This month’s offering from the LES Heritage Film Series at Seward Park Library will be focusing in on “Loisaida.” Continuing to reflect the neighborhood’s diverse cultural history, (this is the fourth in the series) curator Sean Ferguson will be screening three short films:
The Heart of Loisaida (1979, 30 min., 16 mm) – Directors Bienvenida Matias and Marci Reaven show efforts on New York’s Lower East Side to revive abandoned buildings through the work and persistence of the local, predominantly Latino residents.
A la guerra (1979, 10 min., 16 mm) – Actor/poet Bimbo Rivas presents an ode to the struggle against assimilation being waged by the Puerto Rican community of New York’s Lower East Side. Directed by Thomas Sigel.
Miguel: Up from Puerto Rico (1970, 15 min., 16 mm) – Bert Salzman directs the story of a young Puerto Rican boy living in New York City. When he loses the dollar with which he was to buy a fish for his father’s birthday dinner, he uses his bilingualism to good advantage.
The series is free and offers documentary and feature films that were shot on location in lower Manhattan on both 16mm and DVD formats.
