know what it is to be IN New York? DARKO JELISIC Bosnian musician I PATRICIO DÍAZ Chilean artist I LUCY GAMMON Baby

[OUT] Does New York bring OUT the best or the worst in you? DAVID MATIANO Mexican dancer I JOHN KELLY Performer I LISA RUBIN Artist I JAY NÚÑEZ Pigeons breeder

—————————————————————————

New York Spin (87:00 version) 6 characters + 18 side characters I (63:00 version) 6 characters.

—————————————————————————

SIDE CHARACTERS: Kiesha Humphrey, Jherika Thompson, Mickey Humphrey, Che James, Ashley Robinson, George Grayton Jr, Samantha Robinson, Leeza Ahmady, Manuel Matiano, María Luisa Molinar, Claudia Matiano, Dushan Zaric, Debbie Swamback, Sarabeth Weiner, Martin Gammon, Amy Manniatis, ‘Peanut’ El Palomero I INTERVIEWERS: Pedro Valiente, David Matiano, Lida Ahmady, Hebe Joy, Laurie Churba, Christina Bifano, Gabriela Stephens, Fernando Gayesky, Cristina Torres, Lucía Padrone, Alison Ward, Juan Manuel Benítez, Claudia Matiano, Walter Bell, Grissette Alvarado.

Along with the French documentary film 9/11 (2002) about New York firefighters, New York Spin (2002) is one of the few films in the world that integrated in its natural process of filmming before/during/after the attacks on September 11. These screenshots include images of Wall Street district recorded on video on September 12, around 7-8am. Only Japanese and American TV crews, along with Pedro Valiente, were present just a couple of blocks from the army guarding access to Ground Zero.

9/11

“New York Spin is dedicated to New Yorkers and Lester Michael Jack Humphrey in memoriam. I met Lester at a company where I worked on Broadway Ave. with his mother, Kiesha Humphrey. A beautiful boy, all about Hollywood star Dwyane Johnson, and his famous ‘If you smellll-(tongue flick)-llll what The Rock is cooking’. Lester lives in our memory, and Kiesha‘s words in my heart: You [through New York Spin] definitely were a good part of my Lester’s story on earth. May you be well, healthy, and happy.” —PV

Lester Humphrey

New York Spin presents early cinema from 1895 to 1907 from the Library of Congress of the US. Some films may be world premiere.

Early Cinema

New York Spin produced posters, flyers, invitations, cards, DVDs, and press booklet produced in New York. It features Flamenco dancer Daniela Camino, Brooklyn boy Lester Humphrey, costume designer Patty Ordóñez, circus artist Stephanie Monsu, and gospel follower. The series includes sketches from a private collection. I Visual Art

Visual Art