LITTLE FUGITIVE, a film directed by Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin in 1953 about a boy who runs away to Coney Island opens Brooklyn Film Works: Movies Al Fresco in J.J. Byrne Park.  June 27 at 8:30 p.m.  Lawn chairs, blankets, and picnics encouraged.

Curated by Louise Crawford. Concession by Stone Park Cafe. This series is brought to you by the generous in-kind and financial support of Scharf Weissberg,  Showman Fabricators, Rosebrand, and Methodist Hospital.

"Between neorealism and the nouvelle vague stand Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin, whose independent feature Little Fugitive (1953) has been credited — by Francois Truffaut,
who ought to know — with providing both spiritual imprimatur and
nuts-and-bolts strategies for the French New Wave. Engel and Orkin were
both still photographers, with Engel particularly distinguished as a
colleague of Paul Strand and a pioneer photojournalist with magazines
like PM, Fortune, Collier’s. Orkin also had ties to Hollywood and cinema in general — she had worked for MGM,
her mother was a silent star, and she had edited some experimental
shorts, an experience that would be crucial in the pair’s future
collaborations. Engel and Orkin provided a production template for
future independent filmmakers by doing double and triple duty on their
films. For their first feature, Engel, Orkin, and Ray Ashley are
credited with direction, Engel and Ashley with production, Ashley with
screenplay, Orkin and Lester Troob with editing, and Engel with
photography."