#tfw You are watching Five-Finger Discount and one of the first shots is across from my current apartment, and the first aged numbers player interviewed is my neighbor across the street, standing in front of the building I lived in for 8 years. #JerseyCity

So true about this being a big city with a village mentality. I grew up at the shore, but whenever we met someone from Jersey City my parents would start yapping and it would always turn out that we all knew the same people. I moved here right after college in '88 (with some breaks), and somehow even with the massive turnover and a new transient element, what big guy says, is true- for a big city which is an integral part to the City, everyone seems to know everyone here (for better or worse).

The PBS documentary was a great human story... Like Jersey City itself, some stories made you cringe... some were laugh out loud funny. And it is not much different than the blue collar neighborhoods I grew up in in Boston or Providence.

Earl Morgan's description of JC as a big city, but small was spot on. The one thing I learned quickly when I moved to this city was years ago was to be careful what you say in bars because you never know who is sitting next you.

I can understand how some people might have been pissed but I still need to buy that book.

This is on TV

TONIGHT 9:00PM CHANNEL THIRTEEN - PBS

When I read the book, I didn't think much had changed in Jersey City from the time Stapinski was little and when the book was published. That was sad. I'm finding the short documentary on Vimeo to be more interesting than the book was. If the full documentary is made, I think it'll be the first time for me that I can say that the movie is better than the book.

Jersey City family's unvarnished history headed to film (Di Ionno)

By Mark Di Ionno | The Star-Ledger
November 02, 2014 at 8:12 AM

Helene Stapinski didn?t choose to be the voice of working-class Jersey City. It was actually a fate she once tried to escape.

But as she says, ?You are who you are,? and Stapinski?s signature work ? ?Five Finger Discount, A Crooked Family History? -- may be the most authentic book about Jersey City ever written.

That wasn?t the plan. Twenty-three years ago, she gave up her newspaper column at the Jersey Journal and ran off to a radio job in Nome, Alaska, with a listening audience that included parts of Siberia.

?I had to get out of Jersey City,? the 49-year-old writer said the other day, while walking in her old neighborhood across from city hall. ?I went as far as I could without having to learn another language.?

Read More:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014 ... ded_to_film_di_ionno.html

Jersey City residents have opportunity to help produce documentary on Jersey City

By Matthew Speiser | The Jersey Journal
October 13, 2014 at 5:00 PM

Best selling author Helene Stapinski is bringing her popular memoir "Five Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History," about growing up in Jersey City during the 1970's, to the silver screen with a documentary of the same name.

To fund this project, Helene is turning to Kickstarter, the investor crowd sourcing platform.

"Jersey City has always been this kind of golden door not just to the rest of the country, but to the whole world," said Stapinski, a former reporter for The Jersey Journal. "There are people everywhere who either grew up in Jersey City or had a parent or grandparent who did. As a result, lots of people relate to 'Five-Finger Discount.' I've gotten letters and e-mails from people from as far away as China who wrote to say they loved the book."

Because of this intimate following, Stapinski, who grew up on the corner of Mercer and Grove streets, sees this documentary as an opportunity to share her love of Jersey City with everyone who feels a connection to the city.

"I think there are just a lot of people out there who love 'Five-Finger' and would want to be a part of the project," said Stapinski.

Stapinski says her team has already secured more than $50,000 in private donations, but it is important to her for the documentary not to be entirely funded by big money.

"I like the idea of having regular people fund the project because it's a story about regular people," said Stapinski. "It's not a celebrity story or some fantastic tale or something. It's a story about a working-class family living and thriving in Jersey City."

The campaign will launch tomorrow, and like most Kickstarter campaigns, Stapinski is offering incentives based on the amount donated by each person.

Some of the incentives include signed copies of the book, walking tours of Jersey City with Stapinski, Five-Finger Discount t-shirts and mugs, and for donors who choose to contribute $10,000 or more, Stapinski is willing to write their personal family story, similar to how she wrote her own in her book.

"All kinds of filmmakers turn to Kickstarter to fund creative projects," said Rosanne Braun, a Brooklyn native and executive producer for ''Five-Finger Discount.' "Helene's story of growing up in a family of crooks and inventing a different future for herself really cemented my interest in the story."

Braun then invited Steve Fischler to direct the film, whom she collaborated with in 2008 to produce "Beyond Wise Guys: Italian Americans & the Movies," featuring many popular Hollywood personalities.

Stapinski and Braun plan on adding a forward spin to the source material, which was written 12 years ago, to include what has happened to Jersey City since then; mainly the housing boom and the revitalization of the city.

"Today you drive around Jersey City and fancy restaurants and shops are beginning to dot the streets," said Stapinski. "It's not just that development is great. There are problems with that. too. You lose some identity when things get nicer."

Stapinski, Braun, Fischler and Co. are hoping to raise at least $50,000 from the Kickstarter campaign (according to the rules of Kickstarter, if you do not reach your target goal, you cannot keep any of the money), but would need as much as $150,000 more to fully fund the film.

They already have agreements with WNET, WLIW, and PBS to air the documentary upon its completion.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ntary_on_jersey_city.html

http://vimeo.com/86782497

A must see...


http://vimeo.com/86782497