Created by Michael Kugler and Daniel Terna
16 Minutes
2011
Before After explores South Williamsburg Brooklyn through a series of filmed experiments and encounters in the mostly Latino and Jewish communities. The camera is considered as a compass that gives direction to a variety of inquiries. This compass guided interactions with the neighborhood, both in terms of physical space and its inhabitants, and consequently the neighborhood began to be approached and considered as a spacious urban playground.
The short sequences in this piece are the result of unexpected encounters with people, images, and local rituals. Objects were used as props to facilitate interventions with spaces and communications with people. The title, Before After, references a photography storefront sign along Lee Avenue in the heart of the Jewish neighborhood, and it reminds us that deciding when something is “over” or “finished” is easier said than “done.”
Produced in cooperation with the UnionDocs Collaborative.