Film Screening: Gowanus Current

Join us for a screening of Gowanus Current (Jamie Courville, Chris Reynolds, 2025), a film about people, pollution, planning, and real estate on the most toxic 1.8 miles of water in America. Decades of industrial waste and raw sewage have turned Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal into one of the nation’s most toxic bodies of water. The arrival of a billion dollar EPA cleanup and a massive city-led rezoning herald a new era, but what’s of value in a neighborhood and who gets to decide? 

Shot over the course of ten years, Gowanus Current employs a strictly observational direct-cinema approach to examine the convictions of this diverse community and the textures of its landscape. A documentary portrait of activism and its limits, this is urgent civic cinema exploring the conflict engendered by a housing crisis, income inequality and a changing climate. 

About the Speakers
Jamie Courville (Director, Producer, Editor) and Chris Reynolds (Director, Producer, Cinematographer) are a Brooklyn-based wife and husband team that has collaborated creatively since meeting on a film set in Dallas in 2000. They each have over twenty-five years of filmmaking experience, learning the craft from the ground up working as crew members on projects large and small. This is the first documentary they are making together. Jamie’s career has included doing continuity for Muppets, editing video art, working in post for documentaries, and founding a video collective. Her audio portraits have appeared on public radio stations, both broadcast across the US and on web-based platforms. Her work examines perceptions of disease, race, gender and class. In addition to Gowanus Current, recent projects include the short experimental documentary “Kuleshov in 2020”, and “Drift”, an exhibition of media art installations contemplating the changing landscape of Gowanus, Brooklyn. Chris has worked extensively in both independent and studio film production. Climbing his way up in the camera department from Loader to Cinematographer, he has worked for a long list of talented filmmakers, learning from eminent directors like Ang Lee, Alfonso Cuaròn and David O. Russell. His work can be seen in such acclaimed projects as Silver Linings Playbook, Into the Wild, and Succession. He was also Producer and Cinematographer on Jamie Courville’s “Kuleshov in 2020” and with her co-created the media art installation “Drift.”

Layla Law-Gisiko is President of The City Club of New York, where she leads the organization’s public programming and independent civic analysis. She is also a community organizer and district leader representing Chelsea. Her work focuses on the systems that shape daily life—housing, transit, public space, and good government—with particular attention to public housing residents and immigrant New Yorkers. Layla convenes coalitions, builds public-facing forums, and presses for decisions that are transparent, evidence-based, and built for the long term. She brings a practical, historically grounded view of how cities change: through design, infrastructure, and the civic will to make institutions work. Born in Paris, Layla studied French literature and journalism at La Sorbonne University. She is a journalist, documentary director, and writer. She recently published Soft Sites and Hard Truths, a humorous glossary about New York City. 

Event Timeline:
1:45 PM - Doors Open
2:00 PM - Film Begins
3:30 PM - Post-Film Discussion (Jamie Courville, Chris Reynolds, and Layla Law-Gisiko) 
4:00 PM - Event Ends 

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.