This video tells the story of community gardens in New York City, which flourished during the Seventies when residents of deteriorating neighborhoods removed garbage from abandoned lots, obtained temporary leases from the city, and planted gardens. As the gardens developed through volunteer community effort, they became valued sites for local families and their children to socialize, relax, and enjoy nature. In the mid-Nineties, however, the city administration began selling these lots to developers, and bulldozing community gardens, which destroyed both the gardens and the community organizations they involved. The video features interviews with community gardeners throughout New York City and archival footage from the last two decades of the growth and ongoing destruction of the community gardens movement.
Directed by Laura Beer
2001, 29 mins.
Purchase: $195 Rental: $50