Peter Carellini

Sep 18, 2023 | indypendent.org | Peter Carellini

Three days out of the week, I pull myself out of bed at 7:30 a.m., grinning and getting pumped up as I hop on the A train to lead SAG-AFTRA picket lines as a strike captain at HBO and Amazon headquarters on West 33rd Street. I remember falling asleep the night before the SAG-AFTRA strike was announced … my stomach churned and I dreaded what would come in the morning. There await thespians of every age.

Sep 1, 2023 | indypendent.org | Peter Carellini

The crisp black and white palette of Some Kind of Heavenly Fire harkens back to The Twilight Zone, from which this short film may be a lost episode, as if it were produced in the midnight programming of MTV. I attended a showing of the short film directed by Eric V. Riley Jr. at Stuart Cinema and Cafe in Greenpoint, and its depth and density made me want to stay for a second screening.

Jul 17, 2023 | indypendent.org | Peter Carellini

Irisdelia Marie Garcia is an electric artist. Bronx-born and raised, their work focuses on their Nuyorican upbringing, as well as memory and how it physically manifests itself. Currently, they are working on a new piece called This House Does Not Exist, in which Irisdelia will build a scale model of their great-grandmother’s living room, which was destroyed in Hurricane Maria in 2017, and invite guests to exist in that living room.

Mar 21, 2023 | indypendent.org | Peter Carellini |Reed Dunlea

Chances are, if you are a filmmaker and live in Brooklyn, you have had the pleasure to meet filmmaker, activist and actor Astro Rys. I met them in 2016 when we were both film students. Since then I have been inspired both by their fearless anger and independent filmmaking, most notably in Bad Summer, a 2020 feature about a young college graduate who reconnects with an old friend and finds his life and plans turned strangely upside down.

Feb 6, 2023 | indypendent.org | Peter Carellini

The largest film budget ever secured by an African-American director went to Ryan Coogler in 2018 to helm Black Panther, the twenty-second entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the movie was met with the expected torrent of racism from usual suspects such as FOX News pundits and some older comic-book fans, it went on to gross $1.3 billion, receiving rave reviews and a whopping seven Oscar nominations.