Homeless but not hopeless

[Deirdre Towers]

On January 30, 2012, NYC's Department of Homeless Services runs its eighth Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE). The survey estimates the number of individuals living on the streets, in parks and in other public spaces in New York City. A survey is a federal requirement for all cities wishing to draw down funding for homeless services provided by the McKinney-Vento Act. New York City has seen a 40 percent decline in street homelessness since 2005.  

That same day, January 30th, 2012 at 6pm, Dance on Camera Festival will screen

Re-Staging Shelter
Bruce Berryhill/Martha Curtis; USA; 2011; 29m
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder of Urban Bush Women created “Shelter” in 1988 in response to the plight of the homeless in NYC. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a new version of “Shelter “was created and then reconstructed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and company members for Virginia Commonwealth University dance majors. The dancers were challenged to look at issues of displacement and what Zollar calls: “An Actor’s Process through a Dancer’s Body.” In a 1990 review in The New York Times, Jennifer Dunning wrote: “Zollar’s ‘Shelter’  is so filled with compassion and anger that it becomes a powerful incantation against the evils of obliviousness and neglect.”

On that same program ia another film on the pain of re-locating:  

Two Seconds After Laughter
David Rousseve; USA; 2011; 16m
Weaving stunning cinematography shot in Java by Cari Shim Sham, traditional Indonesian dance, postmodern gesture performed by Sri Susilowati, original Sudanese music, and a potent narrative, this stunning film creates a border-jumping dialogue on a universal irony: The heart longs most for the place called home to which it can never return.

We ask that you consider both joining the survey and coming to this program at DOCF. 

Get involved with HOPE, call 311; contact Heather Janik [phone].

Come meet the directors/choreographers involved with RE-STAGING SHELTER and TWO SECONDS AFTER LAUGHTER at Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center Plaza, 165 West 65th Street. Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/dance-on-camera