Maysles Documentary Center

Maysles Documentary Center Maysles Documentary Center (MDC) is a Harlem-based nonprofit organization committed to community, ed
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MDC was founded by legendary filmmaker Albert Maysles (1926–2015) in 2005. He and wife Gillian Walker chose Harlem to contribute to this community's rich cultural history and aid in the facilitation of what is taken for granted below 96th street: consistent access to documentary films and conversation with filmmakers, the act of filmmaking, and engaging with films to make a difference. A 2013 reci

pient of the National Medal of Arts, among many other honors, Albert, along with brother David, was an early creator of direct cinema and among the first to capture life as it unfolded before their camera, without scripts, sets, or narration. MDC's mission began with a summer education program for youth, whose parents were incarcerated, to encourage creative self-expression, holistic youth development and community building. Today, our low or no-cost education programs range from film literacy classes for children, filmmaking for high school students, intro and advanced filmmaking and editing for adults, and a cinema management job training program for Harlem residents. Maysles Cinema, at the MDC, is the only independent film house north of Lincoln Center devoted exclusively to documentary programming.

Please join us this Thursday for the final exhibition of the Living Lenox studio, a showcase of creativity, community, a...
12/11/2024

Please join us this Thursday for the final exhibition of the Living Lenox studio, a showcase of creativity, community, and collaboration!

The Maysles Documentary Center has been working in collaboration with the fall 2024 Spitzer School studio “Living Lenox”, co-taught by architect Jerome Haferd and scholar/writer Najha-Zigbi Johnson. “Living Lenox” interrogates Lenox Avenue (Malcolm X Boulevard), engaging seven sites along the iconic Harlem corridor through the lens of Radical [Black] Preservation-as-speculative design project. Students will interpret the living tangible and intangible heritage of Lenox Avenue (between 116th and 135th) through 1) acts of counter mapping, community engagement, 2) forensic analysis, counter-preservation and finally 3) detailed radical development + design projects.

REPOST From our friends  🚨 UNION is now available to rent worldwide from Black Friday to Giving Tuesday only! Go to unio...
12/01/2024

REPOST From our friends

🚨 UNION is now available to rent worldwide from Black Friday to Giving Tuesday only! Go to unionthefilm.com to WATCH NOW! 🚨

Feeling generous? When you checkout you can donate to make the film available for Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers to watch for free!

& be sure to reshare this post & spread the word! Releasing an indie film is a lot like organizing, we rely on your grassroots support! ✊🏾🔥

Over the last month, we’ve hosted some incredible discussions on topics ranging from abolition/safety, speculative nonfi...
11/25/2024

Over the last month, we’ve hosted some incredible discussions on topics ranging from abolition/safety, speculative nonfiction/Palestine, q***r archives, Harlem housing activism, Jazz on film, and labor organizing.

Here are some glimpses of all the brilliant filmmakers, oral historians, organizers, and scholars who have enriched us as of late!

1. and , surrounded by family and friends after REIMAGINING SAFETY

2. and after REWIND & PLAY

3. and after UNION

4. 5. 6. and in front of a jam-packed house before É MINHA CARA and HEAVEN, EARTH + HELL

7. .friedland and after LYD

8. , Erica Razook, , , and after REZONING HARLEM

November is on 🔥🔥🔥 up in Harlem!1. Tonight! REWIND & PLAY (Alain Gomis, 2022, 65 min.) + Q&A with  and  2. Just added! B...
11/08/2024

November is on 🔥🔥🔥 up in Harlem!

1. Tonight! REWIND & PLAY (Alain Gomis, 2022, 65 min.) + Q&A with and

2. Just added! Back by popular demand! UNION (Stephen Maing & Brett Story, 2024, 102 min.) + Q&A with

3. Free! SANSÓN AND ME (Rodrigo Reyes, 2022, 90 min.) + Q&A with and our friends at Columbia’s

4. TOKYO UBER BLUES 東京自転車節 (Taku Aayagi, 2021, 93 min.) + Q&A WITH , co-founder of the Drivers Coop. We’ll be talking gig work and transit organizing!

5. REIMAGINING SAFETY (Matthew Solomon, 2023, 83 min.) + Q&A with and , co-founder of BLM greater NY. We’ll be talking abolition and safety!

6. LYD (Rami Younis and Sarah Ema Friedland, 2024, 79 min.) + Q&Q with .friedland, and . Recently banned by Israel’s Ministry of Culture and Sports for “inciting violence,” LYD is stunning cinematic exercise in political imagination for Palestinian freedom.

