Narrated by Ariana DeBose, Stanley Nelson’s San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood documentary will make its World Premiere as a Special Event of the 62nd New York Film Festival, on Wednesday, October 9.
The Special Event will feature a conversation with director Stanley Nelson, producer Rita Coburn, and special guests following the screening.
In the first half of the 20th century, the area now called Lincoln Square was known by another name: San Juan Hill. Musical phenomena like bebop and the Charleston were created there; its clubs and theaters nurtured creative geniuses like James P. Johnson, Josephine Baker, and Thelonious Monk; and artist spaces like the Lincoln Square Arcade counted luminaries like Eugene O’Neill, George Bellows, and Robert Henri among their inhabitants. Home to a largely working-class community, San Juan Hill was redlined in the 1930s and targeted by “urban renewal” in the 1940s and 1950s, when thousands of residents were displaced to make way for Amsterdam Houses, Lincoln Center, Fordham University, and additional developments. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson, San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood traces the neighborhood’s rise and fall through never-before-accessed records and archives, historical footage, expert commentary, and interviews with residents and explores the vibrant people, arts, and culture whose enduring legacy still resonates today.
Additional histories of the people, arts, and culture that once flourished in the neighborhood can be found at the Legacies of San Juan Hill digital hub. San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood is a presentation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in association with Film at Lincoln Center. The film is edited by Sebastián Díaz, produced by Rita Coburn, and produced and directed by Stanley Nelson. It is made possible by support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).
Stanley Nelson is today’s leading documentarian of the African American experience. His films combine compelling narratives with rich historical detail to shine new light on the under-explored American past. Awards received over the course of his career include a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and lifetime achievement awards from the Emmys and the International Documentary Association. In 2013, Nelson received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Obama. Nelson’s latest films include Sound of the Police (for ABC News Studios/Hulu), Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and Becoming Frederick Douglass (both for Maryland Public Television/PBS), the Academy Award-nominated Attica (for Showtime), and the forthcoming We Want the Funk: The History of Funk Music (for PBS’ Independent Lens).
Presented by Film at Lincoln Center, the 62nd New York Film Festival takes place September 27–October 14, 2024.