From “City of Men” to “Honeydripper,” The Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) brought many talked-about films to Ithaca. Staff Writer Mike Spreter discusses “Chop Shop,” a film that provides a bleak look into New York City.

Ramin Bahrani’s “Chop Shop,” will put to shame any film student who has ever gotten up at a party and pretentiously declared that the age of the great auteurs is over. One of the downtown screenings at this year’s FLEFF, the film follows young Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco) and his sister, Ismar (Isamar Gonzales), as they shuffle through their lives in the slums of New York City — a third world of its own, somewhere between the high-rise baseball stadium and the landing strip for jumbo jets.

What makes “Chop Shop” remarkable is its exciting sense of versatility and improvisation, its status as a cultural document without any skull-crushing sociopolitical airs. What makes it ripe for auteur theory is its director’s skill at harnessing these qualities in the first place: Bahrani claims he chose the garbage he wanted placed in the farthest reaches of each frame.

Bahrani, whose debut feature “Man Push Cart” also screened as part of FLEFF, spoke on campus last weekend and served on the panel of “How to Get Your Break,” a seminar for students about industry advice. Though consistently anti-dogmatic in his responses, he emphasized the role of persistence and speed in translating ideas to film, citing his fear that every film might be his last as one reason for his quick jumps into pre-production on projects he feels passionate about.

He also spoke about the challenges of echoing the jazzy, impromptu rhythms of his characters’ lives — especially when using non-professional actors. Bahrani casually mentioned he shoots thirty takes or more in order to get scenes as he wants them, allowing his actors to feel comfortable in improvising dialogue so long as it delivers the salient emotions behind each scene.

Even while “Chop Shop” continues its run around the U.S., Bahrani is working on his third feature, “Goodbye Solo,” as well as another, currently untitled, fourth film. Having already taken films to Cannes and Venice, perhaps at least some of the pressure to perform is gone — for now.