Squatters

Oct 26 2021 N/A 1h 28m
Documentary

A group of young artists and residents of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, most of them immigrants, took over two buildings in the late 80s and turned them into self-sustainable homes and community centers. The buildings, renamed Puerta 10 and Umbrella House, gave new life to the neighborhood while catching the attention of real estate developers. Catalina Santamaría has been documenting their history since 1997 when she met one of the residents of Umbrella House. In Squatters, she incorporates video footage shot by the residents, who planned to produce their own documentary, as a tribute to a community that came together to build its own utopia.

Plot

At the end of the 80s, two abandoned buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the 'truquito' and the 'maroma' area, were occupied by a group of young artists, mostly immigrants, who renovated them and turned them into a car home. -sustainable outside the state, at least for two decades. Catalina Santamaría gathers records from different sources, supports and data to compile the chronicle of the transformation of Puerta 10 and Umbrella House based on the stories of their singular protagonists . Part of the material used corresponds to a video file recorded by them in the process of adapting the buildings in order to make a documentary, perhaps that of a community that with its hands builds a house to inhabit it in its own way. This homage film welcomes that desire by adding the reverse of the difficulties that a collective utopia entails , the fragility in the face of time and the haunting of the system.

Written by

N/A

Directed by

Catalina Santamaria

Cast

N/A

Production Countries

United States of America

Languages

English, Español

Awards

1 win

Scores
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Average Rating
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Metascore
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Popularity
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