POV’s ‘Brooklyn Castle,’
Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 on PBS INDIES SHOWCASE
“If
you want to see what may well be the most optimistic, inspiring and
downright thrilling movie released all year—then absolutely do not miss .
. . Brooklyn Castle.”—Andrew O’Hehir, Salon
This
public-school powerhouse in junior high chess competitions has won more
than 30 national championships, the most of any school in the country.
Its 85-member squad boasts so many strong players that the late Albert
Einstein, a dedicated chess maven, would rank fourth if he were on the
team. Most astoundingly, I.S. 318 is a Brooklyn school that serves
mostly minority students from families living below the poverty line. Brooklyn Castle
is the exhilarating story of five of the school’s aspiring young
players and how chess became the school’s unlikely inspiration for
academic success.
Katie Dellamaggiore’s Brooklyn Castle has its national broadcast premiere on Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 at 10 p.m. (check local listings) on the award-winning PBS documentary series POV (Point of View). The film will stream on POV’s website, www.pbs.org/brooklyncastle, from Oct. 8- Nov. 6, 2013. The film is part of the new PBS INDIES SHOWCASE, a four-week series of independent documentaries airing on Monday nights from Sept. 30-Oct. 21.
The late I.S. principal Fred Rubino pointed out that
extracurricular activities are not really “extra,” because they teach
“the whole child.” Beginning in 2000, under the tutelage of chess
teacher and coach Elizabeth Spiegel and assistant principal John Galvin,
the school expanded its small chess program and began competing in
national tournaments. The results have been stunning: more than 30
national chess titles, including the 2012 U.S. High School National
Championship, a first for a junior high.
Meet the students:
- Justus Williams, 11 years old, is a prodigy, already one of America’s highest-ranked young chess players. Yet he is plagued by a tendency to freeze, stymied by the expectations created by his success.
- Thirteen-year-old Rochelle Ballantyne, who broke the gender line of what had been an all-boys chess club, has the potential to become the first African-American female master in the history of chess. She is the first-ranked player in the school.
- Pobo Efekoro, 12, is the big, boisterous, warm-hearted leader of the team. When the school’s budget for afterschool programs is cut, he runs for school president with the goal of mobilizing a student protest to get the cuts restored.
- Twelve-year-old Alexis Paredes’ approach to chess is like his play—meditative and thoughtful. The second-ranked player at I.S. 318, he sees chess as a way to an education and a lucrative career that will allow him to support his Paraguayan immigrant family.
- Patrick Johnston, 11, is a sensitive beginner who wants to raise his ranking to middle level. He has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and has taken to chess to develop concentration and patience.
For these kids, chess is more than a game, and winning is more than a matter of trophies. Brooklyn Castle
is a clear-eyed look at a school program that has made a huge
difference to students. It is equally a celebration of youth’s
determination to dream, if given the chance.
“I had always been interested in making a film about Brooklyn, but I
wanted to tell a story that people didn’t expect,” says Dellamaggiore.
“We’re hoping, too, that the story in this film will make some lawmakers
think twice before cutting funds for extracurricular activities.”
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