On Saturday, July 21 on the roof of The Old American Can Factory in Brooklyn, Kickstarter and Rooftop Films present a summertime outdoor screening of Brooklyn Castle, plus the NYC premiere of the short Josephine and the Roach.

Katie Mullins, a Brooklyn singer-songwriter who recently funded her second solo album on Kickstarter will perform live.

Brooklyn Castle is a feature length documentary about I.S. 318, an inner-city public school home to the most winning junior high school chess team in the country. The film chronicles the path of students, teachers and families of the chess team, as they contend with deep budget cuts threatening to undermine their hard-won success. 

We’ve been following the film’s progress for years: we featured an excerpt at our very first film festival in July 2010, back when we still referred to it by its working title Chess Movie. Since then we’ve seen the film premiere to film festival audience rave reviews and successfully fund a second Kickstarter. In March 2012, Brooklyn Castle joined 30 other Kickstarter-funded films at SXSW, taking home the Audience Award for Documentary Spotlight.

No hometown show would be complete without an appearance from its stars. Brooklyn Castle subjects will be on hand for a special, pre-screening chess event. Joined by some of the best chess clubs from in and around NYC, they'll play matches against each other as well as audience members up for a challenge. Interested in participating, or just learning more about the game? Come early! 

Filmmaker Katie Dellamaggiore will also be in attendance for a Q+A after the film. Click here for more details on the pre-screening activities.

We’re so pleased to be co-hosting this screening with longtime friends Rooftop Films, in our collective backyard. We hope you’ll join us!

Saturday, July 21 at 7:30PM. Chess tournament begins at 8PM. Live music at 8:30PM. Click here to purchase $12 advance tickets.