There’s no stopping the calls for women behind and in front of the camera, and one film festival has a four-day long response: a women-centered film festival. Created by Women in the World and Independent Film Center, 51Fest will feature world and New York premieres of women-led films, documentaries and television shows, all followed by conversations with select actors, producers and directors. Guests will include Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever and writer/producer Cindy Chupack. The festival kicks off tonight with the world premiere of Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story, a documentary on how America’s most beloved (and hated) redhead faced social exile after a photo surfaced of her holding a bloodied Trump head. The screening will be followed by a conversation between Griffin and Women in the World founder Tina Brown.  More →

Head Hi is not an establishment you’re likely to stumble randomly upon on your lunch break. Unless you are one of the (ever-growing) numbers of people who work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and you take your lunch break wandering its periphery. This hybrid coffee shop/bookstore/art gallery sits on a warehouse-y side street, nestled between Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. It’s not in the Navy Yard proper, and it’s also not really in residential Fort Greene, which establishes itself just a couple blocks over. Head Hi, which opened in December of last year, is a small addition to a liminal space, a tenant between neighborhoods. And it’s at least a 15 minute walk from any subway station. More →

Max Fish and Adidas celebrated 30 years of art, music and skateboarding on Sunday night with the release of the Lower East Side bar’s commemorative sneaker. Already sold out by the time the party started, the shoe’s release brought out notable fans of the Fish, like skateboard legend Chad Muska, actor Leo Fitzpatrick of Kids fame, and a Black Sabbath cover band fronted by Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol’s Brad Truax and former Dirty Projector vocalist Angel Deradoorian. The party was also a photo show curated by pro-skater Josh Zickert and featuring prints from Max Fish’s old location, which closed in 2013. More →

Black nerds united over the weekend for the third annual Blerd City Con, held at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. The convention is known for celebrating black lovers of sci-fi, superheroes, anime or any other art form that may have earned a black kid the side-eye growing up. This year’s theme was black horror, a fitting pick given the recent releases of the scarring (though sometimes hilarious) film Us and the cautionary tale Ma, with Octavia Spencer in the titular role. Black horror was discussed in various ways, from analyzing the cheesy greatness of 1970s films like Scream, Bacula, Scream to addressing the “horrors” of being black in modern-day America.    More →

A cheesy, tomato-y pie can be yours for the nice price of free this weekend, when “fast-fine” Neapolitan pizza chain MidiCi opens their first New York location in Williamsburg this Saturday.

Back in 2014, Uluç Ülgen fled romantic disillusion in the East Village and made a trip to his birth country of Turkey. There, the shy Istanbul native encountered strangers who gave him a hand—with food, transportation and emotional support—without asking for anything in return. He returned to New York City and created the mürmur podcast, an “homage to the strangers who saved his life.” More →

Cyclists filled Washington Square Park last night to protest an increasing number of bike deaths across the city. The protesters staged a die-in, laying on the ground for five minutes in silence while several riders held up signs with the names of bicyclists killed by drivers citywide this year. Hundreds of attendees filled an entire section of the park, from the arch to the fountain.         More →

New Yorkers looking for pineapple and hemp lattes at MAMACHA Café will instead find paper-covered windows and locked doors. The Bowery café known for its CBD drinks and snacks closed amidst the city’s crackdown on CBD-infused edibles and beverages, and says it’s moving elsewhere. The café was co-owned by New York-based artist Eric Cahan as well as Nev Schulman and Laura Perlongo – best known for hunting down online lovers and liars on MTV’s Catfish. As for hunting down a new location for MAMACHA, its destination is still unknown.    More →

A lot of us may be hoping to spend the middle of summer in theater A/C, but are absolutely too spooked to sit through Midsommar. The hottest months are typically a lull between awards posturing. Aside from Ari Aster’s Swedish pagan nightmare-scape, plus that wildly high-concept Beatles-based comedy I haven’t yet gotten around to seeing, there’s mostly superhero reboots and high-budget misfires on the marquees right now. But with their retrospectives and lovingly-curated series, the lower Manhattan and Brooklyn arthouse theaters have us covered. More →

Welcome to the jungle, ravers!

The MoMA PS1 Warm Up, the longest-running summer dance party in Queens, starts this Saturday and repeats weekly through August. This year, when New Yorkers make the pilgrimage to the museum’s courtyard to sway in the summer heat and revel in the beats of up-and-coming DJs and rappers, underground electro pop, and more, they’ll be immersed in a Yucatan-inspired “jungle,” the brainchild of Mexico City-based architectural firm Pedro & Juana. More →