Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Emmy Award winning urban planning doc telling the story of Manhattan Plaza through the lives of its esteemed residents including Larry David, Alicia Keys, Tennessee Williams and Angela Lansbury. Local councils take note: this is a story of government subsided artist live-in residencies gone right."
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A event on Thursday 19th May. The event starts at 19:30.
*bbb*Miracle on 42nd Street*/bbb*
Doors: 7:30pm
Screening begins: 9:00pm
Total run time: 68 minutes
Please note: this is an outdoor screening so please dress appropriately for a Spring evening and bring extra layers or blankets. There is a wet weather contingency and we will move inside in the event of rain.
Miracle on 42nd Street is a one-hour documentary about the untold history and impact of the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex in New York City. Starting with the background of the blighted Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood and the building’s initial commercial failure in the mid-1970s, the story recounts how – in a moment of bold inspiration or maybe desperation - the buildings were “re-purposed” as subsidized housing for people who worked in the performing arts, becoming one of the first intentional, government supported, affordable housing for artist residences.
The social experiment was a resounding success in the lives of the tenants, and it led the way in the transformation of the midtown neighbourhood, the Broadway theatre district and local economy. The film makes a compelling case for the economic value of the arts and artists in America. The success of Manhattan Plaza has become a role model for similar experiments, which the film features, around the country, in places like Ajo, Arizona, Providence, Rhode Island and Rahway, New Jersey.
Narrated by acclaimed actor/writer Chazz Palminteri, Miracle on 42nd Street features on-camera interviews with people whose lives were positively impacted by the complex, including Alicia
Keys, Terrence Howard, Donald Faison, Larry David and Samuel L Jackson, Angela Lansbury,
Giancarlo Esposito, and many others.
Entry requirements:
Doors: 7:30pm
Screening begins: 9:00pm
Total run time: 68 minutes
Please note: this is an outdoor screening so please dress appropriately for a Spring evening and bring extra layers or blankets. There is a wet weather contingency and we will move inside in the event of rain.
Miracle on 42nd Street is a one-hour documentary about the untold history and impact of the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex in New York City. Starting with the background of the blighted Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood and the building’s initial commercial failure in the mid-1970s, the story recounts how – in a moment of bold inspiration or maybe desperation - the buildings were “re-purposed” as subsidized housing for people who worked in the performing arts, becoming one of the first intentional, government supported, affordable housing for artist residences.
The social experiment was a resounding success in the lives of the tenants, and it led the way in the transformation of the midtown neighbourhood, the Broadway theatre district and local economy. The film makes a compelling case for the economic value of the arts and artists in America. The success of Manhattan Plaza has become a role model for similar experiments, which the film features, around the country, in places like Ajo, Arizona, Providence, Rhode Island and Rahway, New Jersey.
Narrated by acclaimed actor/writer Chazz Palminteri, Miracle on 42nd Street features on-camera interviews with people whose lives were positively impacted by the complex, including Alicia
Keys, Terrence Howard, Donald Faison, Larry David and Samuel L Jackson, Angela Lansbury,
Giancarlo Esposito, and many others.
Entry requirements: