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The chess club. For decades it’s been the butt of jokes like Woody Allen’s classic chestnut:
I failed to make the chess team because of my height.
But that has changed, thanks to the chess team at I.S. 318 in Brooklyn, their dedicated coach Elizabeth Vicary Spiegel, and principal Fred Rubino and assistant principal/chess coordinator John Glavin. At I.S. 318, the chess team is king, having won thirty national titles – more than any other junior high school in the United States. And in April of this year, the I.S. 318 chess team they became first junior high school team to become High School National Champions. And this with 70% of school’s students living below the Federal poverty line.
Brooklyn Castle, directed by tonight’s guest Katie Dellamaggiore, tells the story of five chess team members over the course of a year as they use the lessons of chess at tournaments and in their home lives, and finally to cope with disastrous budget cuts that threaten the chess team’s survival.
Given New York’s current disaster and recovery attempts from Hurricane Sandy, the future of the chess team and other “non-essential” classroom programs is precarious. But these programs get kids to school, expand their vision of the world around them, and give them hope. Chess-in-the-Schools notes that school attendance is at its highest on the days that chess class is held, and that students who study chess have better grades overall, as well as measurably higher emotional intelligence.
As the film’s subjects, Rochelle, Justus, Pobo, Alexis (Alex), and Patrick struggle with their own lives and work to bring home more wins for their school (and themselves). They demonstrate the advantages chess provides them, but also the difficulties that can come with losing, both in matches and in life. However, they always prove the axiom that every problem has a solution, if you just look for it.
The changes chess has wrought in Brooklyn Castle’s five subjects are clear, strong, profound, and moving. The question now is how the changes after Hurricane Sandy will affect I.S. 318 and other school in New York City.
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Please stay on topic/s–in this case tonight’s film Brooklyn Castle, director Kate Dellamaggiore, I.S. 318, chess championships, school funding, etc. If you’d like to discuss today’s newsworthy matters including the elections and the philandering Petraeus, please find a post elsewhere on FDL to do so. And our thoughts are with all those still affected by the storm within the FDL family and beyond.
Thank you. And yeah, I tpye badly…
Katie, Welcome to the Lake. Thank you for a great film about some remarkable students.
Katie, thank you for being here–How did you learn about IS 318 and their chess program?
Website for Brooklyn Castle
Screenings
Hi Lisa
I’m excited to be there! Thanks for having me.
I learned about the program first from this NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/nyregion/13chess.html?pagewanted=all
Which led me to this book -THE KINGS OF NEW YORK: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses Who Make Up America’s Top High School Chess Team.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/books/review/Kaplan.t.html?_r=0
I asked the author Michael Weinreb to have coffee with me and I told him that I thought this story (the champion chess team at Murrow HS) might be good idea for a documentary. And he actually directed me to I.S. 318 the Junior High School that was a feeder school to Murrow. He said there was something special happening there, at that chess program, which hadn’t gotten a lot of attention yet. He said it was worth checking out. So I did. And he was right!
The website for brooklyn castle is http://www.brooklyncastle.com
We’re in select theaters right now. The most current list is on our site at:
http://www.brooklyncastle.com/see-the-film
Katie, your stars, the kids, are so amazing–how did you choose them?
We spent a lot of time with the team — almost 2 years before we started shooting. Lots of conversations with the kids, the coaches, visits to some homes. It was just a kind of “getting to know you” process which led to choosing the 5 kids we decided to follow. They all had unique stories, goals and struggles — and that was really important to us.
what are the kids doing now? They were on John Stewart recently (with the exception of Patrick, I believe)
Justus is remarkable, had a Chess Rating of 2100 at 11 years old (Einstein would have rated 1800, btw). He seems shy, always had the serious face during celebrations. What can you tell us of his background and what he is doing now?
Actually only Pobo and I were on Jon Stewart. Patrick, Justus, Rochelle and Alexis did not join us for that appearance (which was incredible and surreal!).
Rochelle is busy applying to colleges and studying for the SAT. UPenn is at top of her list. She’s also playing lots of chess and making her way toward Master.
Patrick and his family moved to NJ after 8th grade. He really likes his HS. He has joined Lacrosse and ROTC. And he is still playing chess, although not as much because his school doesn’t have a real strong team. But he’s trying to motivate his fellow students to get the chess club going this year. His part of NJ got hit pretty bad by Sandy so he’s been playing lots of chess lately — while the power has been out.
Alexis is doing great. Straight A grades in school. Playing lots of chess. Actually he’s approaching Master level, which he’s really proud of. He came with me to LA for our LA premiere and fell in love with the LA sunshine. So maybe he’ll look at colleges on the west coast!
Justus is in Slovenia right now competing in the World Youth Chess Championships. He’s currently undefeated, and might take first place, so we are all rooting for him!
How do you think Sandy will impact school programs like the chess team? Has the film made difference yet for school?
Justus is indeed a remarkable kid. He has a real natural talent for chess and he’s also extremely self motivated. He pushes himself and works really hard, and his hard work has paid off. But he’s also a normal kid who is into lots of other things besides chess. He’s really learning how to create a good balance of chess and life.
And Rochelle–she was on track to be first African-American woman grand master…
Fortunately the neighborhood that I.S. 318 is located in didn’t get hit hard by Sandy, at least in comparison to so many neighborhoods that were devastated. So I don’t think the storm will have a direct impact on the after school programs at I.S. 318. The biggest threat to the programs at I.S. is a lack of funding. That’s the ongoing struggle.
Brooklyn Castle – Resources you can use to support schools, after school programs – http://www.brooklyncastle.com/resources/afterschool
She is. But first she has to reach Master level. That comes before Grandmaster. And she’s close. She’s maybe 100 points away. And she is really trying to reach Master level before heading off to college. And if she does, she will become the first female African American to reach Master level. She’s one her way.
Here’s a great interview she did for teen vogue:
http://www.teenvogue.com/my-life/profiles/2012-10/rochelle-ballantyne-chess-brooklyn-castle
Are there chess scholarships to college?
I was going to ask about funding. Where is it coming from? I haven’t had a chance to see the movie so excuse my ignorance. Does the team rely on private contributions?
Chess Rating System – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_rating_system
Not many that I know of, but chess (as an passion/activity/interest) certainly helps with applications and college essays. And Rochelle is finding that out now.
UT Texas in Dallas offers chess scholarships and that’s the scholarship Rochelle competes for in the movie. I won’t give away what happens!! :)
Katie – could you respond to Alex Gordon at Comment #21?
Thank you, no spoilers!
Pobo is amazing…tell us more about him!
The chess team at I.S. 318 relies primarily on NYC Department of Education funding -the principal allocates a certain amount of the entire school budget to afterschool programs. But unfortunately as the school budget gets cut year after the year, the first thing to go are afterchool programs. So now they do depend more on private donations. And the movie is helping some. At least until we can all find a long term solution to the education funding crisis — schools everywhere are feeling it.
Pobo just spent the last couple months working for the Obama campaign. He was a field coordinator in his neighborhood of bed-stuy and of course he really loved his work.
He is also a strong advocate for afterschool programs and wrote a letter to congress that he’s gathering signatures for here: http://www.change.org/petitions/pobo-s-petition-an-open-letter-to-congress-on-behalf-of-afterschool
Please check it out… and sign!
ANd Alex (Alexis)?
Alexis is one of the highest rated members of the I.S. 318 team during our time there. He sees chess, and entrance to one to New York City’s top tier public high schools, as the first step on the road to a promising career that will allow him to support his immigrant parents.
And speaking of his parents — his Mom Viviana has quickly become a very memorable character in the movie. Audience members often tell us how much they admire her. As Alexis likes to say she is “overflowing with emotion”.
Elizabeth Vicary Spiegel came to IS 318 via the Chess-in-the-School program
How many chess classes does she teach a week, if each student can sign up for seven classes a week?
She teaches anywhere from 4-6 classes a day. She’s one of the few (if any I think) full time chess teachers at a NYC public school. She actually might be the only one.
Thank you for talking about Brooklyn Castle. We are intrigued. I look forward to seeing the movie.
You worked and planned this documentary for over four years. How long was the actual filming, how many hours? The editing must have been hard, picking which stories to follow.
What are your current projects?
I hope you see it too Alex. What city are you in? I’ll check to see if we’re playing there..or will be soon.
Brooklyn Castle is in theatres now–Alex, you can see it at Graumann’s Chinese. Here’s a complete list for across the country
Easy. I am in Los Angeles. Thanks.
We shot for one entire school year and collected about 400 hours of footage. A lot!
Editing was the most difficult part — just figuring how to weave together the 5 personal stories, with the story of the budget cuts and the chess competitions without having a 3 hour movie. So that took a lot of trial and error.
I’m lucky though to have a pretty great editor — and he also happens to be my husband. That’s another documentary, working with your spouse on a passion project for 4 years!
Our next project together is not a film – just not yet. We’re expecting our first child in Janurary. That’s what we’ve got coming up next. Then later next year we can dig into a new film…
We’re in LA. Easy!
If you want to follow the students of Brooklyn Castle – http://www.brooklyncastle.com/blog
Have chess clubs experienced an expansion in schools since the film came out – not being so “geeky” any more?
Next week we explore anti-Semitism at Emoery University’s school of denistry during the Mad Men era: with producer and director David Hughes Duke and John Duke From Silence to Recognition: Confronting Discrimination in Emory’s Dental School History,
Roger Ebert wrote an open letter to President Obama on Salon today about how to fix our nation’s education system. He mentions Brooklyn Castle as a key source of inspiration: “I was much cheered by the new documentary Brooklyn Castle…coached by a couple of great teachers.”
This makes me very happy. Of course, I do hope we can get Brooklyn Castle to President Obama.
http://bit.ly/SgiFBi
I get emails every week from chess club coaches and teachers who have been inspired by Brooklyn Castle. They have been waiting for a story like this and they can’t wait to share it with their chess kids. So we are working on ways to share the film with as many schools as possible. We want Brooklyn Castle to inspire the creation of lots of new chess programs, and also inspire the creation of all types of afterschool programs like botany, robotics, drama, music, art, judo – whatever inspire kids to learn.
And yah, hopefully we crush some stereotypes along the way. The “geeks” deserve the same attention that athletes get. It works at 318 and it can work at other schools.
Thank you Katie for being here and for making such a wonderful movie! ANd firepups and firebaggers, thank you!
Do you have a home / community screening program?
We’re working on it. After the theatrical run we’re going to get to work on more educational and community screenings in early 2013.
Thanks for having me, it was my pleasure!
Woo hoo! It’s playing in Austin. I get to go see it!