There Goes the Neighborhood
Directed by Ian Phillips2023 74m
Gentrification and displacement are affecting all big cities throughout the world, but none more egregiously than my hometown of New York City. As a Native New Yorker, I am disturbed to see my beloved hometown become a haven for the wealthy when it was once a city that valued culture and community over money. Before Covid happened, the sky seemed to be the limit for corporate greed and that is when I started making this film. I chose specifically to focus on two lower-class neighborhoods that are in peril- Queens and the Lower East Side. In documenting these neighborhoods under threat, I met local activists whose lives centered around maintaining the ethos of their community. This made the film not just about a city, but about people- the everyday working person who uses every free ounce of time and energy they have to fight back against their own displacement. Thus began a three-year David vs. Goliath story which concludes during the time of Covid in which New York City is now experiencing a new chapter- a chapter that is still be written today.
Where to Watch There Goes the Neighborhood
