El Museo del Barrio, in collaboration with the International Puerto Rican Film Festival and Uptown Grand Central, present an outdoor evening of music, and never-before-seen films that depict the underrepresented genre of Nuyorican cinema. Films include Break and Enter a.k.a. Squatters (42 min., 1971, English), and Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy (54 min., 1980, English). With DJ sets by Giovanni Cortez and Christian Martir.
FREE, In-person at 101st Street and Lexington Avenue | To RSVP, click here.
Health and Safety Guidelines: To ensure the health and safety of our visitors and staff, we ask that face coverings be used during all events (indoor and outdoor), and to adhere to social distancing whenever possible.
THE FILMS
Break and Enter a.k.a. Squatters (Rompiendo Puertas), by Third World Newsreel, captures the militant antecedents to today’s housing reclamation movement in New York City. In 1970, several hundred Puerto Rican and Dominican families reclaimed housing left vacant by the city. They pulled the boards off the doors, cleaned, and repaired the buildings, and moved in. Break and Enter documents the activist work of Operation Move-In and the city’s attempts to displace the families.
Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy, directed by Kathleen Collins, is an adaption from a series of short stories about three young Puerto Rican brothers whose lives are watched over by their father’s wounded ghost, murdered by police in the process of a bank robbery. After the heist attempt goes wrong, the Brothers move to quiet Rockland County where they meet old Miss Malloy who has a house that needs some restoration to throw one last party before she dies.
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL PUERTO RICAN HERITAGE FILM FESTIVAL
The International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival is the longest running festival focused on themes inherent to the heritage of Puerto Rico, its people, culture and the connections throughout the world. Our goal is to foster a collaborative environment by connecting industry experts with artists from all countries as they explore issues inherent to Puerto Rico, its diaspora, and stories relevant to the larger Latino community. Please join us for a week of films and networking this November 10th – 14th. For more information, visit https://iprhff.org.