7. STREET HEROINES (Alexandra Henry, 2021, 71 min.) + Q&A with , , and . Our second to last installment of Made You Look: H2O (Hip-Hop Odyssey) of the year!

8. INCIDENT AT OGLALA (Michael Apted, 1992, 95 min) + Q&A TBA. Learn about the ongoing struggle to free American Indian Movement leader, Leonard Peltier, from life imprisonment.

More info + tix at maysles.org. $7-15 suggested donation, but no one is turned away for inability to pay!

What a wonderful weekend full of intergenerational filmmaking and comradary! Thank you  for sharing your thoughtful and ...
11/04/2024

What a wonderful weekend full of intergenerational filmmaking and comradary!

Thank you for sharing your thoughtful and caring filmmaking practice centered around older adults and their care partners, and thank you for all the works you do to support elders in our community ✨

We laughed! We munched! And we shot and projected some pretty amazing one-shot gesture films! 💕

Happy Halloween from everyone’s favorite Harlem micro-cinema!!TONIGHT 10/25 at 7PM, don’t miss Bill Gunn’s “blood-soaked...
10/25/2024

Happy Halloween from everyone’s favorite Harlem micro-cinema!!

TONIGHT 10/25 at 7PM, don’t miss Bill Gunn’s “blood-soaked masterpiece,” G***A & HESS, considered by many “a sensual, scholarly, magic-realist exploration of Black history and Black desire” and “one of the most profound, surreal and horrifying love stories ever made.” Preceded by a recorded intro by the ever-brilliant .
Many thanks to 🖤

And then join us next Thursday 10/31 at 5:30PM for a family-friendly monster movie extravaganza with a screening the 1953 classic THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS. Near the Arctic Circle researchers unwittingly thaw a prehistoric beast frozen for millions of years, who leaves a path of destruction straight through…..New York City!

Come dressed in your spookiest, scariest, Halloween attire and you’ll surely leave with a pocketful of treats 🦇

Window display by 🐈‍⬛

In its 16th year, the Black Panther Party Film Festival continues to shine a light on the BPP as an inspiration for soci...
10/10/2024

In its 16th year, the Black Panther Party Film Festival continues to shine a light on the BPP as an inspiration for social justice work today. That work continues for environmental and racial justice and the critical urgency to free political prisoners who are still behind bars. Nuff said!

1. Erin, the one and only Black Panther Princess!

2. King Downing, K’Sisay Sadiki, and Stephen Vittoria talking about LONG DISTANCE REVOLUTIONARY and the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners

3. King and legendary Panther Baby, Jamal Joseph

4. Panther/Palestinian solidarity!

5. Erin and Lupe!

6. Panther veteran, Claudia Williams, introducing this year’s festival. All power to the people!

7. Illinois chapter veteran, Blais Anderson, talking about surviving the shootout that killed Fred Hampton

We’re jamming at the Albies After Party!!!
09/26/2024

We’re jamming at the Albies After Party!!!

We could not be more delighted to welcome Palestinian-American interdisciplinary artist, Muyassar Kurdi, to the cinema t...
09/12/2024

We could not be more delighted to welcome Palestinian-American interdisciplinary artist, Muyassar Kurdi, to the cinema this weekend for three incredible programs 🌀

We begin tomorrow Friday 9/13 at 7PM with NEPTUNE FROST (Saul Williams & Anisia Uzeyman) and A SPACE EXODUS (Larissa Sansour) for an evening of Black and Palestinian-futurist cinema. On her selection of these works, Muyassar writes:

“I feel a deep connection between these films, and it is an honor to present them alongside each other. These revolutionary works empower me while reminding me of oneness and unity especially during the ongoing genocide in Falastin where we are witnessing the patriarchal capitalist machine crumble right before our eyes. Our struggles are interconnected.”

Saturday 9/14 at 4PM, we’ll return to the cinema for “A Poem for Remembering,” a hands-on workshop focusing on the relationship between body, voice, and image through exercises built on trust, deep listening, and slow, concentrated, ‘soul-generated’ theatrics. Through an indigenous lens and in the spirit of resistance. Bring a 35mm camera if you have one as our supply is limited!

And finally! Stick around for the 7PM screening of Muyassar’s 16mm dance trilogy: an exploration into space, embodied sound, and ritualistic movements. The films will be followed by a discussion between Muyassar Kurdi and .

A jam-packed two days not to be missed! All of $7 / $15 suggested donation.

Tix at link!

Polaroid film credit: .rana
🌀🌀🌀

Hot off the press!!! 🔹Check out these stunning, limited-release ‘Lafargue Clinic Remixed’ zines, featuring original coll...
09/05/2024

Hot off the press!!! 🔹

Check out these stunning, limited-release ‘Lafargue Clinic Remixed’ zines, featuring original collages, radical healthcare history, program notes, archival images, community health resources, interview transcripts, and Marx/Freud/Fanon galore!

