What’s Happening? Film Series: Independent Filmmaking with Laura Israel

Explore  the importance of filmmaking outside of the Hollywood industrial complex. For this event, we screen Don’t Blink - Robert Frank (2015) followed by a discussion with director Laura Israel and independent-film distributor Ryan Krivoshey of Grasshopper Film.

A legendary photographer and filmmaker, Robert Frank was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.  Directed by his longtime editor Laura Israel, Don’t Blink - Robert Frank is a fascinating journey into the images and words of an iconoclastic artist, a Swiss-born man who reinvented himself the American way.  The soundtrack features Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, White Stripes, Yo La Tengo, Tom Waits, and more.  Presented by Grasshopper Film, hailed by The New Yorker as  “one of the most artistically daring of distributors.”  

The What's Happening? series, which dates back to 1972, aims to provide information on issues of public concern and notable topics, as well as stimulate conversation through the screening of new and historic works in the Reserve Film and Video Collection and discussion with special guests.

Photo Credit: Film still from Don't Blink - Robert Frank courtesy of Grasshopper Film

SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all seats are released, regardless of registration, to our patrons in the stand-by line. If you arrive after the program starts, you will be seated at the discretion of our front-of-house staff.

STANDBY LINE | If registration is sold out or has ended, do not fret! We welcome you to come to the Library regardless of registration status and wait in our standby line, which forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Five minutes before the program starts, all remaining seats are released. While this is not guaranteed, we will do our best to get you into any of our programs.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing [email protected].

BRUNO WALTER POLICY | Please note that any unoccupied seat will be released five minutes before the show begins and holding seats for anyone beyond that is prohibited. There is no food or drink allowed inside the venue.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs may be photographed and recorded by and at the discretion of the Library for the Performing Arts and will post signs indicating as such. If you would prefer your image not be captured, please let us know and we can seat you accordingly. Attending any program indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any and all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries to Alex Teplitzky at [email protected]. Please note that all recording, including professional video recordings, are prohibited without expressed consent from the Library.

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Host or Publisher New York Public Library for the Performing Arts