42 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • JANUARY 4, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Watch new international fi lms during First Look
festival at Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Film buff s looking to explore the world
of international cinema can do so at
First Look, a 10-day festival taking place
at the Museum of the Moving Image in
Astoria.
From Jan. 5 through Jan. 15, the museum
Photo courtesy of CAT&Docs
The Museum of the Moving Image will host
First Look, an international fi lm festival.
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will screen more than two dozen
“innovative new international” fi lms from
countries such as Brazil, Canada, Croatia,
France, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia,
Lebanon, Norway, Palestine, Poland,
Portugal, Syria, Th ailand, the United
Kingdom and the United States.
Th is is the seventh year the museum
will host this festival, and in addition to
feature length and short international
fi lms, the festival will screen award-winning
student shorts, a program of short
works featuring audio recordings and a
documentary that will be produced at the
festival.
“Th is is an exceptionally strong edition
of ‘First Look,’” said Chief Curator
David Schwartz. “Th e fi lms are at once
remarkably assured yet boldly experimental.
Th ere is a sense of discovery to all
of the works, whether they are by established
masters or bold new talents.”
On opening night, the museum will
screen “Prototype,” a fi lm by director
Blake Williams. Th e 3-D sci-fi -infl uenced
fi lm explores the aft ermath of the
Galveston, Texas, hurricane of 1900 that
killed thousands. In his fi lm, Williams
combines archival footage and manipulated
images to provide a critique on
“technology, cinema and the medium’s
future.”
“Tongue Cutters,” a family-friendly
Norwegian documentary follows the
journey of 9-year-old Yiva who visits her
grandparents fi shing village to learn the
art of codfi sh tongue cutting. Th e fi lm will
be screened on Jan. 6 at 1 p.m.
In the Polish nonfiction drama
“Communion,” 14-year-old Ola must
take care of her autistic brother Nikodem
as he gets ready for his communion. Ola
must also grapple with being the woman
of the house as her mother does not live
with the family. “Communion” is nominated
for a Cinema Eye Spotlight Award,
which honors “exemplary craft and innovation
in nonfi ction fi lm.”
“Taste of Cement” explores the lives of
Syrian refugees who work as construction
workers in Lebanon. A curfew imposed
by the government forces them to stay in
the basement of the site they are working
on at night.
In “Railway Sleepers” filmmaker
Sompot Chidgasornpongse shot footage
of every active line on the Th ai railway
system for eight years. His fi lm captures
a two-day, two-night journey through the
Th ai landscape. “Railway Sleepers” will be
screened on Jan. 14 at 4:30 p.m.
Tickets for each fi lm cost $15 and a
festival pass can be purchased for $45.
For a full list of fi lms, visit the Museum
of the Moving Image website at www.
movingimage.us.
Time to tree-cycle at Mulchfest across Queens
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Th e beginning of 2018 means the end of
the holiday season — and soon, Queens
residents will be getting rid of their live
Christmas trees.
Queens residents can bring their live
Douglas fi rs, balsams and other holiday
pines to 13 local parks as the Parks
Department kicks off “MulchFest 2018.”
Th e program began on Dec. 31.
Th e program, being conducted in conjunction
with the Sanitation Department
and Green NYC, recycles live Christmas
trees into mulch for use as garden fertilizer
throughout the city.
“Recycling your Christmas tree is a
great environmental way to continue to
spread holiday cheer across the city,” state
Senator Joseph Addabbo said. “Your tree
will be used in a multitude of ways to help
the city’s trees to survive the cold season
and grow strong in the spring.”
Residents can start bringing their bare,
live Christmas trees to 13 drop-off points
in Queens through Sunday, Jan. 7.
Trees will be chipped during the weekend
of Jan. 6-7 at seven of the 13 dropoff
points in the borough; residents can
take home a bag of free mulch from these
chipping centers.
Th e Queens drop-off locations are as
follows (chipping centers are in bold):
• Astoria Park, 19th Street and Hoyt
Avenue;
• Brookville Park, Brookville Boulevard
between Caney Road and 144th Avenue;
• Captain Mario Fajardo Playground,
Kissena Boulevard at Booth Memorial
Avenue, Flushing;
• Cunningham Park, 196th Place and
Union Turnpike, Fresh Meadows;
• Forest Park, Forest Park Drive and
Woodhaven Boulevard;
• Hunters Point South Park, LIC Landing
Events Space at 51st Avenue and Center
Boulevard, Long Island City;
• Juniper Valley Park, 80th Street between
Juniper Boulevards North and South,
Middle Village;
• Queensbridge Park, Vernon Boulevard
and Queensbridge Park Greenway,
Long Island City;
• Rockaway Beach at 2 points, Beach 94th
Street and Shore Front Parkway and the
parking lot at Beach 11th Street;
• Roy Wilkins Park, Merrick and Foch
boulevards, South Jamaica;
• Travers Park, 78th Street and 34th
Avenue, Jackson Heights; and
• Lawrence Virgilio Playground, 39th
Drive and 54th Street, Woodside.
If you can’t make it out to the dropoff
points, the Sanitation Department
will hold a special round of curbside
Christmas tree collections now ongoing
through Jan. 18.
Before disposing of your Christmas
trees at the drop-off points or by the curb,
be sure to remove any lights, ornaments,
garland and netting.
Visit nycgovparks.org for more
MulchFest information.
File photo/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
A tree being chipped at Travers Park in Jackson Heights in 2015.