Producing Newburgh: Portrait of a City
During the summer of 2015, I worked as a Producer on a documentary about Newburgh, an impoverished, neglected city in New York's Hudson Valley. The film is about the people who live there, recording fleeting scenes of struggle and happiness, togetherness and polarization.
My UX design and project management background allowed me to enter the role of Producer easily. We formed a core team of young people who lived in Newburgh, relying on intuition when looking for candidates.
By standing back and listening, the story unfolded as a meaningful dialog, outside conventional narrative. Dmitri's photography revealed the quiet dignity that exists on Newburgh's harsh streets, letting viewers see the city, with all its beauty and tragedy, as those who live there do.
Like the Newburgh on The Ritz Theater exhibit, fundraising also played an important part of this project's realization, which achieved $65K via Kickstarter, grants and private donors. The film is currently being edited, with a showing planned in the Spring of 2017 in Newburgh.
Film stills by Caroline Kasterine