Brooklyn Filmmaker Nominated for Regional Emmy

FORT GREENE — A little bit of imagination really does go a long way.

For filmmaker Kiritin Beyer, a Bed-Stuy resident, her imagination took her all the way to the New York Emmy’s.

Her 2014 film “Imagi[nation] is Creation," which first aired on Fort Greene-based Brooklyn Free Speech, is nominated for a 2016 regional Emmy in the arts category.

The film follows Bed-Stuy artist Parris Jaru, who is Beyer’s boyfriend, from Africa to Europe as he works with youth and community organizations to paint murals in impoverished and rural areas.

Imagi[nation] is creation with Parris Jaru from Kiritin Beyer on Vimeo.

Over the course of three months, Jaru worked with organizations in Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia to create the murals.

“The whole concept of the movie was how art is available for everybody, how you don’t need to paint in between four walls, you know, you can share with the community and it creates a dialogue too,” Beyer said.

Beyer, 35, began her work as a documentary filmmaker when she won a Media Arts Fellowship at BRIC, where she learned how to use different types of equipment and editing software. 

Beyer, who was born in Denmark but grew up in France, went to circus school for acrobatics before she started working as a photographer. She moved to New York City 12 years ago to pursue her photo career, but always knew she wanted to get into filmmaking.

“I always had in the back of my mind that I wanted to do filming too, so there was a great push for me to just start it,” Beyer said.

She said Jaru, a painter who works with natural pigments and dyes, was a natural choice as her subject.

“He was the best subject because he was in front of me every day,” she said.

Aside from just starring in it, Jaru also wrote and narrated the film.

“Just doing it was great, being able to do it was a super high point, to be an independent artist and just make it happen without any finances,” Jaru said.

Jaru, 42, said working with local arts organizations helped break the barriers between the filmmakers and the locals.

“We kept hearing in East Africa, ‘When people come here they just take, nobody comes to give.’ And we were giving our art,” he said. “Everywhere we went we got a lot of love.”

The New York Emmy’s take place March 19 at the Times Square Marriott Marquis, and Beyer said she is hoping for the best.

“I’ll cross my fingers, and let’s see what happens,” Beyer said. “Hopefully it leads to something else.”