In a new documentary, filmmaker Michela Monte explores the harrowing circumstances North Brooklyn tenants face when their landlords attempt to displace them—and identifies how the area’s strong network of community organizers, lawyers, and others who refuse to accept gentrification as inevitability has kept many longtime locals in their homes.
Monte’s 16-minute-long film, “The Method,” was shot when Monte was a fellow at Williamsburg’s UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art in 2014 and 2015.
To develop the film, she worked closely with many local organizations such as St. Nick’s Alliance, Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A and Southside United HDFC, documented the wrecked homes of tenants who were the victims of egregious landlords, and filmed at housing court and tenant’s rallies.
