“Willowbrook” Short Film Project Seeks Donations

Willowbrook is a short film based on the true events surrounding the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York. The film addresses the awful conditions in which people with developmental disabilities were warehoused and the controversial research experiments that took place under Dr. Saul Krugman in the 1960s. The project team needs to raise $5,000 dollars in the next two months to finish post-production on the film. There are a lot of remaining costs, such as:

  • visual effects
  • color correction
  • composing and recording music
  • sound mixing
  • getting DVDs made to screen Willowbrook at film festivals and organizations all over the world

Visit Willowbrook’s Kickstarter page for more information on how you can help get this important disability history film finished!

If These Knishes Could Talk

Documentarian Heather Quinlan’s film in progress, If These Knishes Could Talk, is all about how the NY accent has changed as the city has changed:

what it is, how it’s evolved and if it’s disappearing as the city changes. I’ve been lucky enough to film low-level mobsters and highfaluttin’ writers, actors and directors, including Pete Hamill, Amy Heckerling and James McBride.

Quinlan includes a deaf man’s perspective, seen illustrating the New York accent in sign language. She is currently trying to raise funds to complete the film, including doing editing and post-production work.