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Better Cities Film Festival
January 24, 2023 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
WHEN: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 from 6:30om 8:00pm (Doors 6pm)
WHERE: FOCUS LAB, 21 3rd Street Troy, NY 12180
COST: $10 General Admission, $5 students. Purchase TICKETS HERE.
BUS:
The Better Cities Films Festival is an annual festival that takes place in Detroit, MI, screening the best short films about urban stories around the world. We will be screening a 75-min “best of the festival” selection, with stories from Alabama, Dublin, Cape Town, Toronto, and Albany!
John Paget of First Main Films and the Better Cities festival curator will join us after the screening for a Q&A.
Films:
11th Street Bridge Park: Leading with Equity (d. Michael Skinner & Jon Michael Shink)
The Rural Studio (d. Jeff Durkin)
Marmalade Lane (d. Jim Stephenson)
Ballyfermot Play Park (d. Bonnie Dempsey)
Biking While Black (d. Yolanda Davis-Overstreet)
Langa Bicycle Hub (d. Rashiq Fataar, Matthew Griffiths)
Precollinear Park. A Placemaking Experience (d. Umberto Sala)
Small Town Spirit: Tenino, WA (d. John Paget)
Urban Resilience (Toronto) (d. Chrystelle Maechler, Andreas Krätschmer)
Reimagining Albany’s Waterfront (d. Derek Baranksi)
JOHN PAGET has worked as a documentary filmmaker and freelance director of photography since 1992. He has shot and directed several award-winning and nationally broadcast feature documentaries on iconic American topics including Route 66, Elvis Impersonators and Alcatraz Prison.
Paget’s exceptional storytelling instincts and craftsman-like approach to cinematography have put him in high demand as a freelance director of photography; he’s traveled worldwide to produce commissioned projects for international non-profits, TV networks, and Fortune 500 companies.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, in 2005 Paget moved east to Buffalo, New York. He made several celebrated short films about Buffalo (This Place Matters, Buffalo: America’s Best Designed City) that captured and helped catalyze the rustbelt city’s revitalization. In 2016, the American Advertising Federation of Buffalo honored Paget with the Alex Osborn Award for Creativity.
Paget is the co-founder of First+Main Films, the creative studio dedicated to telling stories about cities, towns and neighborhoods through films that foster civic pride, build community and spark imagination.
What comes after graduation? Many College Experience students, in fact most, choose to remain in Albany. They maintain friendships with their fellow and former graduates, form romantic partnerships, and some get married.