The landscape of the Brooklyn music scene is ever changing, but not always for the best. While we’ve seen an uprising in incredible talent, all-out-shake-you-to-your-core performances, and select venues that foster and support the kind of art we want to see in our community, those same venues and artists are struggling to maintain their livelihoods during the current pandemic.
Brooklyn is Burning is a documentary started by filmmaker and photographer A.F. Cortes pre-COVID that has adapted and evolved due to the new challenges the scene is facing. What started as a celebration of the variety and vibrance of the scene, the film will now also focus on the current limbo it is in and strive to support and uplift the artists that it features with fundraising efforts on Kickstarter.
Watching the preview for this made me simultaneously so happy and so heartbroken. What the team behind this has put together thus far is a beautiful snapshot of the colorful world we were so happy (maybe even unappreciative of) living in. It’s a film I’m sure all of us who were in Brooklyn during that time can see ourselves in. We can recognized the shows we were at, the ones we worked, the crowded bar we went to for the after party. While it’s an under five minute preview, the storytelling and cinematography behind it is so powerful it takes you there — a place that you’ve been longing for and missing for so long that to see it in all its glory feels like going home if just for a second.
The film strives to celebrate the diversity of the scene as well and how it has been collectively united during a time of incredible divide in our country. While there is still work to be done in showcasing and supporting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists, we’re fortunate to have a scene that is moving in the right direction — something that can be seen in the variety of artists showcased as part of the film.
If you’ve ever had 2 A.M. tacos at The Broadway or stood on a bench at Market Hotel or had one too many extra strong tequila sodas at Alphaville on a Tuesday, do yourself a favor and check out this project and please support it if you can. The scene is the artists, but also the people behind the scenes and the audience at the show. We are all the scene and we should do what we can to support it.
You can find more info on the project and donate over on Kickstarter
