Last summer, Reporter
Leon Neyfakh of the New York Sun wrote a nice article in the New York Sun about Brooklyn Film Works, movies al fresco in JJ Byrne Park. The second year of Brooklyn Film Works begins tomorrow night (July 11) with The Lady Eve  directed by Preston Sturges. The film will be introduced by Ty Burr author of The Best Old Movies for Families. 8:30 p.m. Free.

The
era of old-time Coney Island nostalgia may be all but over in light of
developer Joseph Sitt’s $1 billion renovation plans, but tonight an
open-air film screening in Park Slope’s JJ Byrne Park will give
Brooklyn residents a chance to revisit the amusement park’s storied
past.

"Coney
Island used to be totally nostalgia — faded glory," says Louise
Crawford, who organized tonight’s screening of Ric Burns’s documentary
titled, "Coney Island: The American Experience" as part of her outdoor
Brooklyn Film Series. "It was rusty and dirty. It just didn’t have its
former luster. What I feel now is that it’s a real and living place.
People have sort of rediscovered it."

In
light of that resurgence — marked most recently by the relighting of
the long-dormant Parachute Jump by Brooklyn president, Marty Markowitz
— Mr. Burns’s film may serve as a welcome history lesson as it traces
the park’s development since the turn of the 20th century.

This
is the second Coney Island-related film Ms. Crawford has shown in her
series, which had its inaugural screening last Tuesday with 1953’s
"Little Fugitive." That film, shot in black- and-white on the streets
of Brooklyn and Coney Island, follows a young runaway as he rides the
rollercoasters, plays with animals, and eats the hot dogs that made the
place such a glorious national attraction in its heyday.

The
screening of "Little Fugitive" was a collaborative effort, Ms. Crawford
says, made possible by a fleet of Brooklyn locals who helped secure and
set up the state-of-the-art projector, the 12-by-15 foot screen, the
garbage truck that supports it, and the lawn upon which the guests
spread their blankets and watched the movie.

"Nobody
had ever heard of the film, but they were game. It’s this big movie in
the park — our park!" Ms. Crawford says, estimating last Tuesday’s
turnout at about 100.

Ms.
Crawford hopes tonight’s screening, which will begin after sundown,
will attract locals curious to "learn the stories behind the Cyclone,
the Wonder Wheel, and the Parachute Jump."

Ms.
Crawford’s fixation on Coney Island, which until recently was
considered by some to be a rusty dump past its prime, is appropriate
enough considering the location of the screenings. JJ Byrne Park, Ms.
Crawford says, has enjoyed a renaissance of its own in the past two
years.

The
park, she says, situated on Fifth Avenue between Third and Fourth
streets in Park Slope, has benefited from the gentrification of the
surrounding area.

"Before,
Fifth Avenue wasn’t happening. It’s gone through this major transition.
As Park Slope’s star has risen, so has Fifth Avenue’s."

JJ
Byrne, she says, has traditionally been "a really poor cousin of
Prospect Park." In the past two years, the dust that used to cover the
park’s main area was replaced with a lawn, and a dog run was built off
to the side.

Now,
Ms. Crawford says, there are activities being hosted there "pretty much
three to five nights per week, whether it’s theater, readings, music,
or stuff for kids."

The
recent blossoming, she says, is owed in large part to the Old Stone
House, a museum dedicated to the Battle of Brooklyn that has, in the
past two years, started regularly opening its doors for community
events.

The director of the Old Stone House,
Kim Maier, came up with the idea for the Brooklyn Film Series Works. Ms. Crawford
says. The concept grew out of the Brooklyn Reading Series Works, a book club   reading series curated
by Ms. Crawford (note: and supported by the Brooklyn Arts Council).