LES Heritage Film Series, Season 2, Pt.8

Showing films on the first Tuesday of every month. This FREE series will offer documentary and feature films that were shot on location in lower Manhattan on both 16mm and DVD formats.

8th and final part in the series:

Young Filmmakers Foundation films:

Established in 1968, the Young Filmmakers Foundation was created to encourage filmmaking as an artistic, educational, and vocational experience for young people and to make the tools and skills of the media arts available to those who might otherwise not have access to them. The organization was founded by educators Rodger Larson and Lynne Hofer in collaboration with filmmaker Jaime Barrios.

     Young Braves - (1968, 9 min., 16mm) by Michael Jacobsohn
     Life in New York - (1969, 6 min., 16mm) by Alfonso Pagan and Luis Vale
     Don't Mess with Us - (c.1968, 5 min.,16mm) by Alejandro Lopez


The Seward Park Branch and the Neighborhood It Serves
(1934-35, 1941, 1959; 25 min., 16mm)


The Seward Park Branch and the Neighborhood It Serves highlights the central role of the New York Public Library within a diverse, vibrant, and ever-changing community. View and experience Seward Park as the portrait of the neighborhood changes from crisp black and white to vivid color, as streets once filled with pushcarts become lined with sharp-finned cars, and as children sled on snowy sidewalks before sitting down for "story time" in a green park.

The earliest footage, from 1934–5 and 1941, was captured and edited by Grace Hardie, a former Seward Park Branch staff member. In 1959, Bill Sloan, head of the Donnell Library Center’s Film Library, and his wife Gwen shot the color section using a 16mm Bolex. At this time, Donald W. Fowle, a clerk at the Seward Park Branch, created the script as part of the branch’s 50th anniversary celebration. His narration has been read aloud at screenings of the film ever since. Mr. Fowle and the Sloans were assisted by Jean E. McIntosh, assistant branch librarian at Seward Park. A detailed account of the action – a shot list – was prepared by Tara D. Kelley of the Reserve Film and Video Collection in 2012.

Mr. Fowle's narration will be read by the series curator, Sean R. Ferguson

The Seward Park Compilation courtesy of the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

The Seward Park Branch and the Neighborhood It Serves has been preserved by the Reserve Film and Video Collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.