Woody Allen's MANHATTAN

Monday, October 9----The New York Film Festival is presenting two provocative and highly entertaining special programs this week....the first a paen to New York filmmaking, filmmakers and New York as a magical shooting location. The second looks at the 70 year history of jazz, as captured on film.

The New York film program, with the splashy title of SCENES FROM THE CITY: 40 YEARS OF FILMMAKING IN NEW YORK, is a kind of tribute to the city's film and television commission, one of the first in the nation. In 1966, Mayor John Lindsay established the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, to create opportunities for skilled film and television technicians and bring more production back to New York from Hollywood.

The Office is now an indispensable part of the media landscape, helping both mega Hollywood productions get access to locations and services, while also assisting in ways both practical and supportive, the independent spirit of independent film. Of course, many small indie films are non-union, and therefore not on the radar of the Office, but even then, there is often a blind eye cast to allow a small group access to an iconic New York location.

Blake Edwards' BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S

James Sanders, a filmmmaker and writer, is the editor of SCENES FROM THE CITY, a new book produced in conjunction with the Mayor's Office, which traces the evolution and impact of location filmmmaking in New York, from the early 1960s to the present time.

Sanders has curated the program, which includes such memorable New York-centric films as BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, MEAN STREETS, THE GODFATHER, MANHATTAN, DO THE RIGHT THING, and many, many others. The one-night only event happens this evening at 6:00pm at the Walter Reade Theater.

Martin Scorsese's MEAN STREETS

On Wednesday night, pianist and scholar Lewis Porter hosts an evening exploring the relationship between two of America's greatest art forms....film and jazz. Beginning in the mid 1920s, jazz orchestras were the focus of some of the earliest short sound films, which played as novelty featurettes before the main picture. In the 1930s and 1940s, video jukeboxes, the great-grandfathers of cable music television, had hundreds of under 4 minute selections, which featured talents who would become jazz legends....Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Eubie Blake.

Billie Holiday

In the 1960s and 1970s, jazz figured prominently in the independent film scene, including such memorable scores as D.A. Pennebaker's DAYBREAK EXPRESS and the early shorts of Roman Polanski. Other figures spotlighted in rare film clips include John Coltrane, Miles, Davis, Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald and Stan Getz.

The LOOKING AT JAZZ program, presented in association with National Video Resources, takes place on Wednesday evening, October 11 at 8:15pm.

Sandy Mandelberger
Festivals Editor