636 Pacific Street as seen in BATTLE FOR BROOKLYN, a film by Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky. Photo: Michael Galinsky.
Producer:
Associate Producer:
- Adam Galinsky
- Susan Littenberg
Editor:
Music:
Production Company:
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Battle for Brooklyn (2010/2011)
Also Known As: Battle of Brooklyn
Opened: 06/17/2011 Limited
| Screenings | 06/17/2011 | |
| Cinema Village... | 06/17/2011 - 07/07/2011 | 21 days |
| Laemmle's Musi... | 08/19/2011 - 08/25/2011 | 7 days |
| Monica 4-Plex | 01/07/2012 - 01/07/2012 | 1 day |
Trailer: Click for trailer
Websites: Home
Genre: Documentary
Rated: Unrated
Synopsis
BATTLE for BROOKLYN is an intensely intimate look at the very public and passionate fight waged by owners and residents facing condemnation of their property to make way for the controversial Atlantic Yards project, a massive plan to build 16 skyscrapers and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets in the heart of Brooklyn. Shot over seven years and compiled from almost 500 hours of footage, BATTLE for BROOKLYN is an epic tale of how far people will go to fight for what they believe in.
The film focuses on graphic designer Daniel Goldstein, a vocal opponent of the project who stands to lose his home via eminent domain. Daniel's apartment sits at what would be center court of the new arena. A reluctant activist, Daniel is dragged into the fight because he simply can't believe that the government should use its constitutional power to condemn his home and hand it off to a private developer.
As some of Daniel's neighbors, afraid of losing their homes, begin to sell to the developer, Daniel refuses to leave and takes on a leadership role in the fight to stop the project. He helps to start the group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn in an effort to come up with alternative development options and expose the deceit at the heart of the plan.
Along the way he meets a fellow activist, Shabnam Merchant, they fall in love, get married and have a child while living as the only occupants in a 32 unit condo building.
Dan and the opposition, which includes lifelong residents, business owners, and local officials, face off against a triumvirate of billionaires as they take their case from the court of public opinion to New York State Court of Appeals.
While the film is character-driven verite, the broader social, economic, and political ramifications of the condemnation and urban planning are addressed through interactions with individuals from all sides of the issue. Featuring appearances by Michael Bloomberg, Architect Frank Gehry, Jay Z, Bruce Ratner, Steve Buscemi and others, BATTLE for BROOKLYN is a primer on grassroots activism that will inspire people to look deeper into the stories that affect their lives.
Background
When most people hear the words eminent domain, they think of the government seizing private property for "public benefit" - usually in the form of a park, a hospital, or a highway. However, the landmark Kelo vs. New London (2005) decision by the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that "public benefit" can be as simple as generating higher tax revenue. Currently, eminent domain abuse is running rampant throughout the United States as tax payers continue to pay for private real estate deals that don't necessarily benefit the public.
As filmmakers who live and work near the project site, we first became interested in the story because the initial announcement in the New York Times read like a glossy press release. It failed to substantively deal with any of the negative issues related to the project's impact and the level of tax payer subsidies. With a little digging, we started to uncover a vastly more complex story.
It was clear nobody had bothered to discuss the idea with the those living in the neighborhood it was going to be built on top of. The project was declared a done deal before the developer even owned the land. Further, for the government to condemn the property via eminent domain, it would have to determine that the area was blighted at the same time that property values were rocketing skyward. Both supporters of the project and the opposition were determined to have their voices heard, so we trained our cameras on everyone involved. Over the next seven years, what emerges is a portrait of the battle for the soul of Brooklyn.
Trailer
