FALL SEASON OPENING NIGHT (Season Pass now available: $99 for general public / $75 for IFC members)

THURSDAY SPECIAL

Intermediate School 318 in Brooklyn, New York, is housed in a squat concrete building on a dingy inner-city block. The school’s exterior offers little to impress but, in room 319, something extraordinary is happening. Over the last decade, hundreds of Ms. Vicary’s students have learned to play chess, one of the world’s oldest and most complex games; each day, the class fills with kids both well on their way to becoming the next Bobby Fischer and others just learning how to move the pieces. The school has a powerhouse chess team that has won 26 national chess titles — more than any other junior high school in the country. It’s a particularly notable achievement for I.S. 318, a Title I school, where more than 60 percent of students are from homes with incomes well below the federal poverty line.

BROOKLYN CASTLE follows five of the school’s chess team members for one year, and documents their challenges and triumphs both on and off the chessboard. Justus is a prodigiously talented 10-year-old trying to navigate the unfamiliar pressures that come with newfound success and adulation. Eleven year old Patrick struggles with ADHD, and uses chess to improve his concentration. Alexis, 12, already views chess as a means to attain a higher education and support his immigrant family. Rochelle &”8211; an ambitious 13-year-old &”8211; strives to become the first African-American female to reach the level of chess master. And the team’s emotional and outspoken leader, 12-year-old Pobo, rallies his fellow students against school budget cuts while running for school president. In each of these young teens, we witness the profound ways that learning and playing the beautiful and complex game of chess has imbued the lives of these equally beautiful and complex students at an underfunded urban public school.

This year, I.S. 318&”8242;s chess team is the strongest in school history. But as the New York City public school system continues to reel from state and citywide financial crises, I.S. 318&”8242;s budget has been cut by more than $1 million. After school programs like chess are often frontline budgetary casualties, despite their proven success in improving students’ development in ways often unattainable in the classroom, especially in high-needs areas.

Coaches John Galvin and Elizabeth Vicary deeply believe that their students have benefitted from playing chess, and they are committed to keeping their program intact and alive. For Justus, Patrick, Alexis, Pobo and Rochelle, chess is more than just a game. It is a theatre of hard work and determination where they negotiate larger conflicts by maneuvering their armies of rooks, knights, pawns, and bishops &”8211; and where they can become kings and queens, far beyond the tabletop battlefield.

BROOKLYN CASTLE – trailer from Hot Fuss Films on Vimeo.