Phillip GARA
Occupy Central Park follows 19-year-old student Itamar Lilienthal as he works to organize a large concert and cultural exhibition in Central Park with the Occupy Wall Street movement. In the shadow of the past decade and at the height of revolutionary energy that swept the world in 2011, Itamar embarks on an effort to produce a massive ¡®Occupy Worlds Fair¡¯ concert that captures the hope and promise for a better future. Over the course of a critical month as Occupy Wall Street entrenched its protest at Zuccotti Park, Itamar follows through on his vision and encounters unforeseen obstacles as well as unexpected support from key players in the movement. As November 11th the day of the concert as well as Armistice Day nears, Itamar gets his plan approved by the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly and interest sparks with key patrons of the movement. Meanwhile the Occupy Wall Street movement encounters unforeseen struggles, clashing with the police and loosing the movement¡¯s initial momentum. The film presents firsthand a look at direct democracy in action. The story of the greatest concert that never happened, Occupy Central Park captures the sights and sounds, highs and lows of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Phillip GARA
Phillip Gara is an emerging documentary filmmaker from New York City. He is a graduate of Brown University with a Bachelors degree in History. Occupy Central Park is Phillip¡¯s first feature film. In the past three years, while working as a producer and filmmaker in Brown University¡¯s Global Media Project, Phillip has directed a number of short films presented including Virtuous War 2.0, Disastrous Horizons, The Costs of War as well as a mid-length documentary Project Z. Project Z (2012) Occupy Central Park (2012)