FREE FILM : NYC
SUNSET PARK
October 1st - October 31st 2023
Neighborhood: Sunset Park
Partners: The Green-Wood Cemetery and Center for Family Life
Prompt: One Square Mile
Artist: Adalena Kavanagh
FREE FILM : NYC follows the footsteps of the previous iterations as a meditation on community and local culture. The Airstream-darkroom will take up residency in a given neighborhood and distribute free rolls of film to the general public, and WORTHLESSSTUDIOS will partner with local community organizations and hold youth workshops where students will learn how to use a film camera, focus a lens and process and print film using professional equipment provided by FREE FILM. Over the course of the next year and a half, the project will make its way around New York to document each borough, neighborhood by neighborhood.
This October, we’ll be launching FREE FILM : NYC — Sunset Park in collaboration with The Green-Wood Cemetery and the Center for Family Life. FREE FILM : NYC aims to capture and catalog our communities and our city in new ways by democratizing the documentation of our ever-shifting realities.
Adalena Kavanagh, photographer and Sunset Park High School librarian, will be our photographer in residence next month. She will teach a series of workshops to local students and lead photowalks through the neighborhood open to the general public, in addition to guided tours of the The Green-Wood Cemetery with their staff.
As part of the project, we invite photographers of all levels to participate by shooting photographs within the boundaries of the neighborhood of Sunset Park as a response to the prompt “ONE SQUARE MILE.” From October 1 to October 31, our Airstream-darkroom will distribute free rolls of black and white 35mm film to the general public. Participants can drop off their film at the mailbox on the Airstream-darkroom by October 31 before 5pm. WORTHLESSSTUDIOS and our darkroom partner Picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom will develop the film and send negatives to participants after the program is over.
The project kicks off on October 1st, 2023, by the Gothic arch in the Green-Wood Cemetery from 12-4 PM at the FREE FILM : NYC - Sunset Park Opening Party and you are invited!
PUBLIC PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE
Sunday, October 1, 12-4PM
FREE FILM : NYC — Sunset Park Opening Party
Come hang out by the Gothic arch at the The Green-Wood Cemetery and pick up your roll of FREE FILM!
PHOTOWALKS
Saturday, October
Photowalk 3: 36th St to Bush Terminal
Join us for a last photo walk with Adalena, a perfect time to use your roll of FREE FILM in case you haven’t yet! We’ll be touring the industrial side of the neighborhood, meeting at 36th and 2nd Ave.
Saturday, October 21, 2PM
Photowalk 2: 60th St to Sunset Park
Join Adalena and the FREE FILM team on a walk across the neighborhood! We’ll be meeting at the 60th St N-train stop.
Saturday, October 28, 2PM
Photowalk 1: The Green-Wood Cemetery
Join us for a photo walk in the Green-Wood Cemetery led by Adalena and a tour from GWC. All kinds of photographers welcome!
HOW IT WORKS
Step 1: When a new neighborhood is launched, photographers come pick up a roll and celebrate the kick off with WORTHLESSSTUDIOS wherever the Airstream darkroom is parked. Photographers fill out a sign-up form to join and film is given out on a first come, first served basis.
Step 2: Participating photographers have a month to shoot their roll of film on the prompt of “ONE SQUARE MILE” within the boundaries of the current neighborhood. Participants are asked to interpret the theme however they see fit.
Step 3: Once they have shot their film, participants return their roll of film (with their name written on it) by the deadline and fill out the return form to ensure their film is processed. There will be a drop location that can receive film at all times.
Step 4: WORTHLESSSTUDIOS will process all film and scans will be emailed FOR FREE to photographers, whether or not they choose to have their negatives returned. WORTHLESSSTUDIOS develops film and sends scans on a rolling basis so the sooner you return the sooner you get your scans.
Step 5: The images could be published into a hardcover book! FREE FILM : NYC will travel to multiple neighborhoods over the next 18 months distributing film on the same prompt phrase. Once all the neighborhoods are complete a selection of images from each neighborhood will be put together and published as a book like we’ve done for the last three iterations of the project.
Find out more about FREE FILM public events, workshops, and upcoming iterations by subscribing to the WORTHLESSSTUDIOS newsletter below.
WORKSHOPS
Tuesday, October 17, 4PM - 5:30PM
Workshop: Intro to Photography
The Photo Club from Sunset Park High School will learn how to work a film camera, develop their negatives and print their photos!
Wednesday, October 18, 4PM - 5:30PM
Workshop: Intro to Photography
Middle school students from the neighborhood, in collaboration with Center for Family, will learn the basics of black and white photography!
Tuesday, October 24, 4PM - 5:30PM
Workshop: Cyanotype printing
Sunset Park High School Photo Club will learn how to make cyanotypes from their walk in the Green-Wood Cemetery and the portraits that Adalena will show them how to make!
Wednesday, October 25, 4PM - 5:30PM
Workshop: Cyanotype printing
Center for Family Life students will print cyanotypes from the photos and portraits made during their first workshop!
About Adalena Kavanagh
Born and raised in New York City, Adalena Kavanagh is a photographer, writer and librarian living in Brooklyn, New York. She has exhibited photography at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia and published photographs, essays, stories and interviews in places like Epoch, Believer Magazine, Air/Light, The Literary Review and Electric Literature. In 2018 she was a NYFA Fiction Fellowship finalist.
ABOUT THE GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY
Established in 1838, the Green-Wood Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark, is recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful cemeteries. As the permanent residence of over 570,000 individuals, Green-Wood’s magnificent grounds, grand architecture, and world-class statuary have made it a destination for half a million visitors annually, including national and international tourists, New Yorkers, and Brooklynites. At the same time, Green-Wood is also an outdoor museum, an arboretum, and a repository of history. Throughout the year, it offers innovative programs in arts and culture, nature and the environment, education, workforce development, restoration, and research. The Green-Wood Historic Fund is the Cemetery’s 501c3 organization for cultural and educational programs.
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR FAMILY LIFE
Center For Family Life’s mission is to promote positive outcomes for children and adults in Sunset Park through the provision of a comprehensive range of neighborhood-based family and social services. Sunset Park is a densely populated, low-income neighborhood with a large percentage of recent immigrants. As such, the Center offers access to resources that families need to thrive, including family counseling, cultural, educational, and recreational programs at neighborhood public schools, adult and youth employment programs, and an emergency storefront for food and advocacy. In partnership with their community, they provide opportunities for personal development, enrich neighborhood residents’ quality of life, and nurture relationships that sustain families and support youth in becoming confident, capable adults.