list http://www.spout.com/ 51 Birch Street recent group discussions Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/groups/51_Birch_Street/About_the_film/163/2632/1/ShowPost.aspx Post Subject: About the film
Group Name: 51 Birch Street
Last Post By: quint
Post Date: 8/23/2006 2:24:32 PM
Body: (Watch the trailer here.) SynopsisDocumentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parent’s 54-year marriage was a good one. So he isn’t prepared when, just a few months after his mothers’ unexpected death, his 83-year old father, Mike, phones to announce that he’s moving to Florida to live with “Kitty”, his secretary from 40 years before. Always close to his mother and equally distant from his father, he’s stunned and suspicious. When Mike and Kitty marry and sell the longtime family home, Doug returns to suburban Long Island with camera in hand for one last visit. And there, among the lifetime of memories being packed away forever, he discovers 3 large boxes filled with his moms’ daily diaries going back 35 years. Realizing he has only a few short weeks before the movers come and his dad will be gone for good, the veteran documentarian sticks around, determined to investigate the mystery of his parents’ marriage. Through increasingly candid conversations with family members and friends, and constantly surprising diary revelations, Doug finally comes to peace with two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined. Both unexpectedly funny and heartbreaking, 51 Birch Street is the first-person account of Block’s unpredictable journey through a whirlwind of dramatic life-changing events: the death of his mother, the uncovering of decades of family secrets, and the ensuing reconciliation with his father. What begins as his own intimate, autobiographical story, soon evolves into a broader meditation on the universal themes of love, marriage, fidelity and the mystery of family. 51 Birch Street spans 60 years and 3 generations, and weaves together hundreds of faded snapshots, 8mm home movies and two decades of verité footage. The result is a timeless tale of what can happen when our most fundamental assumptions about family are suddenly called into question.Reviews TORONTO STAR "51 Birch Street is the latest autobiographical doc sensation" Rene Rodriguez, MIAMI HERALD "Extraordinary… spellbinding… an utterly absorbing mystery" Eddie Cockrell, VARIETY “A triumph of true-life storytelling… with every bit the emotional punch of the more sensationalist doc fare” David Hudson, GREENCINE DAILY "With 51 Birch Street, Doug Block has fashioned an engaging and at times even suspenseful mystery out of his family's story and, along the way, a social history of the American family unfolds, from the uptight 50s through the 70s (a swath of story worthy of Updike, Cheever or Roth) to the present." Andrew O'Hehir, SALON.COM "Block has made a sad, delightful and half-accidental movie about his own parents which was the outstanding personal documentary at this year's (SXSW) festival... Profound and humane." Tom Hall, INDIEWIRE "Exceptional ... This film should become a huge hit because its central question is universal; if you could learn everything about your parents' lives, would you really want to know? ... This is wonderful non-fiction storytelling." Bruce Kirkland, TORONTO SUN "The film is a revelation because it is so folksy and so disarming that we can see ourselves and our own family histories in a fresh new light." Jim Emerson, RogerEbert.com "As engrossing as any murder mystery but without melodrama or histrionics, could be this year's Capturing the Friedmans." Anthony Kaufman, INDIEWIRE "51 Birch Street is a beautiful, resonant piece of work about how little we know about our parents' lives, about marriage and fidelity, loss and reconciliation. I've often felt that the personal documentary has overstayed its welcome, but Birch Street reaffirms my faith in the form." Geoff Pevere, TORONTO STAR "Tears your heart out ... as haunted by ghosts as anything found in a Hollywood horror movie."
]]>Wed, 23 Aug 2006 18:24:32 GMTAbout the film51 Birch Street(Watch the trailer here.) SynopsisDocumentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parent’s 54-year marriage was a good one. So he isn’t prepared when, just a few months after his mothers’ unexpected death, his 83-year old father, Mike, phones to announce that he’s moving to Florida to live with “Kitty”, his secretary from 40 years before. Always close to his mother and equally distant from his father, he’s stunned and suspicious. When Mike and Kitty marry and sell the longtime family home, Doug returns to suburban Long Island with camera in hand for one last visit. And there, among the lifetime of memories being packed away forever, he discovers 3 large boxes filled with his moms’ daily diaries going back 35 years. Realizing he has only a few short weeks before the movers come and his dad will be gone for good, the veteran documentarian sticks around, determined to investigate the mystery of his parents’ marriage. Through increasingly candid conversations with family members and friends, and constantly surprising diary revelations, Doug finally comes to peace with two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined. Both unexpectedly funny and heartbreaking, 51 Birch Street is the first-person account of Block’s unpredictable journey through a whirlwind of dramatic life-changing events: the death of his mother, the uncovering of decades of family secrets, and the ensuing reconciliation with his father. What begins as his own intimate, autobiographical story, soon evolves into a broader meditation on the universal themes of love, marriage, fidelity and the mystery of family. 