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Jackson Heights, Queens is one of the most culturally diverse communities in the US where 167 languages are spoken. IN JACKSON HEIGHTS explores the conflict between maintaining ties to old traditions and adapting to American values.

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Another year, another Frederick Wiseman documentary, reaffirming his elegant mastery of his chosen medium. It’s always refreshing to see the veteran director continuing to work in his trademark long-form, observational style – particularly in a contemporary marketplace that tends to be dominated by sabre-rattling, issue-driven fare. Wiseman’s films have a bewitching experiential quality to them, creating the illusion of being part of the world he has transcribed to screen – less like a fly on the wall than someone sat around the very same table. In Jackson Heights (2015) is a typically engrossing living-portrait of a ethnically diverse neighbourhood in Queens and the threats it faces.

Drama is not the watchword here as Wiseman drops into various locations unobtrusively recording both the banal everyday and his renowned interest in the way that communities organise themselves. Community shines through as the primary thematic concern of the piece, but when emerged in such a densely layered subject there are naturally myriad offshoots, all of which are considered with equal compassion. From support groups for immigrant populations, to meetings about a new space for the active LGBT society and a series of protracted discussions about the gentrification of the area and the way that it is slowly homogenising a colourful borough.

Wiseman takes pains to record the presentation given to local shopkeepers by their landlord who has been hiking rents. Through it, both tenant and viewer comes to understand the monolithic institutions that ultimately control the nature of the real estate in Jackson Heights – even for those that have owned property for over twenty years. Elsewhere, longstanding local resident Joe enjoys birthday celebrations at which the mayor speaks in his honour and residents gather to commemorate the death of a gay man, Julio Riveria, in 1990 which was the catalyst for a concerted and enduring effort to combat homophobia and support gay rights. In amongst the meetings and planning lie the quieter moments: a tattoo parlour going about its business; children playing music in a laundrette; chickens being slaughtered in a battery house; women learning to belly-dance; Muslim children in school. Discrimination, support, inequality, rebellion, life, death and much more contribute to this sprawling meditation on community which embraces all of its foibles. In Jackson Heights once again broadcasts Wiseman’s impeccable ability to edit together footage with no fanfare, but with a pitch-perfect consideration for the rhythms of life and how to convert them in all their splendour and mundanity into cinematic prose. What is all the more special is that he stays well out of frame himself, allowing his subject to speak for itself.

Frederick Wiseman - (2015) In Jackson Heights.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	3h 8mn
Size: 	3.41 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x560 
Aspect ratio:  	1.85:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 196 Kbps
BPP: 	0.160
Audio
#1:  	English 5.1ch AC-3 @ 384 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/6487664F7E15037/Frederick_Wiseman_-_(2015)_In_Jackson_Heights.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English (hardcoded)

The post Frederick Wiseman – In Jackson Heights (2015) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
At nearly 80, Agnès Varda explores her memory – growing up in Belgium, living in Sète, Paris, and Noirmoutier, discovering photography, making a film, being part of the New Wave, raising children with Jacques Demy, losing him, and growing old. She explores her memory using photographs, film clips, home movies, contemporary interviews, and set pieces she designs to capture a feeling, a time, or a frame. Shining through each scene are her impish charm, inventiveness, and natural empathy. How do people grow old, how does loss stay with them, can they remain creative, and what do they remember? Memory, she says, is like a swarm of confused flies. She envisions hers for us.

2.83GB | 1h 52m | 1024×552 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/CD0072ECAEE9EF1/Les.plages.d.Agnes.AKA.The.Beaches.of.Agnes.2008.576p.BluRay.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

Language:French
Subtitles:English

The post Agnès Varda & Laura Obiols – Les plages d’Agnès AKA The Beaches of Agnes (2008) first appeared on Cinema of the World.