Brooklyn Castle
Opens Fri, March 5 in our Virtual Cinema!
"Irresistibly uplifting!" - Variety
"Incredibly moving!" - Indiewire
"Marvelous" - NPR
A special panel moderated by Soledad O'Brien will take place immediately following the film! O'Brien will catch up with former chess players and teachers Pobo Efekoro and Rochelle Ballantyne and John Galvin and Elizabeth Spiegel!
Before there was THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT there was BROOKLYN CASTLE, the story about five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school. In 2012, the team won more national championships - middle school and high school than any other high school in the country... what can't they do? The film follows the challenges these kids faced in their personal lives as well as on the chessboard, and is as much about the sting of their losses as it is about the anticipation of their victories. Ironically, the biggest obstacle thrust upon them arose not from other competitors but from recessionary budget cuts to all the extracurricular activities at their school.
Please join us for this classic film and post-screening discussion to see how chess set these young students on the path to success.