Rockaway’s Next Filmmakers
By Dan Guarino
All over Rockaway, the arts—music, visual expression, theatre, writing and more—are flourishing. Bringing cinema to the creative mix are two of its newest filmmakers, Tom Burke and Zoe Gilfix.
Both are studying at Brooklyn College, and honing their skills taking on different production roles and creating/directing their own film projects. The college boasts “several concentrations—film studies, film production, screenwriting, documentary, and industry studies,” and a faculty of working directors, screenwriters, producers, editors, cinematographers, and scholars providing “invaluable insights into the day-to-day practicalities of working in the industry.”
“I am in Brooklyn College on my final semester,” Burke explains. Wrapping up last courses for his Film Production major, he says, “My time at Brooklyn has provided me opportunities to work with like-minded students and learn and expand my knowledge,” while working on various projects and production crew positions.
“Currently I am working in a few short documentary projects.” Burke says. “I really find myself working on docs, telling a story of what may be unnoticed in everyday life.”
“I first got involved in film/videography in third grade, helping my technology teacher at PS/MS114,” he says. His creative pursuits have taken him in several directions since. But “filmmaking is special to me because it provides me with a way to express my thoughts and emotions in a more expressive way.”
Burke’s dozens of short films/videos subjects include Rockaway and events across the city, the NYPD, Times Square New Year’s preparations, community groups, a short comedy, the Rockaway Point News, Asian Lunar New Year and St. Patrick Day parades, Dominican Father’s Day celebrations and more. All are available at Vimeo.com.
“I mainly work on shorts and fellow students’ thesis films,” he says. “I do someday want to start working on larger productions, but at this point I really don’t have the time.” Burke’s talents also include being a skilled photographer and local videographer, writing for The Wave, working as sound engineer/tech person at the Rockaway Theatre Company (RTC) and more. “I got involved with RTC in 2013, following Superstorm Sandy. I originally joined the children’s theatre workshop, where I performed in their junior productions including ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘Shrek,’ ‘Seussical,’ and ‘Singing in the Rain.’ This is what opened my eyes to the behind the scenes of what makes theatre possible,” he says.
On that subject, among his produced/directed works is “What It Takes,” where in 6½ minutes Burke takes viewers from the expanse of the Rockaways into the intimate heart of RTC’s grand musical “Urinetown.” In images and interviews, he captures the development, details, preparations, onstage/backstage atmosphere, right up to opening night, ending on a poignant moment from the production itself. “He really caught the emotional ‘feel’ of the whole thing,” one cast member said.
Zoe Gilfix’s interest in film also began in childhood. “A friend and I started making stop-motion animation films of the Lego creations we had built. That was really my introduction to filmmaking,” she says.
Early efforts in storytelling included “someone getting the wrong order at a restaurant with increasingly ridiculous antics, or a public scene of something like a busy street.” Usually thirty seconds, these “devolved into crazy antics; and many stories overlapped and collided at once.” Most were silent, using one camera angle. “I wanted the viewer to explore what happened individually, and thus each would see a different story,” Gilfix says.
At 13, Gilfix discovered video editing while making a film with a friend. “That was probably the first time I seriously pictured working in the film industry someday,” she says. She studied film throughout high school, but “this was during the pandemic, and opportunities for in-person experience in production were limited. Filmmaking really is a team sport.”
Her filmmaking interests include camerawork, grip and electric work, post-production, etc. “My main interest is in directing, and having experiences in various aspects that make up a film will enhance my skills at collaboration in this industry,” Gilfix says.
At Brooklyn College, she has worked as a director, assistant director, editor, cameraperson, gaffer, script supervisor and production assistant, while now taking a course in sound work. “I’ve taken courses in screenwriting, directing, editing, cinematography, and acting, as well as psychology and business,” she says.
Taking acting and improv early on, like Tom Burke, she started in the Young Actors Workshop at the Rockaway Theatre Company and has been part of it ever since. She has been the videographer for numerous RTC productions, all available on Vimeo, and stage manager on “The Miracle Worker,” “God of Carnage” and “James and the Giant Peach.” “Working in theater both on and off the stage has contributed greatly to my process when working with actors and the attitude I approach projects with,” she says.
Going from stage manager to director, Gilfix pulled together a successful production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” last year at the Beach 94th Street Amphitheater, and later directed a one-act play as part of a brooklynOne Production. This year, she wrote and directed a short, intimate family drama, “Chosen Words,” shot in Arverne and end-of-term screened at Brooklyn College.
“I am interested in narrative fiction,” Gilfix says. “The possibilities are endless when creating a world and characters from scratch. Being able to make a story that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle is an incredibly satisfying journey.”
But, as far as her and Tom Burke’s craft -film, goes, “No amount of fancy equipment can give a film real soul or make up for a dull plot,” she says. “I think that’s something an audience can feel, even if they don’t recognize it.”
To that end, both are continuously working to expand their chosen field of expression. Part of that expression, onscreen and off, is informed by Rockaway itself. “Me and my family have lived in Rockaway our entire lives,” Burke says.
Noting she and her family moved here before Hurricane Sandy, Gilfix recalls, “Even with that crazy experience, we knew this special place was home.”
Summing up on an almost cinematic note, she adds, “The juxtaposition of being by the ocean but with a city subway and Manhattan views at every turn give this place a unique mix of city bustle and beach vibes that give…endless inspiration.”
Photos by Dan Guarino.