Description
Meet the Filmmaker: Elzbieta Szoka & Sam Adelman
“Beautiful People”
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012
Location: NY NATAS, 1375 Broadway (between 37thand 38thStreets), Suite 2103
Reception: 6:00-6:30 PM ~ Program: 6:30-8:00 PM
*Free to NY NATAS Members!
$15 for those without current NY NATAS membership.
In the documentary, “Beautiful People,” ten members of the longest running traditional Irish music group in New York City talk not only about their interest in this type of music but offer a peek inside their lives to try to find out what draws them toward this type of activity. An Asian-American who plays the fiddle; a charismatic 21-year-old singer/guitarist; an 84-year-old Italian/American accordionist; and a 77-year-old woman who had recently graduated from the Police Academy, exemplify the diversity of the group. They all get together every Tuesday night to play traditional Irish music at 8:00PM at a bar called Dempsey’s Pub on lower Second Avenue in Manhattan’s East Village.
This group is currently the longest-running traditional Irish seisiun in the city, and its unusual format allows anyone entering the bar with a musical instrument and a love of Irish music to join them and play. Typically on any Tuesday night, somewhere around 35 to 40 musicians show up to play. Concentrating mostly on instrumentals, over the course of the evening, a few classic Irish folk songs are thrown in for good measure. The usual session lasts until midnight, and sometimes on special occasions and holidays it can go on for much longer.
Directed by Elzbieta Szoka and Produced by Sam Adelman of Paradox Smoke Productions, and photographed by Nadia Hallgren, “Beautiful People” captures the spirit, passion and commitment of this group and seeks to explore the binding elements that brings them together.
About the Filmmaker:
Sam Adelman, Producer and Artistic Director, has worked for over 20 years as a filmmaker in the editing rooms of over 50 feature films with such luminary directors as Sidney Lumet, Ulu Grosbard, Robert Redford, Frank Gilroy and Nora Ephron. He was the founder of ST, a Script Development Workshop that ran for five years, hosting more than 100 readings with moderated critiques afterwards. Sam is a graduate if the SUNY PURCHASE Film and Theater Arts Program.
Elzbieta Szoka was born and raised in Lodz, Poland and received her M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Warsaw, and a Ph.D. in Brazilian Literature and Culture from the University of Texas in Austin. After 20 years in academia as a literary and theater scholar, she became involved in filmmaking as executive producer and script advisor on the film, “Screen Door Jesus.” She co-wrote the screenplay for the film, “Welcome to Academia.”
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED DUE TO BUILDING SECURITY. ALL NAMES MUST BE ON GUEST LIST. Please RSVP via email info@nyemmys.org to reserve a seat.Please write “Beautiful People” in the subject line. Space is limited.
Producer & Moderated by Sumner Jules Glimcher.