74 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • JUNE 14, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Local director shoots Spike Lee fi lm in Qns. this summer
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Born and raised in New York City,
Stefon Bristol remembers not seeing west
Indian people portrayed in the media.
“Growing up in Coney Island and
being of Guyanese descent, I used to see
Caribbean people all through Flatbush
and never saw them in fi lm,” Bristol said.
“I thought it was a real disservice to New
York to not show Caribbean people in
movies.”
So Bristol decided to take matters into
his own hands.
While studying for his master’s
in fi ne arts at the NYU Film School,
Bristol co-wrote and directed “See You
Yesterday” as his master’s thesis. Th e
short follows the story of C.J. Walker and
Sebastian Th omas, two teenage Guyanese
boys living in New York City. Both brilliantly
Photo courtesy of Suzanne Smith
Hop into the car and check out the classic musical
‘Grease’ at an Astoria ‘drive-in’ this weekend
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/@jenna_bagcal
“Grease is the word” this Friday in
Astoria.
On Friday, June 15, the Central
Astoria Local Development Coalition
(LDC) will host its fi rst-ever drive-in
movie night in the Astoria Park Parking
Lot located at Hoyt Avenue and 19th
Street.
Starting at 8:30 p.m., the Central
Astoria LDC will show the movie musical
“Grease,” which celebrates its 40th
anniversary this year. Th e fi lm was originally
released on June 16, 1978, and follows
the love story of greaser Danny
Zuko and Australian exchange student
Sandy Olsson.
Th e event was made possible in part
by New York State Assemblywoman
Aravella Simotas in partnership with
the New York State Offi ce of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for this free
event and the movie will start promptly
at 8:30 p.m. Space is on a fi rst-come,
fi rst-served basis, so plan to arrive early
to secure a spot. Seating will be provided
for those without cars.
For more information, visit centralastoria.
nyc or contact Central Astoria
LDC at 718-728-7820 or info@centralastoria.
nyc.
‘Broadway in the Boros’ set bring live
performances to Astoria later this month
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Catch a performance from the cast and
musicians from current Broadway shows
without having to go into
Manhattan.
Now in its third year,
Broadway in the Boros seeks
to bring Broadway shows to
those in the fi ve boroughs who
may not have the opportunity
to see a currently running
Broadway musical. Th e family
friendly events are open to
the public and give free performances
from the cast of current
musicals that are running on Broadway.
“We are thrilled to present a stellar lineup
for this year’s Broadway in the Boros, a program
that enables New Yorkers throughout
the fi ve boroughs to experience the extraordinary
talents of our Broadway community,”
said Media and Entertainment
Commissioner Julie Menin. “We invite all
New Yorkers to come out to parks in their
neighborhoods to enjoy these musical performances
and hope to even inspire some
future Broadway stars in the audience.”
Th is year, Broadway in the Boros will
be coming to Queens on Friday, June 29.
From noon to 1 p.m., the Broadway cast
and musicians from 2018 Tony-nominated
“Once on Th is Island” and “Beautiful:
Th e Carole King Musical” will perform
at Kaufman Astoria Studios
Backlot, located on 36th
Street in Astoria.
In addition to the performances,
the event will feature
giveaways, trivia games
and more. Th e Museum of
the Moving Image will also
off er free admission into the
museum right aft er the performances
are over.
“A night on Broadway
remains largely inaccessible to so many
families and communities across NYC,
but now thanks to Broadway in the Boros
we are able to bridge that gap,” said New
York City Council Majority Leader Laurie
A. Cumbo. “Art serves many purposes – to
entertain, to teach, to both push audiences
out of their comfort zone and reaffi rm
their humanity, and with this eff ort we can
bring all of that Broadway magic and more
to communities across the city.”
For the 2018 Broadway in the Boros
schedule, visit nyc.gov.
gift ed in science, the two build
a makeshift time machine to go save
C.J.’s brother Calvin, who was wrongfully
killed by a police offi cer.
For Bristol, one of the key things that
was important for him to portray in the
characters was their interest in science.
“When you see young black youth in
fi lm or TV, they have to be hoodlums or
violent. Th ey’re never seen doing their
thing,” Bristol said. “Growing up in the
hood, I got picked on for not wearing
name-brand clothes. I don’t listen to
hip-hop all the time. I never wanted to
be a basketball player or a rapper. It was
important for the characters to have an
interest in science.”
While he was making the short,
renowned director and producer Spike
Lee saw Bristol’s work and decided to
fund the project.
“Spike saw it and gave me a grant for
it,” Bristol said. “Later, when he saw
the fi nalized version, he gave me another
grant.”
“See You Yesterday” was entered in
festivals, earning accolades as a fi nalist
of the HBO Short Film Competition
(American Black Film Festival) and
winning the Best of the Festival (Hip-
Hop Film Festival) and HBO Short Film
Competition (Martha’s
Vineyard African-
American Film Festival).
Th e short “See You
Yesterday” is currently
streaming on HBO and
HBO Now and is set to
be adapted into a feature
length fi lm, with
Spike Lee signed on as
an executive producer.
“I remember it was
three days before
Christmas when I got
an email from Spike,”
recalled Bristol. “He
asked me if I wanted him
to be my producer for a
full-length fi lm. Aft er I
read that, I jumped up
and screamed.”
Th is is not Bristol’s
fi rst encounter with Lee.
For the past eight years, Bristol describes
Lee as his mentor in his journey as a
director and fi lmmaker. During his time
at NYU, Bristol attended Lee’s lectures
and classes, and took his mentorship to
heart.
“Lee has taught me, lectured me,
yelled at me,” Bristol said with a chuckle.
While studying for his undergrad
degree at Morehouse College in Atlanta,
Georgia (“Th e greatest college EVER, and
you can quote me on that!” said Bristol,
laughing), Bristol tried to intern with Lee
at his Brooklyn offi ce.
“I asked him three times for an internship,”
Bristol said. “When he fi nally gave
me an internship, I lived out on Long
Island and commuted into Brooklyn fi ve
days a week for no pay and worked on
weekends. I never had a day off .”
According to Bristol, the plan was
always to make “See You Yesterday”
into a feature-length fi lm while he was at
NYU. However, some sound advice led
him to release this story as a short.
“Th e professors at NYU said I wasn’t
ready to make a feature fi lm,” Bristol said.
“Th ey said I should make it as a short, as
a proof of concept. I’m glad I listened; I
still have a lot to learn. But I knew I could
pull it off .”
Aft er many re-writes with his co-writer,
Fredrica Bailey, Bristol is currently
casting for roles for the feature fi lm version
and plans to start fi lming this summer,
with Queens and Brooklyn as the
story’s backdrop.
“I couldn’t imagine not using the city as
the setting,” Bristol said.
Bristol is specifi cally looking to fi ll the
roles of grandparents with West Indian
actors.
“When I think of west Indian people,
its always elderly people chiming in
to make sure people do the right thing,”
Bristol said. “Th at’s what I want to capture
when casting the grandparents, like
when I would get godly advice from my
own grandmother.”
Th e “See You Yesterday” short is currently
streaming on HBO Now. For more
information about Bristol and “See You
Yesterday,” visit stefonbristol.com.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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