51 Birch Street spans 60 years and 3 generations, and weaves together hundreds of faded snapshots, 8mm home movies and two decades of verité footage. The result is a timeless tale of what can happen when our most fundamental assumptions about family are suddenly called into question.Reviews TORONTO STAR "51 Birch Street is the latest autobiographical doc sensation" Rene Rodriguez, MIAMI HERALD "Extraordinary… spellbinding… an utterly absorbing mystery" Eddie Cockrell, VARIETY “A triumph of true-life storytelling… with every bit the emotional punch of the more sensationalist doc fare” David Hudson, GREENCINE DAILY "With 51 Birch Street, Doug Block has fashioned an engaging and at times even suspenseful mystery out of his family's story and, along the way, a social history of the American family unfolds, from the uptight 50s through the 70s (a swath of story worthy of Updike, Cheever or Roth) to the present." Andrew O'Hehir, SALON.COM "Block has made a sad, delightful and half-accidental movie about his own parents which was the outstanding personal documentary at this year's (SXSW) festival... Profound and humane." Tom Hall, INDIEWIRE "Exceptional ... This film should become a huge hit because its central question is universal; if you could learn everything about your parents' lives, would you really want to know? ... This is wonderful non-fiction storytelling." Bruce Kirkland, TORONTO SUN "The film is a revelation because it is so folksy and so disarming that we can see ourselves and our own family histories in a fresh new light." Jim Emerson, RogerEbert.com "As engrossing as any murder mystery but without melodrama or histrionics, could be this year's Capturing the Friedmans." Anthony Kaufman, INDIEWIRE "51 Birch Street is a beautiful, resonant piece of work about how little we know about our parents' lives, about marriage and fidelity, loss and reconciliation. I've often felt that the personal documentary has overstayed its welcome, but Birch Street reaffirms my faith in the form." Geoff Pevere, TORONTO STAR "Tears your heart out ... as haunted by ghosts as anything found in a Hollywood horror movie." 8/23/2006 2:24:32 PM(Watch the trailer here.) SynopsisDocumentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parent’s 54-year marriage was a good one. So he isn’t prepared when, just a few months after his mothers’ unexpected death, his 83-year old father, Mike, phones to announce that he’s moving to Florida to live with “Kitty”, his secretary from 40 years before. Always close to his mother and equally distant from his father, he’s stunned and suspicious. When Mike and Kitty marry and sell the longtime family home, Doug returns to suburban Long Island with camera in hand for one last visit. And there, among the lifetime of memories being packed away forever, he discovers 3 large boxes filled with his moms’ daily diaries going back 35 years. Realizing he has only a few short weeks before the movers come and his dad will be gone for good, the veteran documentarian sticks around, determined to investigate the mystery of his parents’ marriage. Through increasingly candid conversations with family members and friends, and constantly surprising diary revelations, Doug finally comes to peace with two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined. Both unexpectedly funny and heartbreaking, 51 Birch Street is the first-person account of Block’s unpredictable journey through a whirlwind of dramatic life-changing events: the death of his mother, the uncovering of decades of family secrets, and the ensuing reconciliation with his father. What begins as his own intimate, autobiographical story, soon evolves into a broader meditation on the universal themes of love, marriage, fidelity and the mystery of family. 51 Birch Street spans 60 years and 3 generations, and weaves together hundreds of faded snapshots, 8mm home movies and two decades of verité footage. The result is a timeless tale of what can happen when our most fundamental assumptions about family are suddenly called into question.Reviews TORONTO STAR "51 Birch Street is the latest autobiographical doc sensation" Rene Rodriguez, MIAMI HERALD "Extraordinary… spellbinding… an utterly absorbing mystery" Eddie Cockrell, VARIETY “A triumph of true-life storytelling… with every bit the emotional punch of the more sensationalist doc fare” David Hudson, GREENCINE DAILY "With 51 Birch Street, Doug Block has fashioned an engaging and at times even suspenseful mystery out of his family's story and, along the way, a social history of the American family unfolds, from the uptight 50s through the 70s (a swath of story worthy of Updike, Cheever or Roth) to the present." Andrew O'Hehir, SALON.COM "Block has made a sad, delightful and half-accidental movie about his own parents which was the outstanding personal documentary at this year's (SXSW) festival... Profound and humane." Tom Hall, INDIEWIRE "Exceptional ... This film should become a huge hit because its central question is universal; if you could learn everything about your parents' lives, would you really want to know? ... This is wonderful non-fiction storytelling." Bruce Kirkland, TORONTO SUN "The film is a revelation because it is so folksy and so disarming that we can see ourselves and our own family histories in a fresh new light." Jim Emerson, RogerEbert.com "As engrossing as any murder mystery but without melodrama or histrionics, could be this year's Capturing the Friedmans." Anthony Kaufman, INDIEWIRE "51 Birch Street is a beautiful, resonant piece of work about how little we know about our parents' lives, about marriage and fidelity, loss and reconciliation. I've often felt that the personal documentary has overstayed its welcome, but Birch Street reaffirms my faith in the form." Geoff Pevere, TORONTO STAR "Tears your heart out ... as haunted by ghosts as anything found in a Hollywood horror movie." http://www.spout.com/groups/51_Birch_Street/Q_amp_A_with_filmmaker_Doug_Block/163/3088/1/ShowPost.aspx Post Subject: Q&A with filmmaker Doug Block
Group Name: 51 Birch Street
Last Post By: ktincu
Post Date: 9/28/2006 3:04:09 PM
Body: On September 28 Spout's hosting a sneak preview screening of 51 Birch Street. For a few days after the event, filmmaker Doug Block will periodically visit this discussion to answer any questions regarding 51 Birch Street.Also, please visit the discussion, Help Doug promote 51 Birch Street and give Doug advice as to how he can promote online the theatrical release happening later this month.So, if you've seen 51 Birch Street, now's the time to get those lingering questions off your chest.
