LIVING LOS SURES • 2014
Produced over 5 years by 60 artists at UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art, LIVING LOS SURES is an expansive project about the Southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Known by its long-term Latino residents as Los Sures, the neighborhood was one of the poorest in New York City in the late 70s and early 80s. In fact, it had been called the worst ghetto in America. Today, it is the site of a battle between local identity and luxury lifestyle. With the restoration of LOS SURES, a brilliant work of cinéma vérité filmmaking as a starting point, the project has developed into a collection of 40 SHORT FILMS, the interactive documentary 89 STEPS , and the cinematic people’s history SHOT BY SHOT, demonstrating new possibilities for collaboration between an arts institution and its surrounding community to collect memories and share local culture.
“One of the most comprehensive, incredible and in-depth interactive projects that we at the film society have ever seen.” –New York Film Festival
“A massive mixed-media project that defies easy categorization.” – IndieWire
“It’s enough to make fans of the Up series salivate.” – Brooklyn Magazine
LOS SURES • 1984
Diego Echeverria’s film skillfully represents the challenges residents of the Southside faced: poverty, drugs, gang violence, crime, abandoned real estate, racial tension, single-parent homes, and inadequate local resources. The complex portrait also celebrates the vitality of this largely Puerto Rican and Dominican community, showing the strength of their culture, their creativity, and their determination to overcome a desperate situation. Beautifully restored for the 30th anniversary premiere at the New York Film Festival, this documentary is an invaluable piece of New York City history.
“Trenchant and eye-opening.”– The Hollywood Reporter
“An authenticity that has been captured by no fiction film I’ve ever seen.”– L.A. Weekly
“Both an invaluable record of pre-gentrification Brooklyn and an ode to a community’s resilience.” – BAMcinématek
USA • 57mins • Color • 4:3 • Spanish subtitles available
© 1984 Diego Echeverría © 2015 UnionDocs, All rights reserved
Learn more about Los Sures and the Living Los Sures project at http://lossur.es/
Purchase an institutional copy or DVD for home video use below.