Endless gratitude to the many contributors who made this publication possible!

Compiled by:
Edited by: , , and
Design and original collages by:
Cover design by: Chrissy Griesmer
Original contribution by: Kevin Duong
Published by:

Stop by Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem to grab one before their gone | $12 suggested donation 🔹

Despite last night’s tornado warnings and flash floods, we packed a SOLD OUT house for ’s INFILTRATORS. 10 years after t...
08/10/2024

Despite last night’s tornado warnings and flash floods, we packed a SOLD OUT house for ’s INFILTRATORS. 10 years after the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, our guests and drew connections between the movement of Black Lives and the need for ongoing solidarity with Palestine. Afterwards, we gathered for for some nourishing felafel and watermelon juice, iykyk 🍉

thank you to our wonderful partners at and for filling our space with such warmth and generosity of spirit! last night’s proceeds will be donated directly to Gazan families raising money for food and emergency supplies.

Happy 100 years of Harlem icon (and legendary ♌️), James Baldwin, whose sharp critique of American racial capitalism and...
08/02/2024

Happy 100 years of Harlem icon (and legendary ♌️), James Baldwin, whose sharp critique of American racial capitalism and exquisite novels of q***r/interracial love shine brighter each and every day. If you’re new to Baldwin’s work, we highly recommend picking up an essay (“Notes of a Native Son”), novel (“Another Country”) or play (“Blues for Mister Charlie”) — he did it all!

Next thurs 8/15 at 7PM we’re screening Barry Jenkins’s 2018 adaptation of IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, FREE in partnership with ImageNation and Harlem Week 50, and we will continue putting on Baldwin centennial programming through the fall/winter. Keep an eye out!

Due to rainy forecasts and wet grass we have moved tonight’s screening of GUELWAAR indoors!!The film will screen for FRE...
07/31/2024

Due to rainy forecasts and wet grass we have moved tonight’s screening of GUELWAAR indoors!!

The film will screen for FREE TONIGHT (7/31) at 7PM at Maysles Documentary Center. Apologies for the inconvenience. We hope to bring more film and music programming to St. Nicholas again soon ☀️

TOMORROW join us for a FREE screening of Ousmane Sembène’s GUELWAAR (1992) in St Nicholas Park (135th / St. Nicholas Ave...
07/30/2024

TOMORROW join us for a FREE screening of Ousmane Sembène’s GUELWAAR (1992) in St Nicholas Park (135th / St. Nicholas Ave) in collaboration with and 🌟

The evening will begin with a DJ set at 7PM and the film will begin at 8:30PM (sundown). Bring a blanket and picnic for a night of music and cinema under the stars!

A few more snapshots from a beautiful day!Pictured: Raheem Jones 🧡 Martha Diaz 💛 Nia Whitmal 🧡Milton Allimadi 💛
07/29/2024

A few more snapshots from a beautiful day!

Pictured: Raheem Jones 🧡 Martha Diaz 💛 Nia Whitmal 🧡Milton Allimadi 💛

We were very fortunate to spend the second half of the day learning from these ever-brilliant historians, archivists, co...
07/29/2024

We were very fortunate to spend the second half of the day learning from these ever-brilliant historians, archivists, community organizers, and artists.

Topics ranged from: hip-hip preservation, the Community Control Movement, the impact of African migrants on Harlem’s cultural imagination, countering racist/colonial narratives of Africa in mainstream journalism, and the history behind the public art piece (Sankofa Installation) where we gathered.

Endless gratitude to: and for your time, words, and generous spirit ✨

We could not have asked for a more magical day in Marcus Garvey Park yesterday! Thank you to  and  for the knowledge/ski...
07/29/2024

We could not have asked for a more magical day in Marcus Garvey Park yesterday! Thank you to and for the knowledge/skill-sharing around analog-to-digital conversion and personal archiving techniques. How wonderful it was to digitize home movies in such a beautiful spot and in the company of our Harlem neighbors 🌱💛

Thank you to Lupe Family and Kim Parker for shedding light on Pat Murphy Robinson’s luminous legacy and facilitating dis...
07/28/2024

Thank you to Lupe Family and Kim Parker for shedding light on Pat Murphy Robinson’s luminous legacy and facilitating discussion around family abolition, radical therapy, energy work, and working class struggle — a night of knowing/not knowing, confusion/clarity, levity/heaviness, laughter/reflection!

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343 Malcolm X Boulevard
New York, NY
10027

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