]]>Thu, 28 Sep 2006 19:04:09 GMTQ&A with filmmaker Doug Block51 Birch StreetOn September 28 Spout's hosting a sneak preview screening of 51 Birch Street. For a few days after the event, filmmaker Doug Block will periodically visit this discussion to answer any questions regarding 51 Birch Street.Also, please visit the discussion, Help Doug promote 51 Birch Street and give Doug advice as to how he can promote online the theatrical release happening later this month.So, if you've seen 51 Birch Street, now's the time to get those lingering questions off your chest.9/28/2006 3:04:09 PMOn September 28 Spout's hosting a sneak preview screening of 51 Birch Street. For a few days after the event, filmmaker Doug Block will periodically visit this discussion to answer any questions regarding 51 Birch Street.Also, please visit the discussion, Help Doug promote 51 Birch Street and give Doug advice as to how he can promote online the theatrical release happening later this month.So, if you've seen 51 Birch Street, now's the time to get those lingering questions off your chest. http://www.spout.com/groups/51_Birch_Street/Help_Doug_promote_51_Birch_Street/163/3055/1/ShowPost.aspxPost Subject: Help Doug promote 51 Birch Street
Group Name: 51 Birch Street
Last Post By: DougBlock
Post Date: 9/25/2006 1:57:04 PM
Body: In October and November, 51 Birch Street will be released in NY, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Boston. Doug Block wants to promote the film using the tools available on the Internet but, like most of us, he's not sure where to start. Please, chime in with your two-cents—if you have two-cents—about how to promote this film on the Internet through places like Myspace, Facebook, Meetup and the like. Any advice you can give will be very appreciated. Spout will also use this research to help other filmmakers like Doug.
]]>Mon, 25 Sep 2006 17:57:04 GMTHelp Doug promote 51 Birch Street51 Birch StreetIn October and November, 51 Birch Street will be released in NY, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Boston. Doug Block wants to promote the film using the tools available on the Internet but, like most of us, he's not sure where to start. Please, chime in with your two-cents—if you have two-cents—about how to promote this film on the Internet through places like Myspace, Facebook, Meetup and the like. Any advice you can give will be very appreciated. Spout will also use this research to help other filmmakers like Doug.9/25/2006 1:57:04 PMIn October and November, 51 Birch Street will be released in NY, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Boston. Doug Block wants to promote the film using the tools available on the Internet but, like most of us, he's not sure where to start. Please, chime in with your two-cents—if you have two-cents—about how to promote this film on the Internet through places like Myspace, Facebook, Meetup and the like. Any advice you can give will be very appreciated. Spout will also use this research to help other filmmakers like Doug. http://www.spout.com/groups/51_Birch_Street/Spout_event_details/163/2633/1/ShowPost.aspxPost Subject: Spout event details
Group Name: 51 Birch Street
Last Post By: patches
Post Date: 8/23/2006 2:29:20 PM
Body: 51 Birch Street8:00 Thursday, September 28 @ UICA Theater Sneak preview, one night only. Hosted by Spout. Online Q&A with director Doug Block to follow. Order tickets now for $5 thru Mollyguard (or buy them for $7 at the door). For more information go to spout.com/51birchstreet Want your friends to come? Send an invitation Request membership to this group to recieve updates.Live in NY, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis or Boston? Check for showtimes on the 51 Birch Street website.
]]>Wed, 23 Aug 2006 18:29:20 GMTSpout event details51 Birch Street51 Birch Street8:00 Thursday, September 28 @ UICA Theater Sneak preview, one night only. Hosted by Spout. Online Q&A with director Doug Block to follow. Order tickets now for $5 thru Mollyguard (or buy them for $7 at the door). For more information go to spout.com/51birchstreet Want your friends to come? Send an invitation Request membership to this group to recieve updates.Live in NY, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis or Boston? Check for showtimes on the 51 Birch Street website.8/23/2006 2:29:20 PM51 Birch Street8:00 Thursday, September 28 @ UICA Theater Sneak preview, one night only. Hosted by Spout. Online Q&A with director Doug Block to follow. Order tickets now for $5 thru Mollyguard (or buy them for $7 at the door). For more information go to spout.com/51birchstreet Want your friends to come? Send an invitation Request membership to this group to recieve updates.Live in NY, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis or Boston? Check for showtimes on the 51 Birch Street website.