80 Blocks From Tiffany's will be released November 23rd! I'm excited to see that some blogs are already showing it love! I've seen samples of the finished product and it does not disappoint. The hard cover book the DVD is housed in is amazing (shouts to KARMA for the ill design as always)!
The reprint of the original Esquire magazine article by the late Jon Bradshaw, titled Savage Skulls, is quite a juxtaposition to the film. Although shocking in its own right, the film allows the viewer to witness the camaraderie of the youths featured in the film, as they crack jokes and sometimes even play things up for the camera. However, the article touches upon situations the film can not. I say "can not" because no gang members were foolish enough to do some of the awful things they indeed did in the presence of a film crew. The article, however, depicts some truly heart breaking and terrifying situations. If you cop the DVD when it's released, I urge you to not be intimidated by the length of the article. It is quite the article!
I don't know if I've already said this in a previous post, but shouts to David Hollander (Wax Poetics) for putting together a wonderful forward to the book and organizing the bonus features! You're the man!
Now that I'm (somewhat spontaneously) typing out some shout outs, I can't leave out Gary Weis, the Director of the film, and Joan Churchill, the Director of Photography. Aside from creating a work of art back in 1979, they were also essential in making this re-release possible! Victoria Allen and Carolyn Pfeiffer-Bradshaw are two wonderful people who helped us make the reprint of the Savage Skulls article possible. Everybody at Broadway Video, your willingness to facilitate the film's re-release gave me a great project to work on!
I haven't had an opportunity to ramble on about what went into making this release possible as much as I've been hoping to, but most likely I'll be able to post up some pictures of the finished product in the near future. In the meantime, here's some links to other sites discussing 80 Blocks...
HipHopDX
Peace Magazine
From SpineTV.net:
"A loose, unobtrusive, and, given the lawlessness of the organizations, rare glimpse into brutal South Bronx gang culture, 80 Blocks captures a struggling community driven on tension in which emotions run dangerously high, populated by what Churchill terms 'people about to burst into violence.'...'There’s no actual mention of hip-hop in the film, yet it’s one of the most hip-hop films ever made.'
[says ego trip’s Jeff Mao].”
