Mott Haven Home Movies: South Bronx Cribs is a project that invites South Bronx residents of all ages and backgrounds to make short videos using their homes and neighborhood as material. From September 2016 to May 2017, 10 people, ages 17-71 of diverse backgrounds in the South Bronx (many first and second generation immigrants) learned to shoot, direct and edit short documentaries based on the show “MTV Cribs.” The project asked: what is home in the South Bronx?  What emerged were a diverse set of short documentaries that explored the literal, psychological, interpersonal and political furniture the filmmakers and their subjects live with everyday. Themes range from the deeply personal to the unapologetically political– as the films explore some of the most pressing issues people in the neighborhood live with: complex family histories, the urban and natural environment, personal and collective ambition, music and dance traditions, immigration, housing, and the justice system. Collectively, the videos are a complex tapestry of life in the South Bronx.

The screening will be preceded by the Bronx Music Heritage Center’s South Bronx Latin Music Tour. Their free tours throughout June with BMHC’s folklorist and co-artistic director Elena Martínez will explore the Hunts Point/Longwood neighborhoods in the Bronx where many Latin music performers lived and worked, creating salsa and making revolutions in bachata, mambo, and more. Along the way, they’ll point out the dance clubs, theaters and social clubs where the music was performed and flourished. The tour will also examine the community organizations that have helped improve the neighborhood and the borough, and will highlight the street life and public art that continues to make the neighborhood vibrant. The tour will end Casa Amadeo, the longest continually run Latin music store in New York City to meet the long-time owner. Organized by the Bronx Music Heritage Center and City Lore. Presented by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media And Entertainment and New York Music Month. Learn more about the walking tour at: https://goo.gl/nuWtxO

UnionDocs is pleased to co-present this community screening in the Bronx. Project Director: Lucia della Paolera Collaborating Artists / Instructors: Estefania de la Chica, Giacomo Francia, Alejandro Jaramillo, Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Mai Nolasco, Harri Indio Ramkishun, Christian Rivera, Daniel Santiago, Nicolas Vasquez Produced by ID Studio and Bronx Art Space Programmed by Danielle Jackson

Danielle Jackson is a writer and consultant working at the intersection of cultural spaces, media, and politics. She is the co­-founder and former co-director of the Bronx Documentary Center, a community-based gallery and educational space that uses photojournalism and documentary film to create conversation on social change. Formerly, she ran the Cultural department at Magnum Photos NY. Her projects have been covered in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Washington Post, CBS News, and elsewhere. She is on the faculty at the International Center of Photography and Stanford in New York.

Lucia della Paolera was born in Brooklyn, and lives and works in the South Bronx. In January 2015 she joined ID Studio Theater with her translation from Spanish to English of Máxima Seguridad (Maximum Security) by Piedad Bonnett, which premiered in New York and later toured in Colombia. She also organized and moderated a series of panel discussions around prisoners’ rights that accompanied performances of the play in New York.

She is the Project Director of  “Mott Haven Home Movies: South Bronx Cribs” video project that began Fall 2016 and premiered at BronxArtSpace June 2017. At ID Studio she also assists with translation, community outreach, project development and grant-writing.

della Paolera is finishing the translation of a book of conversations with Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, and she is an interpreter for immigrant rights organization African Services Committee, where she translates for immigration lawyers and a variety of undocumented clients seeking status in this country. Other ongoing projects include finishing production on her first movie “Transnational Villagers,” and training and performing as a classical singer.

della Paolera has worked at a variety of arts institutions including BAM, ICA Philadelphia, and the journal magazine and gallery, and has curated and participated in numerous art exhibitions and performance events independently. She has a bachelors degree in English and Music from the University of Pennsylvania (2010).

iD Studio Theater NYC is committed to the cultural enrichment of immigrant communities through performance arts while creating new audiences and training performers among these communities.

Bronx Art Space is a non-profit gallery that promotes the innovative ideas of underrepresented and emerging artists and curators. Its mission is to foster dialogue around the contemporary local, national and global issues while advancing local arts education and opportunities.

The Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) celebrates the rich musical legacy of the Bronx by drawing upon and restoring pride in its history.