NYC Happenings: Let the Video Store Resurrection Begin! A New Video Free Brooklyn Cometh

It may be hard for non-New Yorkers to fathom -- heck, it may even be hard for New Yorkers to fathom -- but the city has been lacking in an honest to goodness video store for cinephiles, for cult heads, for progressive families, for curious kids, for quite a while now. Yes, one location for Kim's Video is still around, but talk to ScreenAnarchy's own Dustin Chang -- who used to work there back in his pony-tail days -- and he will tell you it is not what it once was. And sure Two Boots still has their little corner, albeit in a new location, but... it just ain't... well it just ain't what Aaron Hillis is aiming for.

Hillis, is a film critic and the curator of DUMBOS's reRun Gastropub Theater (a place where I caught the Czech New Wave wonder Daisies for free recently). He and his wife recently purchased Video Free Brooklyn in Cobble Hill (or Carrol Gardens depending on who you're talking to), a neighborhood you may recognize from the now defunct Jason Schwartzman show Bored to Death, or if you're a dream-thief of some kind, my very own daydreams, as I've always wanted to live there.

So what does Hillis want to do with his old-but-new video store? Why turn it into a fantastic, community-backed, filmmaker-energized, family-friendly, geek-haven. IE the spot in Brooklyn, if not the whole five boroughs, to come and celebrate cinema in. Rent classics or rare flicks from the savviest of the film savy, attend panels and screenings, get projects because you're talking with the coolest like-minded fellows of all-time.

Now of course Hillis can't do this alone. And he's isn't either. Thus far in their efforts to turn Video Free Brooklyn into paradise on earth, Hillis has had the help and support of Robert Downey Sr. David Cross, Patton Oswalt and Bobcat Goldhwait. And if you step in and give a little love Hillis' way, you may be so lucky to get a private screening hosted by Tobias Funke himself. Or free rentals for one year. Take a look at the video below, and check out http://www.indiegogo.com/vfb to donate.