Director’s Statement
I began filming “Plywood Renaissance” in June 2020, following three months of Covid lockdown, when I biked across the Manhattan bridge to see the condition of the city firsthand.
What I saw when I arrived in SoHo was profound: the usually bustling neighborhood was completely covered in plywood, like a war zone. Yet, on those boards were poignant murals being created by hundreds of artists, working together to bring light to one of NYC’s darkest periods. I felt as though I was witnessing American history in the making and imagined that this art would one day be in museums, akin to pieces of the Berlin Wall being exhibited around the world. I set out to interview as many artists as I could, believing that anyone who came out in the middle of a pandemic to paint protest art in New York's summer heat, had something important to say. Starting as a small personal project, it was an attempt to stay creative and contribute to the BLM movement as protests filled the streets.
As a filmmaker who often works as a “one-man band,” I had the experience and equipment necessary to film without a crew, which felt necessary given the pandemic. I biked from Brooklyn countless times to follow the artists as this renaissance unfolded in the very spot where decades earlier, artists like Basquiat, Warhol, and countless others breathed life into a dilapidated industrial neighborhood. I met filmmaker and organizer of many of the plywood artists, Maxi Cohen, on the streets. She shared the urgent motivation to document this time, so we began collaborating. As a longtime Soho resident, she provided historical context and served as my eyes on the street, filming milestones for which I couldn’t be present.
As I got to know the artists, I was inspired by their passion and their visions for what art can do to heal a community. I felt a personal duty to amplify their voices, the film becoming about much more than just art; a vehicle to talk about the social issues of our time, from racism and prison reform, to homelessness and single parenthood. The project evolved from a small personal one to something much bigger than myself.
During the art movement, hundreds of paintings were stolen from the walls of SoHo. My hope is that this film will aid in the process of recovering the art so it can be seen where it deserves to be seen - in museums.
The film is in rough cut stage and we are currently seeking finishing funding and distribution.
