Brooklyn filmmaker Ilya Chaiken has been a friend of Gen Art since her debut feature, "Margarita Happy Hour," played our festival back in 2001. Her sophomore flick, "Liberty Kid," a powerful drama about a pair of friends in post-9/11 New York, opens at the Pioneer Theater later this week; to celebrate, we asked the indie talent to explain how the city has shaped her as a filmmaker. Read on for her response below.

"I heart New York City, and I think it shows in my movies. In 'Liberty Kid,' I wanted to capture a piece of New York that still felt a little bit old school, that hadn't completely succumbed to the post-Giuliani homogenization of the city. So, we shot in a small corner of South Williamsburg, all within a five-block radius. The Latino identity of the neighborhood was still in tact, and not yet littered with corporate logos. The people of that community really opened their homes to us and provided us with locations, extras and even some of our lead actors.

We also shot on Liberty Island. I love the fact that this kid ('Derrick', played by Al Thompson) who lives in Brooklyn rides back and forth to work on a boat. To me, the inspiration of New York comes in the little details like that. The Dominican kids who worked at the Statue of Liberty and lost their jobs, the boys faking car accidents to score some cash, the veteran returning from Iraq homeless, the cops on Orange Alert—all these vignettes come from the reality of NYC in the wake of 9/11.

As a filmmaker, my goal is to weave the little pieces into a coherent vision, and hopefully still stay true to the characters and the feel of the city. I believe we accomplished this with 'Liberty Kid.' We also managed to make a movie about that difficult time period that still has a lot of lightness and humor."

"Liberty Kid" opens Wednesday, January 9, at the Pioneer Theater, East 3rd Street, between Avenues A and B. Grab your tickets here.

- Caroline Stanley

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