Documentary Production and Distribution News

Produced by Brothers Colin and Nick Barnicle in Conjunction with Matthew Davis Walker, "A New York Story" Recreates the Spirit of Classic Urban Newspaper Metro Columns.

(New York, NY) -- Are New Yorkers different? Yes, they are, according to the filmmaking team of Nick and Colin Barnicle and Matthew Davis Walker, who today released the first of a new micro-series of documentaries about the unassuming lives of unique New Yorkers who each embody the heart and soul of what it means to be a New Yorker. Entitled "A New York Story," the series consists of five short films that premiered this week on the Huffington Post and will reside on newyorkstory.tv.

The first in the series tells the tale of Paul Schweitzer, whose Flatiron District company was founded by his father in 1932. In an age of smart phones and social media, Schweitzer still goes out daily on calls to repair and restore vintage typewriters – and finds a new generation of typewriter aficionados who find typing and tweeting equally attractive. His story is told in a five-minute short film entitled Gramercy Typewriter Company.

"We are really interested in the people who make New York such a unique place," said Colin Barnicle, co-founder of Prospect Productions. "There are a thousand ways to tell the New York story, and it can be told every day. In fact, our goal was to create a 21st-century version of the metro column that used to be a staple of every major newspaper, the kind of columns in which Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin and Joseph Mitchell told the stories of real people."

"Many of the great urban journalists are gone or retired now, but the everyday stories they told still very much exist. This is our attempt to bring those stories to life in a new, digital era, making use of the latest in film and Web technology," added co-director Matthew Davis Walker.

Gramercy Typewriter Company is available at newyorkstory.tv and on the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-barnicle/a-new-york-story-gramercy_b_1231046.html

Subsequent stories to be released in the coming weeks include:

•Polo Grounds, which tells about the impact of the 1957 departure of the New York Giants baseball team from their home in Manhattan's Polo Grounds field;
•Gleason's Gym, a classic boxer's gym that continues to flourish in Brooklyn's trendy DUMBO neighborhood;
•Putnam Ladder Company, a century-old, family business that manufactures ladders in the city's fashionable SoHo district;
•Queens County Farm, about New York City's only working farm, a 47-acre oasis in the middle of the city's largest borough.
The trailer for the complete "A New York Story" series is available online at http://vimeo.com/29783768.

"A New York Story" is the second in the Prospect Productions canon, following "Down the Line," which premiered on the MLB Network in 2011, was a Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival selection and will be available on iTunes in March 2012.





Resources:

www.anewyorkstory.com