This month’s edition of the fascinating LES Heritage Film Series at the Seward Park Library will focus on three films about the Bowery (including the famous time capsule, On the Bowery, that screened at Film Forum a few months ago). On the first Tuesday of each month (this is the 6th installment) curator Sean Ferguson screens documentary and feature films that were shot on location in lower Manhattan on both 16mm and DVD formats.
Each installment focuses on different communities and areas throughout the Lower East Side. Ferguson always manages to dig up some amazing archival footage that is very hard to come by. It’s a treat to watch because most often, it is projected with an old-school 16mm projector. Next Tuesday, he’ll screen two documentaries and a dramatization about life on “Skid Row” in the ’60’s and 70’s:
Bowery Men’s Shelter (1972, 10 min., 16mm) – Tony Ganz and Rhody Streeter direct a portrait of the Men’s Shelter on East 3rd Street in New York City. It is the only home for many alcoholics, drug addicts and ex-mental patients.
On the Bowery (1965, 65 min., 16mm) – Lionel Rogosin’s dramatization of life on New York’s Skid Row, refuge for the homeless, the alcoholic and other marginal people. Using men who live in the area as actors, the film explores the life of flophouses, bars and the streets where the men sleep and sometimes look for day work.
How Do You Like the Bowery? (1964, 14 min., 16mm) – Men from the Bowery in New York are interviewed by Dan Halas and Alan Raymond and speak candidly about how they think and feel.
FREE // Tuesday, March 1 // 6:30pm // Downstairs at Seward Park Library // 192 East Broadway.
