Street Photography as a Right and a Journey – more info on UnionDocs.

This is happening tomorrow night in Williamsburg and sounds pretty awesome:

Jem Cohen will show short works and excerpts from over 2 decades of shooting on the street. As this is the last week for public comment on the newly revised city regulations governing street photography and filmmaking, he will also lead a forum on what’s right, and what’s seriously wrong, with the rules. Information will be available on how to make your own official input to The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting.

Cohen’s tour of his working life making unconventional street documentaries will range from excerpts of early works such as THIS IS A HISTORY OF NEW YORK and LOST BOOK FOUND, to the recent short, NYC WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. He’ll also show SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT (made with Patti Smith to accompany her cover of the Nirvana song) and an excerpt from BUILDING A BROKEN MOUSETRAP (on Dutch activist musicians, the Ex). Cohen also promises some unreleased surprises.

On Monday the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting announced the new draft of their permit rule proposal. You can download the new draft on the website but here’s the key change:

The New Film Rule Proposal

Under the new draft of the proposed rule, a permit would be required if equipment or vehicles are being used by the production or if the filming activity creates an obstruction. “Equipment” is defined as film cameras, videocameras, lights, sets, and other production related materials, but does not include hand-held devices or tripods.

“Obstruction” is defined in the proposed rule as the assertion of exclusive control over a public space resulting in the obstruction of one or more lanes of a street or walkway, or when production activity results in either less than eight feet or one-half the width of the sidewalk or passageway (whichever is greater) being available for unobstructed sidewalk use by pedestrians.

A permit would not be required if the production uses hand-held devices or tripods, its activity does not present an obstruction, and it is not using equipment or vehicles. An optional permit would be available in these instances, and would not require liability insurance.

The rules would also not impact press photographers, who are routinely credentialed by the NYPD, or student filmmakers, who meet their insurance obligations by coverage through their school’s insurance program.

As a general matter, City agencies’ procedures for the issuance of permits must be contained in formally adopted rules. The City Charter’s rulemaking process requires that City agencies publish proposed rules for public comment. Public comment is now open for this current draft of the rule, with a hearing scheduled for December 13, 2007.

***

More on this later. I know I’ve been a bit absent but I’ve been busy gearing up for all our events with DCTV. Our Hook Me Up event got a huge amount of really impressive applications so people are clearly really into the idea of finding new collaborators. Either that or they really think they are going to hook up!

We’re also planning a new series of great film events here at Shooters HQ so stay tuned. And there will be more parties. There will always be more parties.