Gowanus Current: A Community Film Screening + Filmmaker Talkback
What makes a neighborhood valuable and who gets to decide?
Join The Shop Workspace for a special community screening of Gowanus Current, an 86-minute documentary feature filmed over the course of ten years as Gowanus faced an EPA Superfund cleanup, sweeping rezoning, rapid development, and fundamental questions about its future.
Through community meetings, sidewalk conversations, and close observation of the neighborhood itself, Gowanus Current captures the people, places, tensions, and hopes shaping one of Brooklyn’s most distinctive communities. Rather than relying on narration or traditional interviews, the film pairs an observational documentary approach with meditations on the textures and rhythms of Gowanus to create what its filmmakers describe as a kind of “civic cinema.”
Following the screening, filmmakers Jamie Courville and Chris Reynolds will join Anne Olsen, Director of The Shop Workspace, for a conversation about documenting a neighborhood in transition, the film’s decade-long production, and the forces shaping Gowanus today. Audience Q&A will follow as time permits.
This screening takes place immediately after the first day of the 30th annual Gowanus Open Studios, when hundreds of local artists and creative spaces open their doors across the neighborhood. Spend the afternoon exploring Gowanus, then join us at The Shop for an evening centered on its past, present, and future.
SCHEDULE
6:30 p.m. — Doors open, refreshments, and community networking
7:00 p.m. — Gowanus Current screening
8:26 p.m. — Filmmaker talkback moderated by Anne Olsen
8:50 p.m. — Audience Q&A, as time permits
9:00 p.m. — Event concludes
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Jamie Courville and Chris Reynolds are a Brooklyn-based wife-and-husband filmmaking team with more than twenty years of experience apiece. Jamie is a director, producer, and editor whose work examines perceptions of disease, race, gender, and class. Chris is a director, producer, and cinematographer whose credits include acclaimed productions such as Silver Linings Playbook, Into the Wild, and Orange Is the New Black. Gowanus Current is their first feature documentary together.
ABOUT THE SHOP WORKSPACE
The Shop Workspace is a hospitality-driven coworking community built for people doing their life’s work. Located at 420 Carroll Street, The Shop brings together thoughtfully designed workspace, meaningful connections, and programming rooted in the people and culture of Gowanus. It is also home to the first round of subsidized artist studios programmed by Arts Gowanus in relation to the broader zoning of Gowanus.
Admission: Free
Please note that advance registration is required. Space is limited and we anticipate this event selling out. A waitlist will be maintained prior to the event itself as well.
The Shop Workspace
420 Carroll Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Questions about accessibility or attending the event? Contact infobk@shopworkspace.com.
Learn more about the film at gowanuscurrent.com.