Summary(1:45) Calling from Bay Ridge -- (2:00) Produced the 2020 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival (AoBFF) 10th Anniversary digital edition online -- (4:05) Description of AoBFF - inclusive and diverse film festival, screening all over Brooklyn -- (7:00) Began exclusive to Brooklyn -- (8:15) Unexpected benefit of going online: expanded to international filmmakers and audience Ð (9:00) Guest curator: Alan McLane Alejos -- (11:35) Maintaining quality. Charged admission to protect value, respect, digital rights protections for filmmakersÕ work -- (16:15) Video conferenced lectures -- (17:20) Technological challenges -- (19:47) Paid artists and team to support them and create sustainable model -- (24:54) Preserving the intimacy, connection among participants -- (29:13) Online challenges: interruptions from pets, babies -- (34:25) Preparation started for next festival - hybrid AoBFF 2021 -- (39:00) Uncertainty for next year: will films be made? -- (42:40) Companies and platforms stop, but art never stops. Great challenges for independent galleries, dining industry, and how individuals survive -- (46:00) World has become small in lockdown. Misses socializing with people.
NoteAudio interview conducted on August 5, 2020, by Anna Zemskova. Collected for the Covid-19 Oral History Project through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is a partnership with Services for Older Adults and the Brooklyn Collection.
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TitleOral history interview conducted with Joseph Shahadi on 2020 August 5.