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Trailer Premiere: 'Decade Of Fire' Explores The Burning Of The Bronx In The '70s
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 2, 2019
Modified Apr 2, 2019
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 2, 2019
Modified Apr 2, 2019
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Back in the 1970s, a confluence of social, economic and political actions led to the burning of the South Bronx, which displaced hundreds of thousands and completely destroyed the neighborhood. Now, a new documentary, co-directed by someone who lived through that historical era, is re-examining the forces behind the destruction, who really was to blame, and how people were able to put their lives back together afterwards. Check out the premiere of the trailer for Decade of Fire below.
Here's the full synopsis of the doc:
In the 1970s, the Bronx was on fire. Left unprotected by the city government, nearly a half-million people were displaced as their close-knit, multiethnic neighborhood burned, reducing the community to rubble. While insidious government policies caused the devastation, Black and Latino residents bore the blame. Through a rich seam of archival and home movie footage, testimonials from retired FDNY firefighters and brass, as well as Bronx historians, the documentary Decade of Fire, co-directed by Bronx native Vivian Vazquez, confronts the racially charged stereotypes that dehumanized residents of the South Bronx in the 1970's, and rationalized their abandonment by city, state and federal governments. Vazquez, in her role as the film’s central character and co-director, seeks not only healing for her community, but to redeem them from the harmful mythology spread by the media that has continued largely unchallenged to this day.
The documentary will open on May 3rd at Metrograph; you can get more information about that here. And you can check out some of our past coverage of the South Bronx fires here.
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decade of fire
documentary
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the bronx
the bronx is burning
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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