In a concrete-covered culture, John Wilson carves out a micro-movie revolution

NEW YORK (AP) — Years ago, John Wilson began just walking out into New York with his camera. Wilson was freshly out of college and eager to establish himself as a filmmaker. It took some gumption to leave his apartment in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens and start pointing his camera.

“I did a cappella in college for a little while, and I felt like that was the most embarrassing thing you could possibly do,” shrugs the director of “The History of Concrete.” “Once you do that, you can do pretty much anything.” What compelled Wilson, 39, is a little hard for him to pinpoint now. He wanted to make movies, and the streets of New York offered free, unlimited production value. He wanted to preserve what was always disappearing: a storefront sign, a moment.

Most of all, he wanted to capture the mundane, ubiquitous things around us that go unexamined. “I think while I’m shooting: What would another film be too afraid to put in? What would another film not have the room for?” Wilson says.

“The project of changing the way people see things is never-ending. It’s what art-making should do.” High art at the Low Cinema In a blockbuster movie world, Wilson is carving out his own idiosyncratic niche. A year ago, he opened the Low Cinema, which he co-owns, in Ridgewood.

It’s a 42-seat micro-theater far off the Ticketmaster map, pieced together with the leftovers of defunct movie theaters. Wilson programs just about anything, much of it on old 16 mm reels. “People just roll the dice constantly,” says Wilson, sitting in the theater.

On a recent September day, two “Changing Lanes” were playing — one the 2002 Ben Affleck movie, the other the 2025 bike lane documentary. Wilson arrived that afternoon with a small haul of new VHS tapes: “The Birds,” “Au Revoir Les Enfants” and “Endless Summer II.” Outside, a small concrete slab advertised Wilson’s new movie. “I opened up this place maybe unconsciously, partially, so I would have a place to premiere my own movie, in case no one wanted to buy it,” Wilson says, smiling.