Saturday in the Park

Chinatown Fair opened as a penny arcade on Mott Street in 1944. Over the decades, the dimly lit gathering place, known for its tic-tac-toe playing chicken, became an institution, surviving turf wars between rival gangs, changing tastes and the explosive growth of home gaming systems like Xbox and Playstation that shuttered most other arcades in the city. But as the neighborhood gentrified, this haven for a diverse, unlikely community faced its strongest challenge, inspiring its biggest devotees to next-level greatness.

A short film about Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett's friendship and collaboration, told against the backdrop of the Loew's Jersey Theatre, one of the five original Loew's Wonder Theatres built in the NYC area in the 1920s, now a volunteer run community cinema. The story of the theatre is interspersed with live footage of Kurt and Courtney's recent show there.